What's the Future of Food in Chicago

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David Tamarkin On Achatz, Izard, and Why PeopleNeed to Stop Hating On Great Lake

Martha Williams

Fear not, TOC dining critic David Tamarkin is not a headless figure. He simply eschewed fancy disguises in

favor of a c lassier animated shot to preserve his anonymity.

Time Out just announced the winners of their fifth annual Eat Out Awards, which honors critic

and reader picks for the best in dining. With the recent buzz surrounding Grant Achatz's new

restaurant Next and Stephanie Izard's win as a Food & Wine Best New Chef , we decided to

check in with Eat Out editor David Tamarkin to discuss his thoughts on the players shaping

the dining conversation in Chicago and its future.

2011 seems to be shaping up like another year of Stephanie Izard and Grant Achatz. Is

that your take?

I definitely see it as an Achatz year, though I feel like the chatter about him has already died

down. Now that Next is open, I feel like we're going to have a little lull and then go up againonce reviews start coming out, along with the next menu. From a marketing standpoint, that's

the genius thing about Next. There's no getting stale, there's always going to be something to

talk about and something new. I don't think it's Stephanie's year in terms of coverage. I think

people will look back on 2010 as her year, not 2011.

Really? But she just won the F&W BNC award a week ago, is up for a James Beard, and

other accolades being reintroduced as a new chef even though she really isn't...

That is, unless this Little Goat diner she's doing gets big, which remains to be seen. She's at

the forefront of the Chicago food scene and does it incredibly well—with the departure of

heaviness and big eating that has defined Chicago food for a long time. But Stephanie wasn't

always like that. Her last restaurant Scylla was a seafood restaurant. So, I think she deserves

tons of credit. But Grant's places—Next and Aviary—much more Aviary, than Next—are

complete game changers. When Aviary opens, not only will we have the most interesting

restaurant and one of the best restaurants in the world, but also the most fascinating bar in

the world. And that's a huge thing for Chicago.

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Make an argument for why Next might not work.

If it doesn't work, I don't think we'll see that in this 1906 Paris menu. If it doesn't work, I think

we'll see it in future menus, because they've had so much time to work on the 1906 menu and

the luxury of not being open. I don't think they're going to lower their standards, but I talked to

Dave Beran last week, and he said he was going to start developing the Thai menu in about a

month. So, that's a much shorter period of time, and their time is split between running a

menu and opening a restaurant. I don't know what kind of resources they have, so I think they

can do it, but if they can't, that would be why.

We're all well aware of our media darlings, so who do you think has been the black

sheep?

It always bothers me when people talk smack about Great Lake. I've heard so many people

complain about the way they do things over there—about how they had to wait four hours and

they were rude and the pizza wasn't that great. That is total B.S. That is the best pizza in the

country and one of the best restaurants I've ever been to. And not just because of the food,

but because of the scale of it and their commitment to the way they do things. I'm not doted

on when I go to Great Lake, but if you engage Lydia [Esparza] and you're not rude, she will

engage you back. You can bring your wine and dine in this really small space that just feels

special no matter what because it is special and the pizza is so good. They're just true to

themselves.

What are the biggest challenges Chicago food faces today?

Well, there are a couple things happening. One, you see a lot of restaurants really just giving

the finger to the general public, where they really do not see themselves as a service

industry. When you see an option on a menu to buy beer for the cooks, to me that is saying,

'We think that this is a privilege for you to be here, not for us to serve you.' I feel there are

restaurants who seem to somehow resent they're in the service industry.

Also, restaurants are under a huge pressure to source everything locally and sustainably.

Which isn't a bad thing. They're also under a huge pressure to keep their prices in line and to

make money. So, what's happening is you kind of see some people hedging—and in some

cases, straight out lying—about buying a few steaks from Slagel Farms, selling out, and

maybe rushing to Whole Foods or getting USDA-who-knows-where-it-came-from steaks. It

could be as innocent as that, or as devious as we're just going to say we're doing this and not

doing it, and who's going to know? And I think this is in part due to a huge expectation that's

been placed on restaurants, when many are not making that much money, which is a

challenge for restaurants and diners.

If you could have any out-of-town chef put up a shingle here, who and what would it

be?

It would be the people from Tartine in San Francisco. I think that's what the greatest hole here

is: great bakeries.

What about Floriole?

I love Floriole and there's a lot of Tartine there because Sandra Hull trained there. That's why

we nominated her for chef of the year against Stephanie and Grant—and we received a lot of

flack for that. But she's really doing something that's raising the bar. I think we have really

amazing pastry chefs here—I'm obsessed with Amanda Rockman at The Bristol, I'm really

excited to see what Toni Roberts is going to do at The Wit, I really loved Jed Slaughter at

Nightwood—but that's so different from having a good bakery.

Why do you think Chicago chefs have had a harder time globalizing than top toques in

other markets? Is 2011 a year that changes?

I haven't seen a lot of chefs try—I mean, I guess there was Shawn McClain. And Rick

Tramonto has a new restaurant. But I think the great thing about Chicago chefs is they don't

want to globalize. That's the wonderful thing about Paul Kahan is that he doesn't—from what

I understand—care about doing that. I respect that about him a lot. He could have opened inNew York and had a million cookbooks and TV shows and he hasn't. I think this city still

suffers from a sense of insecurity that people everywhere else think that it's just a cow town,

and what I think emotion does is push a lot of pride. And that's a good thing, because it

means people will just concentrate here. That's my take on it.

Which restaurants have been in your heavy rotation in the last six months?

I don't really have a heavy rotation because I'm constantly having to eat out at new

restaurants. But my ideal night would be getting pizza at Great Lake, heading to Big Chicks,

getting dessert at The Bristol, and waking up the next day to have brunch at Nightwood.

Conversely, which restaurants have quietly faded from your mind?

The restaurant I always forget exists is La Sardine. I always think that that has closed, and

I don't think it has, and its sister restaurant Le Bouchon, and Cafe Absinthe. This doesn't

really feel like a French bistro town, even though we have some great ones.



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Which restaurant opening are you most excited about?

Doesn't Takashi Yagihashi have a new place opening up—The Slurping Turtle? Probably

that. I'm a big fan of Jared Van Camp's food. I think given the atmosphere of Old Town

Social, it's going to get a lot of attention for a place to drink than a place to eat. But I think

what they're going to be doing there—milling their own wheat and making their own flour so

they can make their own bread—that's really exciting to me. It hasn't been done and it shows

a commitment to their values, which is very rare.

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