Chicago Chef Jason Vincent Teams With Chicago Recipe Zine Middlewest
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. He previously reviewed restaurants at Time Out Chicago, also serving as the magazine's Food Editor. 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).
Earlier this year Tamarkin launched a new kind of food magazine with the goal of raising Midwest awareness, while presenting stories and recipes in a fresh format — instead of a traditional staple-stich magazine, the stories are laid out in the form of recipe cards. The debut issue of Middlewest featured 10 recipes for spring including lamb hand pies and a strawberry-basil icebox cake. And now we receive word from Tamarkin that issue two is ready to be unveiled, with a slightly different format. The recipe cards remain, but instead of developing recipes himself, Tamarkin asked Chicago chef (and Food Republic 10 Things I Hate veteran) Jason Vincent to develop. You may recall Vincent is the chef at Nightwood in the city's Pilsen neighborhood, as well as a recent Food & Wine Best New Chef and winner of the Grand Cochon in 2012.
"Jason is the weirdest chef I know," says Tamarkin via email. "His food is unfathomable and unexpected. And 99 percent of the time it works. So that's exciting to me. And I wanted to have that excitement in my magazine."
According to a preview page, recipes will include a warm pear and brussels sprout salad and something called a goose fat schmear. For a bagel? Oh NO YOU DIDN'T. There will also be a guide to making flawless gnocchi. You can order issue 1 and issue 2 here.
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