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/422226
photography by anjali pinto "He's sucH a talented cHef. tHe world needs to know JoHn Manion." —april francis Bar manager Derek Payne shakes up smart cocktails like the Dos Mil Diez. below: Jalapeño gives the kale salad a jolt of heat. Ellen, you've got some news, too. EM: We just launched Morsel, where chefs and anyone else can tell their food stories online…. I think we've lost a bit of the storytelling element and community in regards to food, so we're trying to bring back those stories. AF: I'm enchanted by it. One of the stories I followed was about a chef finding the inspiration to make a particular dessert that I [now] want to eat so much. [cocktails are served ] EM: Cheers! AF: Cheers! EM: What's interesting is that 53 percent of all of our traffic is mobile. It's our future. AF: I love tech. My first business—I was 12 or 13—was building websites for people I knew who owned businesses. And I've always built the Dose website. How are the drinks? EM: I'll need three more. The caipirinha is delicious. AF: Mine's incredible—not too sweet. It's refreshing, and it has a little cracked pepper in it. [ceviche is served ] What else is coming up for you in 2015? EM: Well, hopefully Google will buy us for $7 billion... AF: That start-up vision—I love it! EM: We just built it, so it's white-knuckle. Seven days a week. AF: And Dose is moving to quarterly, which makes a lot of sense with everything I've learned over the past four years. Enjoying the ceviche? AF: It's delicious. I love the pineapple; it balances the heat in the sauce. What are your favorite things about winter in the city? EM: Ice skating. I go to Millennium Park in the middle of the day when everyone else is working. I might bring a f lask. I'm not saying yes or no. [Laughs] AF: I love Mindy's Hot Chocolate. Definitely a great stop for winter. Have you made any new year's resolutions? EM: I have the same one every year: I'd like to be bored. There's always stuff going on, it's a vibrant city, and I'm at a start-up. So I want to be bored. Not very sexy, is it? Like a sexy kind of bored. [Laughs] AF: That's my resolution, too. I want to be a sexy kind of bored! [Moqueca (seafood stew) and kale salad with roasted poblano dressing, cotija cheese, and pepitas are served ] How's the kale? AF: Incredible as always. It's all about the cheese for me. EM: I like that he's using curly kale. Everyone else uses Tuscan. And the moqueca is beautiful. I've been eating it since Mas opened in '99. So what's your final verdict? AF: He's such a talented chef. The world needs to know John Manion. EM: I think he should do breakfast. Pretty soon all the Google workers will be in this neighborhood. EM: They'll need breakfast. And I'll be here for breakfast in case they want to buy my company. Hello! ma 102 michiganavemag.com taste On the town