Entries associated with the tag "Michael Altenberg":

My follow-up story today about the falling out between Charles Foulkes of Crust for Bread and Michael Altenberg of Crust Eat Real is not a happy one. If anything it just goes to show that organics ain't all bouncing, blissed-out, free-range lambs, and can be just as full of rancor, regret, and bad mojo as any other business. Lost in the shuffle, though, was one point of interest. So, in a small attempt to restore the balance of the cosmos with some positivity I offer this: 

In the course of my reporting, I needed to call Earthbound Farms in Carmel Valley, California, to fact-check whether organic empress Myra Goodman really was a regular customer of Foulkes--he'd credited Altenberg with the introduction. I had no reason to doubt it, just doing my job, ma'am. Well, not only is she a regular but her assistant e-mailed back Goodman's ringing endorsement: 

"I adore Charles’s bread. I discovered it at an event on my book tour in Chicago in January, and I always say just finding his bread would have been worth the 2 ½ years I spent writing the book! I have him Fed-X overnight about eight loaves at a time, and get an order every few weeks. I freeze all but one or two loaves, and it defrosts perfectly to use when I’m ready. Once defrosted, I store it according to his instructions: wrapped in the brown paper, cut side down. Its good for a week. My very favorite is the Laughing Crow Five Seed. My whole family is addicted, even the kids. I love that its not only incredibly delicious and unique, but its organic, high protein, and incredibly healthy!" 

So there you go. My bread budget has only allowed me to try Foulkes' stuff once, back when it was still for sale at The Cheese Stands Alone, so I'll take her word for it.

After 18 months and many revised schedules, Michael Altenberg's all-organic pizzeria Crust opened today yesterday. So you can probably get a table at Coalfire now.

Addendum: Who knows if there's actually some causal relationship here, but Reader contributor Anne Spiselman confirms this hypothesis. "I went to Coalfire last night (May 24), and it was almost empty. We were there from 7 to about 8 PM, and only a handful of tables were occupied. Then, remembering that Crust was opening the same day, we drove by and it was packed inside and in the sidewalk cafe."

January's not exactly the most exciting month in the restaurant biz--lots of spots close down for a week or two of well-deserved rest, and those that stay open tend to see an increase in empty tables as diners reassess their wallets and their waistlines. But it's not a total wasteland out there.

Recent weeks have seen the appearance of Sapore di Napoli, another Neapolitan pizza spot whose opening raises the question: "How much brick-oven pizza can a city built on deep-dish support?" The enigmatically named Simply It, a casual Vietnamese place from former Pasteur partner Tuan Nguyen, opened this week (after sending us an appropriately enigmatic Christmas card). It's BYO, with no corkage fee, for now. And in news that has the local food mafia abuzz, Geno Bahena (Ixcapuzalco, Chilpancingo) returns today to head up the kitchen at a new regional Mexican spot named after his hometown of Tepatulco, in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero.

In Andersonville next week, the Algerian creperie Icosium Kafe, a spinoff of Lakeview's Crepe and Coffee Palace, opens on the cursed northwest corner of Clark and Foster. The previous occupant, Corner Grille, appears to be only sparsely lamented, but I'll miss their oddly smoky hash browns. (Meanwhile, down the street, Rioja has been abruptly shuttered.)

And finally, Michael Altenberg (Bistro Campagne) says that his all-organic Wicker Park venture Crust (a change from the previous working name, Flatearth), in the works for the last year or so, will finally fire up its own woodburning oven on February 1. Our critics will be getting out to these and other new spots in the coming weeks, but in the meantime why don't you tell what you think by becoming a Reader Restaurant Rater?