The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Chef Paul Virant

So far, I have only three regrets in life. One - not going to Sydney, Australia when my best friend was working there for a year. Two - not buying the most drop-dead-gorgeous, turquoise silk, Rozae Nichols dress (on sale!) that would've been in style forever and Three - not eating at Paul Virant's restaurant, Vie, a helluva lot sooner.

I could kick myself for all the years I spent not eating his food that I'll never get back! What was I thinking? This past summer, I had the good fortune to be taken to Vie for my birthday for the first time. It was the best restaurant experience I've had in years, hands down. I don't claim to be a restaurant reviewer, so the best way I can describe it is like a stylish neighborhood joint that just happens to serve three-star food. The service was charming and laid back and the food was simple, seasonal and so, so soulful. There was love on my plate, this I can tell you. And now, I bring you Chef Paul Virant...


WHO Chef Paul Virant was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He has a bachelors degree in nutrition and studied culinary arts at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. His restaurant Vie, located in Western Springs; a suburb just west of Chicago, serves modern American food with a heavy emphasis on Midwestern seasonal products and specializes in traditional methods of food preservation such as canning and charcuterie. Chef Virant was named Best New Chef 2007, by Food & Wine Magazine and just recently competed on the TV show, Iron Chef America on The Food Network. In 2010, Vie Restaurant will be launching its "Tribute to the Farmer" series beginning January 28th, March 4th and April 22nd. Details to follow...


THE GIFT A wonderful gift anytime of the year is preserved or canned local produce. Ideally, this would be done by you, handcrafted with love for your family and friends. This task is not always realistic for everyone, and fortunately many local farmers and food artisans produce these delicious accompaniments. Shop Green Grocer Chicago and Green City Market for products from Seedling Fruit, River Valley Kitchens, Hillside Orchards and Kinnikinnick Farms to name a few. They make preserves, pickles, tomato sauces, etc., that they grow and capture at their peak in a jar for future enjoyment. This type of artisanal skill is something that's a large part of our focus at the restaurant, so looking to 2010, consider taking a preserving class at Vie beginning in May and offered throughout the growing season. Someday, maybe, we will sell our own line of preserved items, until then, happy sourcing and happy learning this old school craft.

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? I live in Hinsdale, Illinois with my wife Jennifer and two boys, Lincoln and Zane.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU? Travel

YOUR GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF?
A sandwich (hot or cold) with pickles of course...

The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Anna Johnson

Anna Johnson is a name you might not recognize in the world of design, but she's been quietly making a name for herself amongst designers and collectors simply by virtue of her discriminating eye and excellent taste. Anna knows the nuances of every great designer, whether iconic or obscure, and her antique booths are a treasure trove of objects, art and furniture merchandised so beautifully that it is hard to walk away unscathed. I have eaten many a meal with this lady and even if it's 8 am on a Saturday, she always shows up looking like a combination of That Girl and Elke Sommers rolled into one. Welcome to the splendiferous world of Anna Johnson...



WHO As an extension to my work as a painter I sell vintage and modern antiques through my business, Studio A, located in my booths at the Edgewater Antique Mall and the Ravenswood Antique Mart. The objects shown here are at the Edgewater Antique Mall. My buyers include designers, dealers and collectors from Palm Beach, Miami, New York, Connecticut, California, Paris and, of course, Chicago. Thomas O'Brien and Nate Burkus come to mind. I recently sold a sleek, silvered pair of vintage candle holders that were gifted to shoe designer Brian Atwood by his mother.

Abalone mosaic and silverplated copper pitcher – Mexico - 1970s ($295)

Teak cheeseboard – Denmark – 1970s ($45)

David Anderson stainless steel cheese knife and cheese slicer – Norway – 1960s ($135)

Abalone and reticulated silver fish bottle opener – Mexico – 1970s ($145)

**Prices are 20% off through December 25.






THE GIFT An invitation to Tahoora in Chicago's Little India at 2345 West Devon Avenue where, on weekends, you can feast for $5 on Halwa Puri, a traditional Pakistani breakfast that includes a sweet and savory combination of sweet halwa, spicy chick peas, piquant chutneys, hot puris (in photo) and sweetly spiced chai.










WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Edgewater, Chicago, IL.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU? I look for sleek, classic lines. Fussiness annoys me; although decorative flourishes can be transcendent as long as they're like stunning earrings on Audrey Hepburn. The elegant work of designers like Jean-Michel Frank, Gio Ponti, Maria Pergay and Gabriella Crespi can practically make me faint, but over-the-top designers like Serge Roche and Aldo Tura are also seductive. Nevertheless, great style interests me far more than provenance. My approach is eclectic; I like surprises that heighten our aesthetic experience. Pleasure comes from being receptive to challenging, beautiful color and shape combinations that enrich our daily lives.

