SAVORY news: New Michelin choices, biggest 2024 news and Dry January

News for the week of Jan. 5, 2025 (Happy New Year!)

—Pop life: Please don’t forget that I have another column called Pop-Eds. My latest article covers Justin Baldoni, Biden’s controversial moves and much more. Check it all out at Andrew449.substack.com.

And now on to culinary items…

—What’s at steak: The building at 65 E. Wacker Pl., which currently houses Morton’s The Steakhouse, is set to be converted into apartments, Block Club Chicago noted.

Morton’s steak. PR photo

Above the restaurants, 252 residential units will replace vintage office space that dates back nearly a century. Amenities planned include a co-working lounge, fitness center and a rooftop deck; Morton’s will remain as an anchor tenant on the ground floor.The plans also include 51 affordable apartments, required by the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance.

—Doctor Hue: Extending its offer, Kindling—the Willis Tower’s live-fire restaurant from James Beard Award-winning Chef Jonathon Sawyer—is teaming with the national interactive art experience Color Factory for a package deal through Jan. 31.

With the Hues and Hearth Package for Two, guests receive two anytime tickets to Color Factory, 233 S. Wacker Dr., alongside a $50 gift card to Kindling, 202 S. Franklin St., for lunch or dinner following the museum tour. Tickets are available here.

—MICHELIN Guide inspectors listed 13 of their favorite dishes of 2024—and three Chicago dishes made the list. (Chicago actually had more dishes make the list than any other geographical spot, including all of California.)

They were the veal sweetbreads at Boka, the spring peas at Ever and the adobo at Kasama. Of the latter, the article stated that the “adobo” is “made with king trumpet and beech mushrooms, finished with shaved matsutake, crunchy breadcrumbs, and nasturtium leaves. The flavor here was excellent, a precise blend of bright acidity and mild sweetness, with layers of rich earthy and briny umami, accented by the pine-y note of matsutake, which works unexpectedly well here.”

—Figure date: The closing day of The Goddess & Grocer’s current Gold Coast location is harder to pin down than fog.

Originally slated for Dec. 27, it was then changed to Dec. 24. Now it’s scheduled to close Jan. 12, with the new site (where Cafe Sophie used to be, at 843 N. State St.) opening in late January. Should dates change, I’ll let you know.