In Chicago, we wait all year for this time of year. And the markers I use are local blueberries and peaches. Every week I buy one peach or one tiny carton to wait for the perfect 'moment' for each.

Blueberries come along first and when the explosion in my mouth...

In Chicago, we wait all year for this time of year. And the markers I use are local blueberries and peaches. Every week I buy one peach or one tiny carton to wait for the perfect 'moment' for each.

Blueberries come along first and when the explosion in my mouth...

One Sunday, a family came in and said they had decided that during these really hard times for restaurants they would only support owner-operated places, figuring that the chains can always find a way to survive. They did an Internet search and came up with a list that, thankfully, included...

After years of serving bottled water, Ina's and other Chicago-area restaurants are now thinking 'outside the bottle' and serving only tap water.

While labels may conjure up images of pristine mountain streams, the truth behind the eco-friendly image is that bottled water is bad for the environment.

In...

Think back to what you were doing 10, even 20, years ago. Do you remember eating out? Do you remember where? And is your former favorite place still there? It's a pretty good bet that it isn't.

The life of a restaurant is not unlike a shooting star, burning brightly...

Sitting down to a meal with other chefs, the conversation is always about these incredibly hard times in our industry, both personally and professionally.

(For those of us who own our own restaurants, on our Top Ten List of Dreads, death is not on the list. Payroll is.)

I had...

When I made breakfast for Wolfgang Puck, I asked him what he tastes first when doing a new concept or revamping a menu. Without hesitation, he said, "Sweets!" Me too.

Growing up, there was always a cake in my house "just in case someone comes over," as my...

My mother was the kind of cook who washed each bowl, utensil, and pot as she used them so at the end of a meal there were only a few plates to wash. Her kitchen, like our home, was spotless. ("Oh, that Temmie Brody, you could eat off the floor...

One of the best jobs I ever had was working for George Lang, the genius behind the Cafe des Artistes in New York City, and countless restaurant concepts around the world.

George asked if I would join him for a meeting at the Four Seasons restaurant to create a...

Ice cream is defined as a noun, a sweet frozen food made from a mixture of cream, milk or a custard base, flavored in various ways, containing at least 10% milkfat.

But it is so much more to those of us who think it's God's perfect food and crave it...

Well, maybe when I moved here from New York City in 1974, leaving a rent stabilized apartment on Central Park South, a job with the George Lang Corporation and the best friends and life imaginable.

"Chicago!", I cried (literally). Before the commuter marriage and the notion that one need not...