If I were limited to owning one thing, I'd choose an ancient Grecian black or red figure urn. In his “Ode to a Grecian Urn”, John Keats distills the secret of truly fine design, food and living choices to their essence. To paraphrase: Beauty is truth, truth beauty. That is all ye need to know on earth.

GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF? My schedule is pretty full, so when I want something quick and nourishing, I slice queso fresco, place the slices between two small corn tortillas, microwave this for 45 to 60 seconds and then sink my teeth into this sumptuous treat.

The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Melissa Graham

One of my greatest annoyances is the idea that beautiful food is an exclusive experience. That it's some secret club where only an elite few are allowed in. The reason I've been Melissa Graham's long-time secret admirer is because she makes beautiful food inclusive, without ever dumbing anything down. She writes about food and feeding her family with spare, elegant prose and absolutely no pretense and I can't say enough about the simple but sophisticated recipes on her site, Little Locavores. They use few ingredients, easy technique and are deliciously accessible to everyone.




WHO Melissa Graham, a former attorney, is the chef and owner of Monogramme Events & Catering, a boutique catering company that specializes in seasonal and sustainable cuisine. She is also the president and founder of Purple Asparagus, a non-profit dedicated to bringing families back to the table by promoting and enjoying all the things associated with good eating. When she’s not in the kitchen or the classroom, you can often find Melissa shopping at the Green City Market where she serves as the membership chair. She is a contributing editor of The Local Beet.com and authors Little Locavores.






THE GIFT My holiday pick and go-to hostess gift is Molly O'Neill's wonderful book A Well-Seasoned Appetite: Recipes for Eating with The Seasons, The Senses, and The Soul. I think that every cook should have two copies of this book, one for the kitchen and another for the night stand. Her writing style is lyrical, recipes inventive, yet usually simple. I've had this book for 15 years and there isn't a month that goes by that I don't pick it up for inspiration. She introduced me to so many new ingredients as a burgeoning cook: fiddlehead ferns, morel mushrooms and sour cherries. Skimming through my copy, I find numerous marks and stains, a sure sign of a beloved book. There are recipes for company and weekday dinners. Some of my favorites include: Soft-Shell Crabs with Black Bean Sauce, Arabic Eggplant and Pumpkin Succotash. The book is organized by season and then by ingredient, each section introduced by a lovely vignette of life and love. Sprinkled with a bit of botany and peppery humor, this book is sure to become a favorite of any cook. Buy it now as it's out of print and almost completely sold out on Amazon.

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Roscoe Village, Chicago, IL.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU? It may sound trite, but I'm inspired by the farmers' market, especially Green City Market, even in the dark days of winter. This is one of the reasons that I love Molly O'Neill's book. When I was learning to cook with the seasons, her book provided wonderful recipes for the market's bounty both in cold and hot weather. I'm also inspired by my son and his fanciful suggestions for recipes, some of which we try, including our new family recipe favorite French Fry Stuffing.


GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF? My favorite thing to cook for myself when my husband and son are out is pasta with a bit of garlic or onion and whatever fresh, seasonal vegetables I find in my fridge.

The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Greg Christian

Greg Christian is the Obi-Wan Kenobi of Chicago's sustainability movement. Each encounter I've had with Greg, whether in person, or via email, ends with a sincere directive, encouraging me to stay the course, to believe that my contributions to the cause are good ones, and to never give up and I love that about him. This man's passion is palpable and I have a feeling, that wherever he goes, he's subtly tutoring us all in the ways of The Force...



WHO Entrepreneur, chef, author, and caterer, Greg Christian is the owner of Greg Christian Consulting, a consulting firm focused on helping food service companies become more sustainable. Greg is at the forefront of his non-profit organization, The Organic School Project, an initiative he launched in 2005 to provide school children with positive food choices. Greg is considered a leader in green business and a pioneer in the foodservice industry's zero-impact movement.

















THE GIFT I often find that a gift is better remembered if it's an experience rather than a thing. So, for the holiday season, I recommend that you treat someone you love to a hand-made delicacy, such as these Zeppole (Italian donuts), from Zullo’s, an Italian-inspired vendor at Chicago's Green City Market and soon to be opening at Chicago's new French Market at the Ogilvie Train Station. Zullo’s mission is to honor the environment and connect people to their food source in an affordable way. Their food is 95% organic and locally sourced. The menu is ingredient-driven; they look at what’s available from local farmers on any particular day when deciding what to put on the menu. The food is simple and delicious.

