Kitchen Witch

Genda Freeman leads a group of eight people through Schnuck’s supermarket, pointing out an obvious fact of life: if you want to be healthy, you have to focus on fruits and vegetables, not candy and chips. Freeman, a clinical dietitian at St. John’s Hospital, explains how to read nutritional labels on cereal boxes and blocks […]

Taking advantage of the lull between the lunch and dinner crowds, Michael Higgins sits down at a white linen-topped table in the dim bar at Maldaner’s, the city’s oldest restaurant. As co-owner, Higgins spends his time buying, planning, and preparing food. Now he’s taking a few minutes to discuss it. With his glasses, gray mustache, […]

“In Mexico, the men never touch the kitchen,” says Emilio Lomeli, laughing. “It would be considered a women’s place.” Lomeli is sitting in Emilio’s Mexican Food, his restaurant in downtown Springfield. He’s dressed in a white apron, explaining how U.S. restaurants differ from those in Mexico. Lomeli, who spends most of his 12-hour workdays over […]

On a recent night in the Capitol City, two professional women in their 40s sit at a table in a popular downtown watering hole, sipping ruby red liquid garnished with fruit. Across town, a group of young 20-somethings order drinks in a rainbow of colors with names that sound more like song titles or lipstick […]

On a Wednesday morning, Mary Beth Carter is busy dipping chunks of fresh walleye into cornmeal and plopping them into sizzling oil. Her “kitchen” consists of a closet-sized area in a small gray-shingled building in front of her fish market. She serves walleye, catfish, and carp through the three tiny windows of the concession stand. […]

There are diehard enthusiasts who won’t give up the taste of grilled food, even in the dead of winter. But for most people, only warmer temperatures bring out the backyard barbecue. Geoff Bland is one of the diehards. He fires up his gas grill three or four times a week, all year long. “I love […]

When the April days grow warmer and trees begin bursting with buds, the phone at the Main Street Tap in Beardstown starts ringing. “Everybody’s getting itchy,” says Donnie Herter, owner of the bar. No it’s not springtime allergies he’s talking about. It’s the local customers who are eagerly awaiting their first taste of morel mushrooms. […]

Don’t visit Bentoh’s expecting the food to fall into a simple category. Bentoh’s offers sushi but isn’t a sushi bar. It offers Japanese bentos–which consist of meat and vegetables served over rice and accompanied by chilli sauce or a teriyaki glaze–but it isn’t just a Japanese restaurant. Its menu also includes Thai dishes and fresh […]