Food Junkie: Chicago Has Arrived (2013)

It has been a blast and very cathartic to share my food passion with you all via this blog.  Yet it has been fulfilling on a whole new level to express my love for food and food culture through video and my new show, Food Junkie: Chicago.  In the last few months we've shot 4 episodes and each one was a very different and unique culinary adventure.

We traveled to Slagel Family Farm, about 2 hours outside of the city, to find out where the best Chicago restaurants get their meat and have a true "Farm to Table" experience.  Visiting Slagel was so cool because it's not often that a typical Chicagoan would get to see where this fine product actually comes from, including how it's raised and produced.  Restaurants like, Girl and The Goat, The Publican, and Carriage House have made the right choice to source much of their meat from Slagel, as it it certainly the BEST quality available to Chicagoland.

Getting to go "Behind the Scenes" with one of my dear friends, Chef Ryan Poli, was very interesting.  We did an in depth chef profile where I got to see where this "Chicago Boy" grew up on the city's Southwest side.  I interviewed his family and friends, and even grubbed at some of the places that influenced his early culinary growth.  Food Junkie then got an in depth look at Ryan "today" and learned how and why he's become one of Chicago's most well known chefs.  It was fun for me to learn more about my friend, and in turn a great experience to show Chicagoans the story behind one of our local favorites.

Southern Food in Chicago! Y'all know how much I love me some country music... and I love me some down home cookin'... well Chicago is actually embracing Southern cooking more than ever.  I went to some of my favorite restaurants in the city that offer the best in this regional cuisine, such as Carriage House, Bub City, and Smoque.  I interviewed the chefs to find out their inspirations and I even caught up with my friend, Tyler Farr, who recently had the number 1 song in country music, Redneck Crazy!

NB.... Food Junkie Chicago is no longer available on the Archlive Network... but please check out the "Food Junkie Episodes PAGE" on my site.