A Personal Message From Greg Christian

Love yourself more
Forgive yourself more
Open your hearts more
Try to move your daily routines towards sustainability.
Every little bit makes a difference.

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Oak Park, IL.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU? People inspire me. People who have beautiful, open hearts. People who pour their essence into passionate projects. People who partner that essence with clear intention. These types of people inspire me.

GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF? Anything that can be made in one pot!

The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Ryan Robinson + Brian Sidney Bembridge

Talk about your power couples. Talk about dynamic, creative phenoms. Talk about love. Real love. Talk about unparalleled generosity. Talk about two gorgeous hunks of man flesh. Well, then you must be talking about Ryan Robinson and Brian Sidney Bembridge. These gentlemen are my personal heroes and dear friends. And I just want to call this one for posterity: I predict one day in the not too distant future, Ryan will be as well known as Annie Leibovitz and Brian will be on stage and in all of our living rooms, accepting his Tony. You heard it here first...

WHO Ryan Robinson is a photographer based out of Chicago. Born and raised in a small farm town in Illinois, Ryan is best known for his brightly colored portraits peppered with humor, wit and a little irreverence. Ryan’s growing list of advertising clients include AT&T, Discover Card, Statefarm Insurance, National City, SC Johnson, Hampton Inn, Bosch Tools, Crains Chicago Business, Arts & Business Council and his images have appeared in TIME, Maxim, GQ, Chicago Magazine, Time Out Chicago, ESPN, Runner’s World, UFC and numerous others.

Brian Sidney Bembridge is an award winning scenic and lighting designer for theater and film. He has designed over 200 shows; everything from a Muppet Movie to Chekov and Shakespeare. His work has been seen in almost every main stage in Chicago as well as many regional theaters across the country. Brian just received a Joseph Jefferson Award for his Scenic Design of History Boys, making him a five time JEFF Award recipient.





RYAN'S GIFT
I’m a bit OCD when it comes to doing the dishes: organization is key. We don’t own a dishwasher, but that isn’t such a big deal when you’re placing your squeaky clean dishes and stemware on a sexy dishrack from Black + Blum of London. I recently gifted this to myself in hopes of enlightening our dish-doing experience. A dishrack as a gift? Yes. It’s a perfect place for delicate crystal stemware or heirloom dinnerware that cannot be thrown in the dishwasher.






BRIAN'S GIFT
This is such a simple gift, but it keeps on giving all year long . I am a magazine whore. I buy them for research, for shows I'm currently designing and for future projects. I get ideas for our home, our kitchen, the theater, decorating for the holidays, green ideas, shopping...the list is endless. I love to pair up a subscription with a friend that might be something they wouldn't buy for themselves, but I know will enrich their lives. Past favorites are Dwell, Wallpaper, Surface, and Martha Stewart Living. But there are so many ideas out there: art, cooking, travel, decorating and children's magazines. I remember getting Sesame Street Magazine when I was a young tyke. I was so excited every month to get something addressed to me and then open it up and read the articles and figure out the puzzles. It is still great fun!

WHERE DO YOU (BOTH) LIVE? Fulton Market, Chicago, Illinois




RYAN, WHAT INSPIRES YOU? my husband, quirky news reports, the weather, architecture and salvage yards.

GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF? Homemade pizza. I’ve perfected my crust this year from a recipe I found over at Smitten Kitchen. The trick? Patience and olive oil. Also, baking the pizza only on parchment paper and in a 500˚ F oven. For toppings, nothing beats freshly snipped basil (mine is still kickin’, even in December), farmers' market tomatoes, mozzarella and freshly shaved parmesan. Simple, fresh quick.








BRIAN, WHAT INSPIRES YOU? curiosity, water, people that give, how small we really are (I just realized this on our trip to Kaua'i).

GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF?
Liquid concoctions. I love to make the martini, sweet or savory, strong, and bold.

The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Laura Letinsky

Years ago, I went to art school to study photography and the school's museum had a world class photo collection; everything from André Kertész to Garry Winogrand and Barbara Kruger. You could make an appointment with the archives, slip on some white cotton gloves, and request to have a private audience with any piece in the collection. It was there I was first struck by Laura Letinsky's work. To me, her still lifes were like Dutch paintings with their exquisite modeling of light, color and texture and I loved the way they stirred curious imaginings in my head, like, "What exactly happened at that table?" Years later, we met through a mutual friend and I discovered she's a serious eater and cook. I will brag and say she once made me bouillibase and garlic aioli from scratch. I am thrilled to introduce you to both Laura's work and her excellent taste...

