Why I Love Spaghetti With Meat Sauceon March 23, 2021 at 1:34 pm

I have a confession: One of my favorite noodle dishes is spaghetti with meat sauce topped with melted American cheese. But before you come for me, note that I am not alone.

This is a longtime tradition in Black households, where this version of spaghetti is an ever-present side dish at cookouts, church revivals, and Sunday dinners. You’ll also find large tinfoil pans full of it at any soul food restaurant with a buffet. Why? I never thought about it until now, so I asked my mom. “It’s inexpensive and easy to make,” she said matter-of-factly, adding that it’s a staple as commonplace as macaroni and cheese, potato salad, and collard greens.

For me, the spaghetti was the perfect complement to the crispy buttermilk fried chicken, barbecue ribs, or smothered pork chops piled on my plate. A nice heap of the hearty pasta ensured I wouldn’t make a second trip to the buffet. No matter where I had it, the formula was the same: boiled noodles, tomato sauce made from scratch with ground beef and lots of fresh oregano and garlic. Some people make it on the stovetop, while others, like my mother, bake it in a large casserole dish, which seals in all the flavors. That’s always been my favorite version. In both methods, the American cheese is added when there are only a few minutes left to cook, so there’s a perfectly melted top layer of golden gooeyness.

Some may cringe at the American cheese, but as a kid, I thought it tasted like the pasta version of a cheeseburger. And who doesn’t love cheeseburgers? Melted mozzarella, Asiago, Parmesan, or provolone just don’t have the same effect. Don’t get me wrong — I’ve eaten and loved handmade pastas sprinkled with the very best cheeses at some of the world’s most celebrated Italian restaurants. But when I go home, I want soul food, and that’s spaghetti with meat sauce and American cheese.

Why I Love Spaghetti With Meat Sauceon March 23, 2021 at 1:34 pm Read More »

Noodles and Meatballs: A Global Affairon March 23, 2021 at 1:34 pm

Vietnam

Bánh Canh Tôm Cua

Hai Yen

A mild but hearty broth anchors chewy, udon-like tapioca noodles, briny balls of minced shrimp, and shards of sweet crabmeat. $11. 1055 W. Argyle St., Uptown

Italy

Spaghetti al Pomodoro With Polpette di Pollo

Bar Roma

A bed of housemade spaghetti in a chunky tomato sauce cradles three substantial spheres of ground chicken flecked with pistachios. $25. 5101 N. Clark St., Andersonville

Indonesia

Mie Bakso

Minahasa

A street stall staple in Indonesia, this soup features delicate egg noodles and halal beef meatballs gently poached in beef stock fragrant with ginger and lemongrass. $6. 125 S. Clark St., Loop

Thailand

Kuay Tiew Rua

Immm Rice & Beyond

In this Bangkok classic (commonly called boat noodles), pork meatballs, sliced pork loin, rice noodles, and water greens bob in a broth enriched with pork blood and star anise. $12. 4949 N. Broadway, Uptown

Spain

Sopa de Albondigas con Fideos

Cafe Estrella

Mint-scented pork and beef albondigas, toasted fideos, and root vegetables lend heft to this soup from a new virtual kitchen. Cilantro, lime, and a tomato-chile broth add piquancy. $16 a quart. Order at @cafeestrellachicago on Instagram for pickup in Humboldt Park or delivery.

Noodles and Meatballs: A Global Affairon March 23, 2021 at 1:34 pm Read More »

Five Reasons to Get Gluten-Free Noodles Even If You Don’t Have Toon March 23, 2021 at 1:35 pm

Saffron Curry Noodles

Uncooked

At this raw food restaurant, Carole Jones tosses kelp noodles (yes, the seaweed) with a creamy coconut-milk-based saffron sauce for a chilled noodle bowl with complex Indian flavors. $12. 210 N. Carpenter St., West Town; 1616 N. Damen Ave., Bucktown

