Eat this! Tzimmes, a sweet start to the Jewish New Year

Jews serve tzimmes at Rosh Hashana, a holiday rich in symbolic foods, because custom calls for serving sweet dishes at the High Holidays in hopes of a sweet New Year.

Friday food porn: Beeting it at Gemini Bistro

Tuck into chunks of roasted baby beets, drizzled with white truffle vinaigrette and sprinkled with goat cheese, alongside lamb’s lettuce, $8 at Gemini Bistro in Lincoln Park.
The American restaurant celebrates its first anniversary Sept. 7–12 with a $29.09 three-course prix fixe.

Eat this! Chow chow and piccalilli pickle the Southern harvest

Almost any food can be pickled, and in the South most things are. Chef Paul of Big Jones in Andersonville generously shares his recipes for Southern-style mirliton chow chow, onion pickle, pickled okra, dill refrigerator pickles and piccalilli.

Friday food porn: The toast of tomato season at Pinstripes

At Pinstripes in Northbrook and South Barrington they brush slices of ciabatta with extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt bread, grill them and cover them with organic grape tomatoes, chunks of fresh mozzarella and a glaze of 7-year-old balsamic vinegar, and serve them with a garnish of wild arugula and shaved pecorino.

Friday food porn: Loving Wollensky’s lobster

The lobster “cocktail” at Smith & Wollensky’s river-level Grill: a chilled whole Maine lobster served with house-made ginger dipping sauce and cocktail sauce made with freshly grated horseradish, $19.

Friday food porn: A seasonal reason to get up in the morning

The classic BLT as eggs benedict.

Upscale Chicago eateries serving prisoners’ produce

Upscale restaurants such as Charlie Trotter’s in Lincoln Park andThe Publican in the West Loop are quietly benefitting from the labor of Cook County Jail inmates.

Friday food porn: Porky pleasure at Big Jones

Big Jones in Andersonville brines a bone-in Niman Ranch pork chop in Southern-style sweet tea and serves it on a bed of baked-bean puree scattered with a succotash of baby lima beans, sweet corn, bacon, onions, peppers and celery, $23.

Hooray! Tomato season is coming!

I’m looking forward to the coming months of sun-ripened, locally grown tomatoes.

Eat this! Cherries, a fruit to cherish

Julie Swieca created this cherry recipe for the Geja’s Cafe 45th Anniversary Recipe contest. Geja’s anniversary celebrations, June 27 through July 1, also include a 45-percent discount off food bills.