Kitchens are cooking up a recipe for mental illness

By Olivia Lee Medill Reports It’s Saturday evening, and the tables are set. Servers are dressed in their finest suits. Chef Ryan McCaskey, owner of Acadia, a two-star Michelin restaurant, and his staff have spent all day prepping for tonight’s service. Every little detail has been planned out. Guests are greeted with a welcome drink, […]
No more undercover food critics

By Olivia Lee Medill Reports It’s 2006 and Jeff Ruby, food critic for Chicago magazine, is being interviewed by the History Channel. In attempts to keep an undercover profile, like most food critics do, Ruby shaves his beard for the first time in 10 years and dyes his natural red hair jet black. To make […]
How COVID-19 is changing how restaurants do business

By Joshua Skinner Medill Reports With Texas’ stay at home order expiring on May 1, restaurants are slowly moving from curbside pick-up to allowing a limited number of diners. New regulations laid out by Gov. Greg Abbott allow restaurants to operate at 25% capacity, even with new cases of COVID-19 popping up across the state. […]
Make room at the table: How a local restaurateur is helping to transform the culture of professional kitchens

By Olivia Lee Medill Reports On “Restaurant Row,” also known as Randolph Street, diners spend their savings on an unforgettable gastronomic experience. Just two blocks away, on the quieter Madison Street, lies a stationery store owned by a mother and daughter, a small used bookstore that smells of dusty paper and glue, and a restaurant, […]