WHO Laura Letinsky is an artist and a professor at the University of Chicago’s Department of Visual Art. Her ongoing photographic still life project examines what is “after the fact,” what (ma)lingers, what persists and by inference, what is gone. Her pictures have been shown at various museums and galleries including The Cleveland Museum, Michael Sturm Galerie, Stuttgart, Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Casino Luxenbourg, The Canadian Museum of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, and the Nederlands Foto Institute. Laura is represented by Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York and Monique Meloche in Chicago.
(I encourage you to click and enlarge these images)



THE GIFT For me, there's a long list of requisite eating associated with this time of year transitioning from summer’s ceviches, cold borscht, and lime drinks into fall’s butternut squash ravioli and concord grapes to winter’s pomegranates, egg nog with rum, Manhattan's, citrus in all guises and finally, cassoulet. But when it comes to the holidays I’m a traditionalist and eschew most innovations. I’m more of a salt-aholic, but a Christmas treat of Vosges Bapchis Caramel Toffee has become an essential. It's sweet, salty, crunchy, creamy, chocolate-y, nutty, caramel-y (you get the idea) perfection.
In close competition are two childhood treats, Poppycock and Terry’s Chocolate Orange, definitely not on par with Proust’s madeleine, but nostalgic nonetheless. In my mind this relates to a well-trod dilemma, the conflict between aesthetics and ethics in the sense that while Vosges is superior by any evaluation, I remain faithful to enacting an experience that despite all rational, still connects me to the way it was back then. And, if you can follow the tangent - that is why I’m a photographer.

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Chicago, Illinois

WHAT INSPIRES YOU? Kids, husband, garden, porcini, pork belly....

GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF? It is my habit, addiction, and joy to cook almost daily for me, my family, and friends. Over the years I’ve come to rely on a range of dishes, primarily Mediterranean-influenced, that emphasize good ingredients and simple preparations such as trofie pasta with oil-roasted cherry tomatoes (from my garden), garlic, oregano and sheep’s milk feta. Or, octopus that has been simmered for a couple of hours in wine, lemon and herbs, then cut into sections and sautéed along with Yukon Gold potatoes, garlic (my garden!), parsley, and olive oil, til the edges of the potatoes and octopus get crispy, then served atop a bed of balsamic and olive oil-dressed arugula (and for its weed-like behavior, I am profoundly grateful).

The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Louisa Neumann

Welcome to the Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide! For the next three weeks you'll be introduced to a group of artists, authors, chefs, great home cooks, au courant shopkeepers, food artisans, farmers, food writers, bloggers, entrepreneurs and restaurateurs from around the country and around the world. I've asked them to submit, in their own words, their picks for a food-related gift they'd love to give or receive this holiday season. These are people I respect and admire, not only for their excellent taste, but for the brave and beautiful work they do in the world. Taking your creative gifts, passions and beliefs and turning them into successful business ventures takes fortitude and courage and each of these people share that in common. And now, without further ado, I bring you The Gift Guide...

WHO Louisa Neumann is a cooking instructor and recipe developer living in Portland, Oregon. She was taught to cook by a woman in Burgundy, France and a few others in Louisville and Boston. She enjoys blogging on Stumptown's emerging wild and crazy food scene at her blog, The Portland Pickle.

THE GIFT Let's face it: We're all broke this year, right? So do yourself a favor and lay off your battered and bruised Mastercard this holiday season. I'm all about being cheap but not seeming cheap this year. That's why this idea at Twig and Thistle caught my eye. For your kids' favorite teacher, coworker, or the neighbor who collects your mail while you're away consider this DIY gift. For just a few bucks assemble your own S'mores Kits. Put a finer touch on it by using high quality chocolate and make or buy artisan marshmallows. Have fun with the packaging, too. Use colorful ribbon and clear boxes to show off your goods. If you're not into s'mores, try your hand at canning. Consider canning sweet meyer lemons, which are in peak season right about now. Preserved meyer lemons are the secret ingredient to many Moroccan dishes, so why not include a few recipes with your confiture gift.

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Portland, Oregon

WHAT INSPIRES YOU? I'm inspired by the fact that I'll never know it all and also by my students, old and young.

GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF? I love preparing delicious dishes with otherwise humble ingredients. I tend to make something and run it into the ground - I recently did that with Nigella Lawson's zesty pasta with mushroom, garlic, lemon and thyme. It's the easiest and most refreshing pasta. I love it, love it, love it. But I need a break from it.