Food Features

Tonight’s shift in the restaurant is over. I clocked in over 10 hours today and I’ve only been able to get off my feet for my half-hour family meal break. I’m very tired and my back and feet hurt. Even though I still have three more shifts ahead of me before my next day off, […]

Super Bowl Sunday is Feb. 12, just around the corner, and we have the playbook for perfect loaded nachos. Whether you’re prepping for a crowd or a lazy night in, this formula makes the most out of your favorite ingredients. The original nachos were created in the early 1940s by Ignacio Anaya, maître d’hôtel of […]

This past summer, after my job as a cook at a summer camp in upstate Washington had ended, we decided to travel north and take a car ferry to Vancouver Island to visit Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. Named after Queen Victoria, it’s one of the oldest cities in the Pacific Northwest and is […]

The original chopped salad was created in the late 1950s by legendary restaurateur Jean Leon at his ritzy La Scala restaurant in Beverly Hills. Celebrity sightings were commonplace at La Scala – Leon himself claimed to have personally served Marilyn Monroe her last meal (not a chopped salad). And although Natalie Wood was rumored to […]

Back in 1973, I was a student at the University of Illinois living seven miles off-campus in a trailer park in rural Champaign County. On my drive home from classes, I used to pass a little fromagerie appropriately named “The Cheese Store.” I was 20 at the time and was just beginning to learn about […]

There are few things I enjoy more than a good glass of bubbly. Champagne, while not the birthplace of sparkling wine, is considered to be the benchmark for top-quality bubbles. The region of France itself is quite small, measuring just under 135 square miles, and only wines grown and produced within its borders are allowed […]

A definition of the verb inspire is “to make someone feel that they want to do something and can do it.” After I finished reading the recently published The Miracle of Salt: Recipes and Techniques to Preserve, Ferment, and Transform Your Food by Naomi Duguid (Workman Publishing), I realized how much this author has played […]

Tis the season for cookies! Whether you like them crispy or chewy, spicy or frosted, we have tips to help you bake your best. Pastry chef Melanie Dineen works overtime during the holidays creating gorgeous cakes and cookies at Incredibly Delicious Bakery, a downtown Springfield culinary staple since it opened in 1995. No matter what […]

My fourth year of working in restaurants and living in a school bus is coming to a close. For the last few Decembers, I’ve relocated my bus to Florida because I swore I’d never suffer through another Midwest winter. This year, however, my position in the R & D and Fermentation Lab at Audrey Restaurant […]

Anyone who’s checked out the cocktail menu at a posh restaurant lately may have noticed that classic cocktails are very of the moment. Perhaps we have Don Draper to thank, the enigmatic leading man on the TV show “Mad Men.” It’s hard not to thirst for Draper’s drink of choice as he sips from a glass […]

With groceries more costly than ever, let’s talk about how to make the most out of what’s in season and in your pantry. Produce is still available at many local farm stands like Suttill’s Gardens and Jefferies Market through Thanksgiving, with prices that often rival grocery stores, especially for items like broccoli, squash, cabbage and […]