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TV Schedule

Food Stories

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Chicago Restaurateurs Are Trying Out Alternative Models As the Industry’s Challenges Continue to Grow

Parachute re-opens as a listening bar focused on music paired with casual food and drinks. Lula Cafe debuts a creative space for various ticketed events. In an adverse environment, independent restaurateurs are experimenting with new ways to succeed and survive.

Beer samples in a wooden holder

Food Events to Savor in Chicago this October

While summer festival season winds down, there are still a handful of fall food festivities to savor this October before winter sets in, with wine and beer taking center stage. 

Some blue raspberry Filbert's bottles lined up on bottling equipment

A Family-Owned Old-School Pop Manufacturer Nears a Century in Business in Chicago

Filbert's Old Time Root Beer was started by Charles Filbert in 1926. His grandson Ron continues to run it today, producing pop on old-fashioned machinery on the Southwest Side. 

Various pasteles de nata in a box

A Batch of New Bakeries Rises on the Southwest Side

Three new artisan cafés and bakeries have opened in the same zip code around McKinley Park in the past couple months, feeding a hunger on the near Southwest Side.

The South Shore Cultural Center seen from above amid grass and trees

The Historic South Shore Cultural Center Gets a New Restaurant Full of Soul

The South Shore Cultural Center was once a country club that excluded Black people. Now it's home to a soul food restaurant owned by a Black entrepreneur.

Empty seats a bar under a large glass light fixture

What It Was Like for One Chicago Hotel Restaurant to Serve Its VIP Democratic National Convention Guests

Plenty of convention business and hobnobbing takes place in the lobbies, bars, and restaurants of the luxury hotels like the Four Seasons where attendees stay. "I was kind of surprised by the amount of grilled cheese we sold," says the chef of the hotel's restaurant, Adorn.

Veggie tacos with lime laid out on dark wood cutting board

Recipes

A rhubarb crumble on a plate with ice cream

Oat Ginger Rhubarb Crumble

Try a simple, warming dessert perfect to make with a child. 

A pot of cheesy grits topped with hot sauce on a blue background

Extra Cheesy Grits from a New Season of 'Cook's Country'

As Cook's Country launches its 17th season and its editor in chief releases a book called When Southern Women Cook, try a recipe for extra cheesy grits.

A pan of nachos

Nachos from Pati Jinich As She Explores Chihuahua in a New Season of 'Pati's Mexican Table'

In the thirteenth season of Pati's Mexican Table, Pati Jinich explores Mexico's largest state, Chihuahua. Get a sample with her recipe for skirt steak nachos.

Plates heaped with rice, beef, and vegetables on a blue table

A Beefy Pilaf from 'America's Test Kitchen' In Its 25th Season

As America's Test Kitchen celebrates 25 years on public television with a new season and new special, try their recipe for plov, a Central Asian rice dish spotlighting beef and carrots. 

A glass cup of a layered dessert on a plate with a sliced strawberry

A Classic Strawberry Pretzel Dessert from 'The Great American Recipe'

Try Pittsburgh home cook Doug Heilman's recipe for a strawberry pretzel salad from the latest season of The Great American Recipe. It's a classic Midwestern dessert. 

Chicken Kyiv cut in half on a plate

An Improved Take on Chicken Kyiv from 'Milk Street'

While chicken Kyiv seems to mostly be a dish of the past, Milk Street has an updated version of the breaded, butter-filled chicken recipe for you to try and rediscover a classic.

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Food Series

Alpana Sing at Check, Please! table

Check, Please!

The Emmy-winning local restaurant review series from WTTW Chicago features host, master sommelier, and restaurateur Alpana Singh sitting down with three “regular person” guest reviewers as they compare notes on their experiences at three Chicago-area eateries.

Won Kim holding spray-painting concrete wall outside

Chefs Off the Clock

Discover the ways Chicago’s celebrity chefs unwind after they clock out of the kitchen. Get to know another side of these interesting personalities who — while known for their passion and work ethic in the kitchen — are fascinating and passionate people in their personal lives as well.

Woman in restuarant at POS register

FOODPHILES

Meet the people who feed you. This digital takes you into the kitchen, behind the bar, and into the field to introduce you to a chef or restaurateur who prepares food and libations as they share their personal stories and insights about the meaning of their work, how they got into the hospitality business, and why they have such a passion for what they do.

Geoffrey Baer eating Chicago-style hot dog at bar and looking at camera

Foods of Chicago

Join Geoffrey Baer as he plays both taste tester and tour guide, exploring the little-known stories behind Chicago's favorite foods! Along this delectable journey, learn how the Chicago-style hot dog came into being, discover the connection between Al Capone and Jay's Potato Chips, take a tour down Chicago's New Maxwell Street Market, learn about the birth of the classic SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE "cheezborger" routine from the Billy Goat tavern, and so much more!

Sarah Grueneberg

Dishalicious

This cooking demonstration program filmed before a live audience in WTTW's Grainger Studio is hosted by Sarah Grueneberg, James Beard award-winning chef/owner of Chicago's Monteverde and runner-up on "Iron Chef" and "Iron Chef Gauntlet." Each week, Sarah is joined by three extraordinary local chefs who band together to prepare a unique meal.

Illustration of apples with eyes and mouths on apple tree being picked off by child

Food Thoughts

Healthy eating and food education are essential to preparing the very youngest members of our community for school and life. Pilot Light and WTTW team up to encourage healthy eating with FOOD THOUGHTS, an animated series of videos for kids and families. Puppy chef host “Puprika” joins a diverse group of children and families to visit their homes, gardens, farms, and schools.

Food News