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Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾 @louisachu.bsky.social · 2d

🍕 Free gift link to my review here:
chicagotribune.com/2025/10/07/restaurant-review-pizzamici/?share=zghztucrapt1m0cuiasa

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · 3d

Pizz’amici makes one of the best thin crusts in the city, but reservations and service can get in the way unless you know the rules.

Restaurant review: Pizz’amici making new tavern style pizza history on Grand Avenue in Chicago

The pizzeria makes one of the best thin crusts in the city, but reservations and service can get in the way unless you know the rules.

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Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾 @louisachu.bsky.social · 17d

🎄 I’m on vacation this week, but had to share, because The Walnut Room holiday reservations go live tomorrow!

🎁 Free gift link here:
chicagotribune.com/2025/09/23/guide-walnut-room-reservation/?share=nt9ob3ercwtorwietatl

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · 17d

The Walnut Room, the legendary Chicago restaurant best known for Mrs. Hering’s chicken pot pie, opens holiday reservations this week with a new executive chef.

Restaurant guide: How to get holiday reservations at The Walnut Room, with a new executive chef, in Chicago

Holiday reservations for the Walnut Room, arguably the season’s toughest tables in town, open Sept. 25 at 9 a.m. on OpenTable.

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 24d

Many will have a more comprehensive look at his career. I wanted to do something short on the elusiveness he gave to his characters that made them interesting conundrums rather than a blank

No role exemplified this better than 1973’s “The Way We Were." Hubbell, you absolute coward!

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In appreciation: Robert Redford’s elusiveness on screen made him a more complicated actor

No role exemplified this better than 1973’s “The Way We Were.”

www.chicagotribune.com

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Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾 @louisachu.bsky.social · 24d

✨ Free gift link to my review here!
chicagotribune.com/2025/09/16/restaurant-review-north-pond-chicago/?share=ngcpthi1ies20catwout

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · 24d

North Pond, the rustic yet refined iconic Chicago restaurant open in Lincoln Park since 1998, whose defining chef departed after an award-winning career spanning 20 years, has found new confidence and curiosity through the extraordinary lived experience of executive chef César Murillo.

Restaurant review: North Pond reflects new confidence and curiosity of chef César Murillo in Chicago

Executive chef César Murillo has perhaps become best known as a contestant on the reality television series “Top Chef” just this year.

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Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾 @louisachu.bsky.social · Sep 10

Free gift link to my story here!
chicagotribune.com/2025/09/09/restaurant-news-luellas-southern-kitchen/?share=9owrn2ucltuiognh20mh

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Sep 9

Luella’s Southern Kitchen, the beloved restaurant best known for its buttermilk fried chicken or perhaps crab stuffed shrimp with house-smoked grits, has made a long-anticipated move after 10 years in Lincoln Square — along with a big menu change.

Restaurant news: Luella’s Southern Kitchen makes big moves in Albany Park, among 12 openings around Chicago

Darnell Reed bought the building, marking ownership for the ode to his great-grandmother, who migrated from Morgan City, Mississippi, in 1943.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾 @louisachu.bsky.social · Aug 12

Free gift link to my review here!
chicagotribune.com/2025/08/11/restaurant-review-elawa-farm-cafe/?share=1crh5anwah0bewascehw

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Aug 11

Elawa Farm, the historic former country escape built by a couple with a meatpacking fortune has evolved into a foundation with an ethereal café, elegant market and earnest mission.

Restaurant review: Elawa Farm, a beautifully bountiful café and market in Lake Forest

The historic former country escape has evolved into a foundation with an ethereal café, elegant market and earnest mission.

trib.al

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Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾 @louisachu.bsky.social · Aug 5

Free gift link here:
chicagotribune.com/2025/08/05/restaurant-news-cerdito-muerto/?share=uowwcawoimccrt0utbns

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Aug 5

Cerdito Muerto, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar with a contemporary Mexican American kitchen that’s transformed an old family home that survived the Great Chicago Fire, opened in Pilsen on June 26.

Restaurant news: Cerdito Muerto, a cocktail bar and Mexican American kitchen, transforms an old family home in Pilsen

Owned by Emidio Oceguera, the space was once his mother’s restaurant, Tacos Palacio, and his late father’s neighborhood pool hall.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾 @louisachu.bsky.social · Jul 29

Free gift link to my review here:
chicagotribune.com/2025/07/28/restaurant-review-carnitas-uruapan/?share=r2omabtsgaessns5ni7p

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Jul 28

Las Carnitas Uruapan La Villita, the newest Mexican restaurant by the first family of pork in Chicago, brings 50 years of tradition and transformation to a flagship committed to the community in Little Village.

Restaurant review: Las Carnitas Uruapan La Villita, a flagship for pork in Chicago

Las Carnitas Uruapan La Villita brings 50 years of tradition and transformation to a flagship committed to the community in Little Village.

trib.al

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Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾 @louisachu.bsky.social · Jul 15

Free gift link to my review here:
chicagotribune.com/2025/07/14/restaurant-review-mahari-chicago/?share=oeeauaanenw0eiiae277

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Jul 14

Mahari brings not just the vibrant cuisines of the African diaspora to Chicago, but chefs tracing their cultures and blazing their own paths.

