Chow Down Chicago: Good Eats from the Windy City

There's something special about caramel apples. They conjure up seasonal vibes and memories of childhood. And Chicagoans know it's Fall when Affy Tapple-brand caramel apples appear at the local supermarket, often in a display close to the store's entrance. Caramel apples are created by dipping apples on sticks into hot caramel. When other toppings, such as nuts, are added, the caramel apple can be called a taffy apple. Chicago's Affy Tapple company was founded in 1948 when Edna Kastrup, a bookkeeper for a local confectioner, invented her signature caramel recipe. The recipe is still used by the company today. The Kastrup family opened their Affy Tapple factory and store at 7117 N. Clark Street in 1952. They chose the name "Affy Tapple" so that they would appear first in the confectionary section of the telephone book.  In the 1960s, Affy Tapples began to be sold for local school fundraisers. For many, "Affy Tapple Day" was a favorite day of the schoo...

What's sweet, salty, globally popular, extremely profitable, and originally from Chicago? Snickers, the confection consisting of a winning combination of peanuts, nougat, caramel, and milk chocolate, is the world's top-selling candy bar, with annual sales near $457 million in the U.S. and estimated at $3 billion worldwide. Snickers also has Chicago roots. Flash back to the 1920s. Mars, Incorporated, had already launched the successful Milky Way bar, and the company had just relocated from Minneapolis to a new factory at 2019 N. Oak Park Avenue in Chicago. At this time, Chicago was known as the " candy capital of the world " because of its large number of candy manufacturers. Mars company founder Frank Mars wanted to build "the most beautiful candy factory in America," and the picturesque Spanish Revival-style main factory building that resulted lived up to the hype. It took the company three years to develop the Snickers bar, which was named after the Mars f...

What's not to love about flaming cheese? It's exciting, it's delectable, it's everything you could want in an appetizer. While saganaki is a Greek dish, the idea of setting it aflame came from Chicago.  The word saganaki comes from the Greek word for a small pan with two handles: sagani.  In Greece, cheese (usually kasseri, feta, or halloumi) is fried in a sagani and served with bread. The Chicago version of flaming saganaki that is served as an appetizer at Greek restaurants is a little more dramatic: The cheese is first coated with flour and fried in olive oil. The oil is drained off and the cheese is splashed with brandy. The cheese is then lit on fire, usually by a server who shouts "Opa!" and puts out the flame with a squeeze of lemon. As for the choice of alcohol, brandy is used because it adds a touch of flavor and evaporates quickly; ouzo is a traditional Greek liquor that is often used in the dish, but any type of brandy will do. Kasseri cheese lends ...

The "mother-in-law" sandwich is quite possibly the strangest, most inventive, and most overstuffed Chicago culinary concoction. It consists of a Chicago corn roll tamale--you may know it as a Tom Tom--placed on a hot dog bun and covered with chili. And since mother-in-laws are usually sold at hot dog stands, they may be further topped with some or all of the traditional toppings of a Chicago-style hot dog: mustard, relish, chopped onions, tomato wedges, a pickle or cucumber spear, sport peppers, and celery salt. A variation of this sandwich is the "father-in-law," sometimes called the "humdinger," which is a mother-in-law covered with cheese. The late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain once called the mother-in-law "the evil stepbrother of the hot dog" and also "perhaps the greatest, most uniquely Chicago food invention."  The story of the mother-in-law begins with the late John Pawlikowski, who owned Fat Johnnie's Famous Red Hots at 7...

There's a scene in the classic Chicago-set 1980 movie The Blues Brothers where an orange whip drink is mentioned seemingly from out of nowhere. It's randomness is why it works, making it a perfect example of the offbeat humor that made the movie a cult classic. Having seen the movie many times, I always wondered: Just what the heck's an orange whip, anyway? Is there a reason why it was mentioned in the movie? And finally, can I make one at home? The Blues Brothers features lots of Chicago scenery and culture, including an exuberant musical number on Maxwell Street and an epic downtown car chase. The plot follows brothers Jake and Elwood Blues (played by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd) just after Jake's release from prison as they try to raise enough money to save the orphanage where they grew up before getting arrested for various, mostly driving-related violations. The brothers decide to get their old blues band back together, book a show to raise the money, and then p...

