Kickstart This: The Middlewest, A Recipe Card Magazine Based In Chicago

The Midwest. Flyover states to some. Culinary mecca for many others. Hand raised in the air for the latter. Writer David Tamarkin is also a champion of fourth-coast dining — and he would know. By day (and many nights) he reviews restaurants at Time Out Chicago, also serving as the magazine's Food Editor for the past four years. He's in a cool spot covering the Chi — writing about one of the country's most diverse and growing food scenes (Mexican, ramen, degustation menus, gastropubs, burgers, farm-to-table pizza, Achatz).

And now, Tamarkin is poised to expose the region's food scene a little further with Middlewest, a food magazine that is published in the form of recipe cards. Whoa, that's cool. The project is now live on Kickstarter, which is nearly to their $9,000 goal with 28 days to go. While the first issue (dropping in February 2013) will feature recipes from the Middlewest test kitchen, Tamarkin says that subsequent issues will be guest edited by Chicago area chefs.