Louisa Chu

Chicago

Host at Chewing Podcast

Food Critic at Chicago Tribune

Food critic at @chicagotribune @ChiTribFood. Co-host at @chewingpodcast.

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Articles

Restaurant review: New Ramova Grill and Taproom in Chicago

Feb 19, 2024 | chicagotribune.com | Louisa Chu

Get the modern, minimalist, Midwestern chili that packs heat on a perplexing menu with potential in the Bridgeport neighborhood.
Bally’s Casino Chicago

Oct 29, 2023 | chicagotribune.com | Louisa Chu

The first and only casino in Chicago opened last month to much fanfare, but the restaurants and bars have surprisingly remained mostly a mystery. Food and drink have long been a lure in gambling culture, culminating in celebrity chef restaurants around the world from Las Vegas to Macao. Bally’s Casino Chicago, temporarily housed at the historic Medinah Temple in River North, made its debut on Sept. 9.
Just opened: ‘Like a kiss’ Muah Cotton Candy in Water Tower Place among openings and closings around Chicago

Oct 16, 2023 | chicagotribune.com | Shanzeh Ahmad |Louisa Chu

Tucked away on the seventh floor of Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue is a tiny candy shop creating mighty and magical confectionery creatures and more. Muah Cotton Candy brings the latest spun sugar trend to Chicago with giant candy creations that have sweet teeth of all ages buzzing. Adults and children alike line up to choose their character at one of the kiosks for handmade cotton candy, or vending machines that crank out cotton candy sculptures on their own.
Ramova Theater, Brewery and Grill in Bridgeport

Oct 9, 2023 | chicagotribune.com | Louisa Chu

Ramova, a name first given to a grand movie palace and its tiny diner grill nearly a century ago, may finally reopen as a re-imagined destination space in Bridgeport this fall. But the $23 million question, with a budget from public and private funds ticking up after years of delays, has been when will the music theater, brewery taproom and revival restaurant actually open? “November feels like a really good time frame for us,” said Tyler Nevius, founder of the new Ramova with wife Emily Nevius.
Review: Ummo chef José Sosa explores inventive Italian, with octopus chicharrón, in River North

Oct 9, 2023 | news.yahoo.com | Louisa Chu

José Sosa might have cooked for you already. Even if you haven’t had a chance to visit his debut restaurant, which opened in August in the River North neighborhood of Chicago. The chef and partner describes his menu simply as contemporary Italian, but it’s more than that. Ummo is the surprising exploration of inventive dishes tempered by personal culture and chosen traditions. Sosa was most recently the executive chef at Gibsons Italia.
Ummo, new inventive Italian in Chicago

Oct 8, 2023 | chicagotribune.com | Louisa Chu

José Sosa might have cooked for you already. Even if you haven’t had a chance to visit his debut restaurant, which opened in August in the River North neighborhood of Chicago. The chef and partner describes his menu simply as contemporary Italian, but it’s more than that. Ummo is the surprising exploration of inventive dishes tempered by personal culture and chosen traditions. Sosa was most recently the executive chef at Gibsons Italia.
Love, loss and noodles at Seven Treasures

Sep 24, 2023 | chicagotribune.com | Louisa Chu

Why did the sudden closing of Chinatown’s Seven Treasures, home of the cult favorite 554, leave long lines and such grief? After all, the iconic dishes live on at Wonton Gourmet in Des Plaines. Their story was our story. And it’s an untold story of love, loss and noodles. Chung and Kai Au owned a wonton noodle shop in Hong Kong before they moved to Chicago. Chung, the family patriarch, immigrated first.
A food critic’s perfect day in Austin on Chicago's West Side

Sep 4, 2023 | chicagotribune.com | Louisa Chu

Veah Larde was destined for the role she took over this year. “I tell people all the time, I’m from this dirt. I’m an Austin girl, born and raised,” Larde said. The chef and resident of the West Side Chicago neighborhood put her busy catering business on hold to take over as manager of Austin Town Hall Market for the season. “I’ve seen the different transitions that the neighborhood has gone through,” she said. She remembers a street full of grocery stores where now there are nearly none.
Scofflaw’s new chef Fred Chung in Chicago

Aug 27, 2023 | chicagotribune.com | Louisa Chu

Scofflaw has a legacy of culinary overachievement. So you’d think with the success that preceded executive chef Fred Chung, who took over just about a year ago, he might have kept the fan favorites on the menu a little bit longer. The tteokbokki, however, was a victim of its own success. Having missed out on the Korean rice cakes, I had to ask the chef why. “For the cooks really,” he said.
UMMO, Schneider Deli

Aug 22, 2023 | chicagotribune.com | Shanzeh Ahmad |Louisa Chu

Chef José Sosa grew up in Michoacán, Mexico, and got his start in restaurants at 16 years old as a dishwasher in Chicago. But Italy is where he really fell in love with food. “In Italy, it’s all about the flavors directly in front of you, those which are cultivated in your backyard,” Sosa said. His passion for the minimalist approach to Italian pasta, seafood and steak is now on display at UMMO, which opened in River North earlier this month, in the former Rockit Bar & Grill space.