Crispy Rice Noodles

Community Tavern

Joey Beato boils Thai rice flakes (which are large flat squares) to transform them into chewy, tightly rolled scrolls. A quick sear adds a slight crunch, and hearty lemongrass chicken ragù tops things off. $13. 4038 N. Milwaukee Ave., Portage Park

Pancit Bihon

Kasama

Genie Kwon and Timothy Flores dress up their Filipino pancit bihon, made with rice vermicelli, with poached shrimp and squid, sliced Castelvetrano olives, a dusting of sumac powder, and crispy chicharrón. $17. 1001 N. Winchester Ave., East Ukrainian Village

Stir-Fried Glass Noodles

Perilla

For his riff on traditional japchae, Andrew Lim stir-fries sweet potato glass noodles in tamari before tossing them in a rainbow of veggies, like mushrooms and scallions. Make it meaty with the addition of bulgogi. $12. 401 N. Milwaukee Ave., West Town

Gluten-Free Tagliatelle

RPM Italian

RPM Italian’s tagliatelle is made with a corn, rice, and tapioca flour from Italy’s Marche region. Get the hand-cut pasta in any of the pasta dishes; it’s great with the chile-flecked king crab. $20. 52 W. Illinois St., Near North Side

Five Reasons to Get Gluten-Free Noodles Even If You Don’t Have Toon March 23, 2021 at 1:35 pm Read More »

Why I Love Liáng Píon March 23, 2021 at 1:35 pm

Noodle obsessions? I’ve had a few, from carbonara and cacio e pepe to sesame and soba. But nothing gets me quite as slurpy as liáng pí (cold skin noodles), which I first tried at the original Xi’an Famous Foods in Flushing, Queens. I loved everything about the dish: the spring-back texture of the noodles, the slick green veggies, the loofah-like wheat gluten sponging up the sauce. And that sauce! Red and oily, hot and numbing, vinegary enough to make those veggies think they were in a salad.

I’ve found a pretty good version at Shan Shaan Taste in Chinatown’s Richland Center. But once I realized I could make a facsimile of the sauce by goosing my favorite condiment — spicy chile crisp — I began trying to re-create liáng pí at home, with a little help from the Xi’an Famous Foods cookbook.

Finding the noodle itself isn’t easy. The thing is, liáng pí must be fresh: The starch is washed from a ball of dough, which is then flattened and steamed like a thin crêpe, ready to cut into ribbons. What remains is a clump of gluten to cube. I couldn’t get fresh liáng pí at 88 Marketplace, the well-stocked new Chinese market in Bridgeport, so I went home with a variety of substitutes. The springy sweet potato pappardelle recommended by the market staff were a passable substitute, but in the end the dried dao xiao mian (knife-cut noodles) were more to my tensile taste. For the wheat gluten, the packaged version I found ended up like sodden hardtack, so I took advice from the Woks of Life blog and subbed in fried tofu puffs (the Phoenix Bean brand is fantastic). But if the noodles require creative thinking, the dressing is as easy as it gets. As I tossed it all together with a final splash of vinegar and watched the chile oil stain the noodles, I was back in Queens.

(makes 4 servings)

In a bowl, mix 1/4 cup spicy chile crisp (available at H Mart), 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar, 1 crushed garlic clove, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook 4 cups dao xiao mian noodles (available at 88 Marketplace), following package instructions. Add 2 cups bean sprouts to the water for the last 30 seconds, then drain noodles and sprouts and cool under cold running water. Cut 6 fried tofu puffs (available at H Mart) into thirds, and peel and julienne 1 cucumber. Coarsely chop a half bunch of cilantro (include some stems). Toss everything together in a large bowl, then adjust the flavors to your liking with salt, sugar, black vinegar, and light soy sauce.

Why I Love Liáng Píon March 23, 2021 at 1:35 pm Read More »

Start the Day With These Peranakan Breakfast Noodleson March 23, 2021 at 1:35 pm

When it comes to the morning meal, Peranakans — an ethnically Chinese people living in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand — don’t mess around, as demonstrated by the bold-flavored dry pan mee noodles ($14.95) at the new Peranakan restaurant Kapitan (2142 N. Clybourn Ave., Lincoln Park). Owner Victor Low breaks down this breakfast favorite for us.

