Category > Good Eats and Tasty Treats
Want to recreate that beach vacation feeling in the middle of Illinois? There's nothing like drinking fresh coconut water straight from the coconut itself. And yes, you can get fresh young coconuts right here in Champaign at Far East. Amazingly, you can get them all year round as well, although they do sell out fast when they arrive (Tuesdays and Fridays are the best days as that's when fresh produce arrives). If you've never had fresh coconut water before, …
| On a recent visit to Hawaii, we discovered a wonderful summer dish called "poke" (poh-kay). Served chilled, this dish was available everywhere in Hawaii — in restaurants, at festivals, even in neighborhood grocery stores. The two varieties we saw most often was octopus and tuna. Like sashimi, the tuna is raw and the octopus is cooked. Both dishes had similar marinades but some versions were spicier than others. So when we got home, we immediately wanted to recreate this …
Vegetable soup is a always a favorite at our house. My partner Bonnie loves to make soups and she usually makes big batches so that there's always some soup in our refrigerator ready to heat up. Leftover soup is usually better the next day anyway and just the thought of homemade soup makes me want to hurry home for dinner. Like all soups, each batch is slightly different. Depending on Bonnie's mood or what's in the refrigerator at the …
For foodies, a destination city is usually one that has a Chinatown. For ultra-foodies, it's now a city that has a Koreatown. New York's Koreatown is on 32nd Street between 5th Avenue and Broadway. In Chicago, it's the Albany Park neighborhood on the north side. Does Champaign have a Koreatown? Well, not exactly. Perhaps if they moved all the Korean groceries (Green Onion, Lee's, Am-ko) and all the Korean restaurants (Miko, Kofusion, Woori Jib, Good Fella, B-Won, A-Ri-Rang, Sushi …
There's nothing like home. Don't get me wrong, we love to eat out. But sometimes the benefits of eating at home outweigh the disadvantages of eating out: you get to decide the menu and you can get exactly what you want whenever you want it and you usually end up paying less. Lately, this is particularly true when it comes to a dim sum brunch. One of our favorite past times is to try new dishes when we eat …
Remember those cafeteria lunches from high school days? Well, forget them. Times have changed and when it comes to college dorm food and what students are eating today, we're in a whole new universe. Not a student? No problem. Newman Hall's dining room welcomes the general public. So for nostalgia's sake, we decided to pretend we were still in school and headed over to Newman Hall for a "school lunch." Boy, were we pleasantly surprised. The St. John's Catholic …
When eating out, we are most thrilled when we come across undiscovered joints or exotic menus with interesting stuff that we've never tried before. While on a recent sun-seeking trip to Mexico, something changed our minds. We decided that we would rather hang out in familiar and comfortable surroundings. The restaurant that changed our minds was called Mañana (that's Spanish for "Tomorrow", as in "There's always tomorrow"). We discovered this little place on an island barely five miles long …
For fans of Indian food, Champaign-Urbana is lucky to have a quality establishment like Bombay Indian Grill in our midst. Like most Indian restaurants in the States, Bombay Indian Grill serves mostly Northern Indian cuisine. For more variety, we often have to drive to Bloomington where we can choose from a wider selection at India Bhavan. Every now and then, we even venture to Chicago's Little India, which is almost like going to Mumbai. But regardless of where you …
When I’m looking for a simple dinner that’s also delicious, rice pilaf immediately comes to mind. One-pot dinners are great because no side dishes are needed. And rice pilaf is a great way to design a one-pot dinner where one basically throws everything into a pot and voilà — dinner is ready!
When influential graphic designer Art Chantry was in town, a group of fans volunteered to take him around town to see the sights and to make sure he was well fed. Anni Poppen, a graphic designer at Krannert Center, picked him up at the airport and took him to dinner at Radio Maria. Lisa Costello, Parkland’s Art Gallery director, took Art to lunch at Esquire Lounge the next day. After a long day of talks and presentations, Geoff Merritt, …
Most Recent Food Comments
Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.
@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.
“more beer is drank” Awesome. Way to go “editors.“
You left out the best part—you have to REMEMBER your number after the beer chugging! Yeah, I’m a member.
Great article, man. Like you, I didn’t really know Daniel all that well, but I felt the impact of his death. I too was inspired by him and it pleases me to see that he continues to live on in the spirit of the community.
Thanks you guys…I love living in a community that can connect, share, and create through food. It’s inspiring…
<div> A beautiful recap of the evening and thank you for sharing why you find what the Fund is doing is inspiring. I haven’t been able to write too much about my feelings about the community’s loss of Dan yet either, but Dan has also inspired me…
Seth and Justine, thanks so much! Through your writing and your photos, everyone can get at least a taste of what was served up Sunday night. Dan would very much have liked that! As you say, our community is very much “fertile ground,“ and Dan had such…
That is perhaps the best article you have ever written… a love letter to Champaign-Urbana and the people who call it home.
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Most Recent Comments
Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win.
Jason, Savoy could easily join the CPL tax district, which is probably closer to most Savoy residents than the Tolono library is. But my impression is that Savoy residents as a whole don’t want to pay the cost of the CPL (Tolono’s library taxes are cheaper), even…
Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…
I’ve never gotten the privilege of all the services CPL cardholders get. I just want to be able to go out of my way to drive to the CPL to check out books, pay fines, maybe buy some coffee, and enjoy the library. None of those activities…
These days, there is more to using a library than checking out books. At one time, paying into the Lincoln Trails system probably would cover the expenses incurred by other libraries in the system. Now, with Internet, videos, coffee shops, wireless Internet hubs, etc., I suspect the…
(speaking as a Savoy resident) By paying taxes to support a member of the LTLS, we are paying our “fair share” to use any LTLS library—Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, etc. This is how library systems work. The 6% of CPL’s circulation represented by Tolono users is NOT significant…
I read Timbo’s argument. I think the key word is “speculating.“
I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?
Timbo makes a smart, sound argument. Reread it.
I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…
And, I might add, no one is being prevented from using the Champaign library. They are just being asked to pay their fair share if they are going to use it as their primary library.
The equation is pretty simple here. If you want social services, then pay the taxes required to run those social services. These things only work if everyone puts in their fair share. As a heavy user of the Champaign Library, I say bravo to this new policy.
Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.
What is the increased marginal cost of serving a resident of Savoy or Mahomet? I suspect negligible. What is the increased revenue to be realized by this new policy? I suspect very little. Aside from these financial aspects, what are the most probable results from this new…
Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.
Thanks for the article, Ben. I was not familiar with this band until now and even though I won’t be able to attend the show on Friday they are now on my radar. A *good* jam band is hard to find, and these folks appear to fill…
Nice article, love the Dead quote in the beginning. If they can get down here to Central FL I’ll definitely be heading out to the show. Some of my friends have finally stopped wincing when I say “jam band.“ I’ve now tried my best at more descriptive…
@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.
Katie, have the residents of Savoy and Tolono thought about having their taxes raised a little to help their public library expand? That’s a possibility for them. And then everybody wins.
good call on that Herring recording, Josh. Love that version of Exit Music….here’s a clip of the Cinco de Mayo show (from about six months prior). As I recall, this Shakedown went on for roughly a half hour, while getting into the Trampled Underfoot jam in the…
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I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…