Chicken Vesuvio--chicken, potatoes, and sometimes peas baked in a white wine sauce--takes simple ingredients and turns them into something delicious. While its exact origins are unknown, the dish was popularized at Chicago's Italian restaurants beginning in the 1930s. Chicken Vesuvio is definitely filling; order it at a restaurant and you will not go hungry. It's also the perfect meal to help fuel you through long workdays and harsh winters. According to The Chicago Food Encyclopedia , Chicken Vesuvio may have first been served at Vesuvio restaurant, once located on Wacker Drive. According to the Chicago Tribune , the dish may have been created by Nick Giannotti of Giannotti's restaurant, which used to be located in the 'burbs. However, Gina Capitanini, owner of Italian Village restaurant in the Loop, believes her grandfather may have brought the dish over from Italy sometime before he opened his restaurant in 1927. The dish is named after either Vesuvio restaurant or M...

What makes a cheeseburger a "cheezborger"? When it's served at an establishment known for a stray farm animal, a sports curse, a Saturday Night Live skit, and Chicago-style attitude. I'm talking, of course, about the Billy Goat Tavern and Grill, one of the city's most famous burger joints. And the story behind the Billy Goat is stranger than fiction. The Billy Goat got its start in 1934 when Greek immigrant William Sianis purchased a tavern across the street from the Chicago Stadium (now the United Center). One day, a goat fell off a passing truck outside and wandered into the tavern. Sianis adopted the goat, who he named Murphy, grew a goatee himself, and soon became known by the nickname "Billy Goat." He also named his tavern after his new pet, who became the establishment's mascot. Among other pastimes, Murphy developed a fondness for drinking beer. Murphy would soon become infamous when he played a key role in a feud between Sianis and the Chicag...

There's a special tradition at Chet's Melody Lounge, a neighborhood bar located on Archer Avenue across the street from Resurrection Cemetery in southwest suburban Justice. Every Sunday, the bartender makes a bloody mary and leaves it in front of an open stool at the end of the bar. The seat and drink are reserved for none other than Resurrection Mary, Chicago's most famous ghost. I'll give you a recipe for a special Chicago-style bloody mary that you can use to make your own offering to this legendary ghost, but first here's a little more about Resurrection Mary. Chicagoans from all walks of life know about this vanishing hitchhiker ghost who haunts Archer Avenue and surrounding areas. Various songs have been written about her,* and her story was even featured on an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" in 1994.  The most common Resurrection Mary story goes something like this: A driver picks up a young woman in a white dress, often after a dance. When the car ...

  Jeppson's Malört was once a niche liqueur consumed mainly within Chicago's Swedish community. Now it's a Chicago favorite that can be found throughout the city and beyond. What caused this change? Turns out all it took was for someone to promote the comedic value of this extremely bitter-tasting drink. Malört is a Swedish liqueur similar to absinthe that is made with wormwood, a bitter herb. It has traditionally been used to treat intestinal parasites and other maladies such as indigestion, hangovers, and nausea. The word malört is Swedish for wormwood .  In the 1920s, Swedish immigrant Carl Jeppson started making his own version of Malört. (He came from a region in Sweden where wormwood grows wild.) Jeppson sold his liqueur door to door in Chicago's Swedish community on the North Side. He got around Prohibition laws by marketing his product as a tonic to cure stomach worms and parasites. Law enforcement concluded that because of its awful taste nobody would drink Mal...

Before the Chicago-style hot dog, there was the Depression dog. A more scaled-down version of the Chicago-style hot dog with its many toppings, the Depression dog is topped with only mustard, onions, sport peppers, and sometimes relish. It comes on a plain bun and is usually served with french fries that are either wrapped up with the dog or tossed on top of it. As the name suggests, Depression dogs were popular in Chicago around the time of the Great Depression (1929-1941). When looking at the origins of the Depression dog, it becomes clear that hot dogs and immigrants are closely linked. German immigrants brought sausage to the United States, and hot dogs became a popular street food in all major American cities that had German immigrant populations. The name “hot dog” was coined around 1890 and came from claims at the time that immigrants ate dogs and cats. (History repeats itself.)   During the Great Depression, vegetable cart owners in Chicago would sell hot dogs and fries wi...

Most people know the nursery rhyme "Hot Cross Buns," but lesser known is just how far back in history these treats go. Since ancient times, hot cross buns have been a way to celebrate faith, spring, and new life.  Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans offered small round breads with cross symbols to their gods and goddesses. Depending on the celebration, the cross symbolized the four seasons, the four quarters of the moon, or the horns of the sacrificial ox. In Greece, these ceremonial breads were called boun , which is where the word "bun" comes from. Pagan Anglo-Saxons baked crossed cakes to honor their goddess Eostre, who was celebrated with a springtime festival. Some elements of this festival were later adopted by Christians as Easter. In 1361, Christian monk Brother Thomas Rocliffe of St. Albans, England, developed a recipe for what he called "Alban buns" and distributed these crossed buns to the poor on Good Friday. Now the buns took on a Christian ...