1. The Crunch

Imported from Malaysia, the fried anchovies “add a salty, crispy bite to the top of the dish,” Low says.

2. The Broth

Malaysian breakfast dishes often layer in flavors, and this anchovy broth adds lightly salty notes. “You can pour as much as you want into the noodles so they’re wet, or you can sip it on the side. It really puts the focus on the noodles.”

3. The Noodles

The silky wheat flour noodles are hand-pulled to order. Flat and thin, with a springy texture, they’re slicked in a double punch of soy sauce. “We use a regular soy sauce and a caramelized soy sauce we source from Malaysia that’s thicker and sweeter.”

4. The Meat

Minced pork is cooked with black fungus (“a popular ingredient in Asia that’s similar to mushrooms”), shallots, garlic, sugar, salt, and caramelized soy sauce for an umami-loaded topper.

5. The Accents

Chewy fish balls, hard-boiled eggs, and crunchy Chinese broccoli ensure that you won’t need to eat again until a very late lunch.

Start the Day With These Peranakan Breakfast Noodleson March 23, 2021 at 1:35 pm Read More »

Noodle Nirvanaon March 23, 2021 at 1:50 pm

Noodle Nirvana

Italian pappardelle, Japanese ramen, Filipino pancit, Spanish fideos, old-school spaghetti and meatballs! Chicagoans are living in a global noodle paradise. Here’s your guide to the best, plus chef recipes, gluten-free options, and more.

Photography by Jeff Marini

Illustrations by Jennica Lounsbury

March 23, 2021, 8:50 am

Noodle Nirvanaon March 23, 2021 at 1:50 pm Read More »

Chicago Bulls: Lose their ninth-straight game to teams over .500on March 23, 2021 at 1:00 pm

The Chicago Bulls suffered a flatlined loss to the Utah Jazz, losing 120-95 at home.

The Chicago Bulls have a hard time defeating teams that are over .500.

Game Summary

The Bulls played catch-up for most of the game against the leaders of the Western Conference. The squad remained competitive in the first quarter, remaining six points behind the Jazz by the end. LaVine scored eight of his 27 points of the night in the first quarter of the game and Thaddeus Young was playing aggressively in the paint against Rudy Gobert.

“I thought we started the game really well. I thought we had a couple of good drives to start the game in the first six minutes we were getting downhill,” said head coach Billy Donovan. “I thought part of the reason we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well is we didn’t have anything downhill towards the basket.”

Once the second rotation came into the game, the Bulls took a turn for the worst. It’s tough to compete with a bench as deep as the Jazz. They have Joe Ingles, Jordan Clarkson, Georges Niang, and Derrick Favors representing a deep second rotation. They outscored the Bulls 27-19 in the second quarter which put them up by 14 points heading into halftime.

The Bulls’ defense wasn’t all that stellar either. The Jazz shot over 50 percent from behind the arc for much of the game and the Bulls were playing back on defense against their matchups. That gave the Jazz free-reign to shoot the ball from midrange to three-point land.

“I think the two toughest things to do in the game of basketball are close-out and to get back in transition,” said Donovan. “And we were having to get back in transition a lot, and their ability to beat us off the dribble forced us to close out more.

By the third quarter, the Bulls were still playing catch up. Tomas Satoransky put up seven points in the quarter, second to LaVine’s nine points. Sato ended with 13 points, two rebounds, and four assists. The Bulls failed to win a single quarter and ended up losing by 25 points.

Takeaways

Gobert’s interior defense was a nightmare for the Bulls. He recorded nine blocks on the night along with 21 points 10 rebounds in the game.

Donovan Mitchell was unguardable and a force the Bulls didn’t know how to tame. They tried many different matchups between Patrick Williams, Lauri Markkanen, and LaVine. Donovan ended up with 30 points, six rebounds, and six assists, shooting 11/19 from the floor.

