Nicole Schnitzler

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Stories By Nicole Schnitzler

  • Jean Banchets Vs. James Beards: Why Chicago Embraces Its Own Awards Ceremony

    This Sunday marked the 17th annual Jean Banchet Awards, the only Chicago-based awards presentation that honors the city's own food and drink talent. Between cocktail attire, flowing champagne and an edge-of-seat experience for audience nominees, it’s easy to liken this event to another awards ceremony for which Chicago has become known: the James Beard Awards,…

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  • Check Out The Vertical, A Comedic Web Series About Food Publishing

    When Jess Adamiak moved to New York to work in publishing, it wasn’t long before she broke into the industry, landing a web production gig at Condé Nast’s Bon Appétit.“There I was, 23 years old with unhemmed jeans, straight out of Pittsburgh, and riding in the elevator next to Anna Wintour,” says Adamiak, who recalls a…

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  • The Many Faces Of Mooncakes

    Every September, Elmo Han spends untold hours toiling with an ancient art form — hand-making mooncakes for the annual Mid-Autumn Festival. These round-shaped pastries, stuffed with a variety of fillings, are the official go-to snack of the traditional Chinese holiday. Taking place on September 15, the festival marks the time of year when the moon is at its roundest and brightest (also…

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  • Bartenders Get Serious About Cereal Cocktails

    Not all Trix are for kids — at least, not the kind offered at the Sixth in Chicago. “In creating our menu, we were constantly thinking of ways to lighten up the mood and make things a little more whimsical,” says beverage director Benjamin Schiller. The team reveals such know-how in cocktails like the Silly Rabbit, a highball…

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  • Chicago's Best Late-Night Bites

    Chicago doesn't have the reputation for sleeplessness that New York does, but don’t be too quick to throw shade. The Midwest hub is home to more than 70 late-night bars (for better or worse). And while there’s no shortage of reliable, ‘round-the-clock diners in these parts, there’s also no reason to limit your options to blintzes…

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  • Why Chef Grant Achatz Gave Cocktails A Shot

    Acclaimed Chicago chef Grant Achatz is one of the featured keynote speakers at this year's Tales of the Cocktail, the world's premier cocktail festival, taking place July 19-24, 2016, in New Orleans. When Grant Achatz and his team huddled up a few years ago to open the Aviary, Chicago’s groundbreaking drinking destination, food was never far from…

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  • 5 Trends We've Spotted In Chicago Restaurants This Summer

    It may not be New York or Los Angeles, but between its premier restaurants, the annual National Restaurant Association trade show and the recent James Beard Foundation Awards, Chicago is proving to be a tough food-and-beverage contender to keep up with these days. And while out-of-town talent and ideas are always welcome in these parts —…

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  • Learn To Make Piedmont-Style Pasta At Chicago's Osteria Langhe

    Osteria Langhe chef Cameron Grant has always had an appreciation for hyperlocal and fresh ingredients. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he grew up alongside a sprawling fruit and vegetable garden, which his mother relied on frequently for the family’s home-cooked meals. But it wasn’t until his stage at La Ciau Del Tornavento, a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Barbaresco…

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  • Check Out This Peruvian Seafood Primer From Tanta's Jesus Delgado

    Tanta chef Jesus Delgado is serious about fresh seafood. While he’s been getting accustomed to lakefront life in Chicago since the River North restaurant’s August 2013 opening, he travels back frequently to his home country of Peru. So much so, in fact, that he recently bought a hostel and bar in Mancora, a surf town in…

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  • Chefs Clean Up Real Nice For The James Beard Awards

    On his walk down the red carpet outside the Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York chef Marcus Samuelsson is wearing an equally red jacket. "I bought this blazer at a store downtown — it’s Yves Saint Laurent," says Samuelsson, whose stunning outfit also includes a black tie, black trousers, a pair of white sneakers and an old vest that once belonged…

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  • Home Cooking: Why Chicago Will Crush It At This Year's James Beard Awards

    The hometown crowd was shocked during last year's James Beard Awards in Chicago, when Cleveland's Jonathon Sawyer took the title of Best Chef: Great Lakes, upstaging his fellow finalists — all Chicago-based — on their own turf. But here’s the good news, Chi-Town: This year, it’s in the bag. That’s because all five finalists dwell in the Second…

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  • Zen And The Art Of Canned Seafood

    Ashlee Aubin, chef at Chicago's modern Spanish restaurant Salero, is well aware of the stigma associated with canned seafood. “In America, it was always a cheap thing, linked with tuna sandwiches when you were a kid, or a bad experience with a crappy anchovy,” he says. “I think some people have been scared off by bad examples because…

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  • 7 Non-Potato Alternatives To Traditional French Fries

    It’s difficult to challenge the traditional french fry — after all, there’s good reason they’ve been around since the late 1600s. Even so, if we’re able to acquire health benefits with our fries on the side, be it a potassium boost or an increase in our daily fiber intake, all the better. From celery root…

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  • Five Chefs Share Their Food Vices

    They may be doling out caviar toast, Maine lobster salad and jackfruit carnitas to patrons while on the clock, but off duty, chefs are just like the rest of us, reaching for pints of ice cream, handfuls of fried pork skin, and slabs of processed cheese to help cater to the hyper-specific guilty pleasures that…

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  • Meet Four Couples Who Make It Work In The F&B World

    Between a shared passion for all things food and drink, a fun and unconventional lifestyle, and a romantic, boy-meets-girl tale to tell friends, it might seem as though couples in the food and drink industry have a lot to brag about. And they do. But they’d also be the first ones to tell you that…

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  • In Search Of The Best Apples To Make Hard Cider

    Colin Davis was consulting with Sunrise Orchards when he first met David Dolginow, who was heading up the orchard’s business development. They bypassed pies and apple sauce for one product they favored in particular: hard cider.When the Cornwall, Vermont–based orchard wasn’t on board, the two decided to go it together, putting on tastings of locally…

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  • 6 Digestifs To Get You Through Christmas Dinner

    Between at least two rounds of stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey and pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving does a real number on us — and any piece of clothing with a button. We get a nice monthlong break for our stomachs to shrink back to normal operating size, and then we up and do it all over again…

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  • 6 Exciting New Restaurants In Austin, Texas

    Austin has no shortage of excellent food and drink options, and that number is only growing, thanks to a handful of new restaurants and bars that have landed in the live-music capital of the world. Whether you're looking for rib-sticking Southern staples, hearty Italian classics or exotic wild game grilled up by a big-name chef,…

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  • 7 Daring Vermouths For Your James Bond 007 Martini

    On Friday, Sony Pictures releases its latest James Bond film, Spectre, the 24th installment in the long-running spy movie series. Which makes this as good a time as any to celebrate the iconic character who knew exactly what he wanted out of a martini. As Bond puts it in Ian Fleming’s original 1953 novel Casino…

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