Restaurant review: Mahari, a neighborhood home with the cuisine of the African diaspora in Hyde Park

Mahari brings not just the vibrant cuisines of the African diaspora to Chicago, but chefs tracing their cultures and blazing their own paths.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Jim W @jimdiego123.bsky.social · Jul 14

This place sounds awesome!

Also, never read restaurant reviews when you're already hungry.

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Jul 14

Mahari brings not just the vibrant cuisines of the African diaspora to Chicago, but chefs tracing their cultures and blazing their own paths.

Restaurant review: Mahari, a neighborhood home with the cuisine of the African diaspora in Hyde Park

Mahari brings not just the vibrant cuisines of the African diaspora to Chicago, but chefs tracing their cultures and blazing their own paths.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾 @louisachu.bsky.social · Jul 1

🎁 Free gift link to my review here 🍝
chicagotribune.com/2025/06/30/restaurant-review-void-chicago/?share=ntn5ogmowccwuesowid0

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Jun 30

While the Italian American restaurant Void does whimsy well, most evident with its Spaghetti Uh-O’s and No-Lört, it’s become one of the best restaurants in Chicago right now, writes @louisachu.bsky.social.

Restaurant review: Void, a whimsical Italian American refuge for the weird and wonderful in Chicago

Spaghetti Uh-O’s emerged early as the signature dish since opening in Avondale last August, along with their non-alcoholic No-Lört.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · Jun 26

Bottom line: Season 4 doesn’t feel like a tonal or thematic departure from Season 3 … meaning all the things that viewers liked — and criticized — about S3 are present in S4

That’s 20 eps over 2 seasons. The show’s writers are taking their time! It’s fair to ask if they’ve used it wisely

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‘The Bear’ review: With the threat of closure imminent in Season 4, can the restaurant live to cook another day?

The ongoing misadventures of Carmy & Co. as they work to sustain a viable fine dining establishment in Chicago.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · Jun 26

Carmy has recreated the same toxic workplace conditions he disliked so much at the height of his career before coming back home, and I wish the show had committed to exploring that irony … and the idea that it was worth pursuing over the idea of serving high quality affordable food to da masses

The world of "The Bear" is insular, so much so that it has all but forgotten about the vague notion of neighborhood regulars who kept The Beef in business. That it was once a fixture of the community and affordable for anyone.

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · Jun 26

The series has become more of a character study with only occasional nods to plot. S4 is an extension of that and could have been condensed to fit into S3, leaving room for more propulsive storytelling this time

But mostly it had me longing for the qualities that made me love it’s initial outting

I miss the ragtag, kinetic, blue-collar energy established in the first season, when it was a collection of sweaty, frazzled, oddball personalities banging around in that grease-stained, beef juice-spattered kitchen and trying like hell to figure out a way to work together. Here's how Richie remembers the old place: "At the beef stand? You walked in, and that place was rockin', alright? It was alive and you were part of it and it was a vibe in there." And there was a dark comedy coursing through so much of it.
Or as the Tribune's food and dining writer Ahmed Ali Akbar told me last year: The show was originally a story about "Carmy's big head trying to fit itself in that small kitchen and every individual having their own reasons for resisting him. But ultimately, they can't, because he owns the place."

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · Jun 26

REVIEW: “The Bear” is back for Season 4

A digital clock has been placed in the kitchen to count down the minutes over the next two months and if the restaurant’s finances don’t improve by the time it reaches zero, The Bear will close for good. Will the restaurant live to cook another day?

‘The Bear’ review: With the threat of closure imminent in Season 4, can the restaurant live to cook another day?

The ongoing misadventures of Carmy & Co. as they work to sustain a viable fine dining establishment in Chicago.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Reposted by Louisa Kung Liu Chu 朱功蕾

Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · Jun 23

www.chicagotribune.com/2024/07/02/c...

Nina: Let me go off on a quick tangent: One of my critiques of a show like HBO’s “The White Lotus” is that it’s not an effective satire because it has no interest in the experiences and (likely scathing) point of view of the people who do all the manual labor that keeps these five-star resorts in pristine condition. The housekeeping staff see everything (and are tasked with cleaning it) and they are often treated as invisible — or worse. (“The Chambermaid,” which was Mexico’s 2019 Oscar submission, is a great corrective.)

To that same end, I was curious about the dishwashers at The Bear. Who are they? What are their stories? Are they new hires or holdovers from The Beef? What do they make of all the shouting in the kitchen? (Maybe they don’t care about any of the drama!) I’m curious about all the facets needed to run a restaurant, so I’m interested in other things beyond the “sexier” work of devising these intricate menus. Do dishwashers ever socialize with kitchen staff, or is there a pretty clear class line dividing them? Where does the waitstaff fall in terms of status at a restaurant like this?

Ahmed: I also want to learn more about them! It’s a bit hard to say with any broad generality, but I’d certainly want to know how this particular set of dishwashers relates to the rest of the staff. In my experience, you’d get some of the most interesting stories about restaurants and the industry speaking with dishwashers, cashiers and other behind-the-scenes workers.

The show is torn between its interest in workplace dramedy and character study on grief and family. I miss longer seasons of TV where those characters could be breakouts if they had more space.

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