The Bulls’ bench was not present in tonight’s game. They scored 27 points, while the Jazz scored 43 points off the bench. Coby White led the bench scoring by putting up 10 points but his shooting inefficiencies continue as they shot 4/12 from the field.

The Bulls shot around 60 percent from around the rim, which isn’t stellar. They also shot horrifically from outside the paint. The Bulls made just 27.5 percent of their attempts from outside the paint, including three-point shots. The Jazz’s defense attributed to this issue as they have the fifth-best defense in the NBA.

The defense for the Bulls obviously wasn’t exciting, allowing the Jazz to shoot 48.9 percent from the field and 43.6 percent from behind the arc as a team. For a team that scores the third-most points per game in the NBA and shoots 46.7 percent from the floor as a team, that can be a difficult task.

Bulls (now 19-23) are home for the Cavs before the trade deadline. Then:

@ Spurs
@ Warriors
@ Suns
@ Jazz
vs. Nets
@ Pacers
@ Raptors
@ Hawks

From March 27 – April 9. 10 games in 14 days.

— Rob Schaefer (@rob_schaef) March 23, 2021

Upcoming Games

Since February, the Bulls have zero wins against teams with a winning record. They are now 0-9 in that category. However, they have beaten every matchup against teams with losing records since February, sitting 10-0 in that category.

However, they are entering a tough stretch of games this week with the Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors, and Phoenix Suns. The Bulls remain in 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings, 2.5 games ahead of the 11th place Toronto Raptors.

Chicago Bulls: Lose their ninth-straight game to teams over .500on March 23, 2021 at 1:00 pm Read More »

Six Vaccinations to try your Patienceon March 23, 2021 at 1:32 pm

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Six Vaccinations to try your Patience

Six Vaccinations to try your Patienceon March 23, 2021 at 1:32 pm Read More »

Chicago Blackhawks: Three wild trades to make with Anaheim Duckson March 23, 2021 at 12:00 pm

(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

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(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

The Chicago Blackhawks have been on a bit of a down over the last few games. They didn’t really play well on their six-game road trip. They only took two out of a possible 12 points in the standings and are now below the playoff line going into the week. Well, there might be some help out there from a team like the Anaheim Ducks who are open for business at the trade deadline. There are plenty of trades that they can consider making with them:

Blackhawks Get

Adam Henrique

Ducks Get

2021 Fourth-Round Pick

The Chicago Blackhawks could use some help at the center of the ice.

The Chicago Blackhawks could really use another centerman right now. They currently have high hopes that Kirby Dach is going to return soon and it looks like those prayers are going to be answered soon. After that, they have Dylan Strome and a few other bottom-six centers so they could use some help. Jonathan Toews hasn’t played yet this season and it sounds like he won’t be back for a while.

As a result, the Ducks sending over Adam Henrique might really help. Henrique was put on waivers earlier in the season and went unclaimed so it wouldn’t cost much more than a fourth-round pick in a trade. Anaheim would want to do it so they can get the contract off their books as they rebuild. He got off to a slow start this year but we know how good of a player he can be.

We have also seen Henrique be a very clutch player in the postseason. If the Hawks want to be in the playoffs, this is a worthwhile risk for the Hawks. Having him be the second-line center, for now, would make this team a lot better and he can play special teams situations well. If this was something that the two sides pulled off, both teams would benefit.

Next: Trade Two gives them a goalie

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Chicago Blackhawks: Three wild trades to make with Anaheim Duckson March 23, 2021 at 12:00 pm Read More »

Valerie June leaves her roots for the starsNoah Berlatskyon March 23, 2021 at 11:00 am

Valerie June’s best-known album, 2013’s Dan Auerbach-produced Pushin’ Against a Stone (Sunday Best), is a raw, playful mix of blues and country. Eclectic and ambitious as that effort is, though, it doesn’t capture June’s full range.…Read More

Valerie June leaves her roots for the starsNoah Berlatskyon March 23, 2021 at 11:00 am Read More »