Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/297393
COOKIES ARE FOREVER "I like all cookies the same," says James Beard Award–winning pastry chef Mindy Segal. "I go through stages." Soon, Segal—and fans of her legendary sweets—can eat through all those stages, when she opens a new, yet-to-be-named, 6,000-square-foot bak- ery and café near Logan Square, a sibling of her nearly decade-old Bucktown restaurant Hot Chocolate. While crazes for doughnuts and cupcakes have soared in the last few years, for Segal cookies are for- ever. "When you were a little girl or boy and you were crying, your mom gave you a cookie," she says. "You can't say you don't like cookies." Segal's new spot will offer at least 20 types— chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, sandwich—that will rotate regularly (it will also serve breakfast pastries and sweet bread). So will cookies be the next big thing? Says Segal, "I don't think there was a time when there wasn't a desire for cookies." Bakery opens in fall 2014; select cookies available now at Mindy's Hot Chocolate, 1747 N. Damen Ave., 773-489-1747; hotchocolatechicago.com While mainstays like Harold's Chicken Shack have fed Chicagoans for decades, it's a new crop of chicken spots, including Avondale's Honey Butter Fried Chicken, that has lassoed the latest generation of bird lovers and is holding them tight. "There's always been a good culture of fried chicken in Chicago," says Honey Butter partner Josh Kulp. "[We just add] our own touches and spices." Kulp and his partner, Christine Cikowski, have seen their poultry's reputation thrive since introducing it at their underground Sunday Dinner Club. Its fans flock to the casual, fun spot on Elston Avenue to line up for their share of legs, wings, and boneless breasts topped with the restaurant's addictive namesake honey butter, which melts into the fresh-from- the-fryer chicken. 3361 N. Elston Ave., 773-478-4000; honeybutter.com IT'S FRIED CHICKEN, HONEY HOME-STYLE TASTE TRENDS PHOTOGRAPHY BY GALDONES PHOTOGRAPHY (CHICAGO Q); TIMOTHY MUSHO (CHICKEN); JON SHAFT (SEGAL) favorite among the cit y's home- style gourmet spots. And the trend ha s only intensif ied in t he pa st few years, as barbecue has been joined by fried chicken as a com- fort food given an upscale twist. "Lee A nn's place really did a lot to elevate what barbecue can be," says Smoque BBQ co-owner Barry Sorkin. "It doesn't have to be a hole -in-t he -wa ll shack. It can be a great restaurant and put out great food." Just wa l k i ng i n t he door of Chicago q's cozy Dearborn Street space, it's immediately clear that this is no typical barbecue joint: Gleaming bottles of high-end and small- batch bourbon line a gorgeous wooden bar. In the bustling dining room, comfy green leather booths offset white wainscoting; large mirrors hang between tables that sit beneath pendants with linen shades; and over- looking the entire handsome room is a massive photo mural of a Virginia country road. Indeed, if it weren't for the buzzing crowd and the intensely smoky scent wafting from the open kitchen in the back, you might think you'd stepped inside one of the homes in the tony surrounding neighbor- hood. And in a way, you have—for Whippen (who has been a regular on TV shows like Throwdown with Bobby Flay), Chicago q is all about offer- ing an "intimate at-home dining experience, which is overlooked too often in the restaurant community today," she says. Whippen herself is a highly respected figure on the Chicago restaurant scene, described as "personable," "engag ing," and above all "impres- sive" by her colleagues and barbecue-world contemporaries. "Lee Ann is passionate, cares, tries hard, and is smart and talented," says Sweet Baby Ray's founder Dave Raymond, a close friend. "What's most impres- sive to me is that she does so much by herself." W het her it 's 50 - somet h i ng busi nessmen out for post -meet i ng Manhattans shaken with Angel's Envy bourbon (a signature q cocktail) alongside slabs of baby back ribs; young families bonding over moist chicken and smoky pulled pork with sides of fried green tomatoes and continued on page 98 continued from page 94 TOP LEFT: The bar offers dozens of wines and more than 50 bourbons. ABOVE: Start your meal with barbecued shrimp and herb-infused grits. 96 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM TASTE 094-098_MA_ST_SMD-GuidedTour_May-June_14.indd 96 4/14/14 2:10 PM