Summer Peak Season's Last Gleaming?
The markets' transition from summer to fall, plus a visit to Honey Butter Fried Chicken
Here Comes the Sun(set)
We are still a couple of weeks or so from the day when the sun peeks around the western edge of our apartment building. From that day on for six months, we’ll be able to see the sunsets from our living room (assuming it’s not cloudy, of course).
Until then, it’s not exactly a hardship to go to the building’s roof deck (400-ish feet from the ground) to watch the spectacle. Here’s what the last flicker of sunlight looked like last night (September 13).
Lovely afterglow, too.
Still Putting the Butter on the Chicken
Local Food Forum on Monday (September 11) published an article about Honey Butter Fried Chicken — one of our culinary community’s entrepreneurial success stories — and its multi-day “Pop-Up-Palooza” event, which began on Tuesday, to mark its 10th anniversary.
I paid a visit on Wednesday to share my congratulations; visit with my friends from Pickled Prince, the guest co-host for that evening’s festivities; and yes, buy a lot of tasty fried chicken for the rest of this week’s meals.
Chef-co-owners Josh Kulp and Christine Cikowski became friends during their culinary training at Chicago’s Kendall College and started their professional partnership with Sunday Dinner Club (SDC), whose “underground” pop-up dinners proved popular. They gained visibility during a stint of several years serving up SDC Burgers from a stand at Green City Market (and if you’ve been missing those burgers, Christine and Josh will be dishing them up on the restaurant’s patio tonight).
I met Christine and Josh shortly before they opened Honey Butter Fried Chicken on September 14, 2013 (exactly 10 years ago) and was impressed with their dedication to sustainable, local sourcing and their worker-friendly approach to management, even before I got to taste their delicious and inventive take on comfort food. With an already robust following from Sunday Dinner Club, they enjoyed immediate success, and the growth of their loyal customer base helped them push through the hardships of the pandemic.
The 10th anniversary celebration is six days long, with each day featuring a different guest co-host or specialty food item.
Wednesday night’s service featured Pickled Prince, whose pickles, hot sauces, giardiniera, sauerkraut and other fermented items are produced by the husband-and-wife chef team of Brian Greene and Alex Skrzypczyk.
They made the menu items in the photo below. Customers are also able to order from the restaurant’s regular menu.
Click the button below to view the rest of the Pop-Up-Palooza schedule. Once is not enough for me, so I’m planning to go back on Saturday. Tribecca’s Sandwich Shop’s Cubano sandwich beckons me.
Still Peak Season But Peeking Into Fall
This morning I paid a visit to Daley Plaza Farmers Market, the downtown flagship of the public Chicago City Markets. As you can see in the photos above, there are still plenty of those summer favorites for sale. But… the autumnal equinox is coming up fast on September 23, and there are more hints of the season change at every subsequent market visit.
The not-so-hidden message: Time flies, and if you blink, you may miss the last of summer’s farmers market bounty. Local Food Forum is here to help. Here’s your weekend regional farmers market schedule.