The crisp edges, soft, tender center, and wholesome, subtly sweet flavor make them not just good, but go back for seconds and wake up 15 minutes early to make these on a weekday good. Enjoy them with a drizzle of maple syrup, switch it up with a dollop of fruit jam, or go for another boost of protein with some Greek yogurt and fresh fruit. There’s a lot to love about this wholesome, family-friendly breakfast that’s as quick and easy to pull off as it is satisfying.

A nonstick pan is the secret to success

You’ll notice the pancakes are slightly thinner and a bit more delicate than traditional pancakes (although not as thin as our 2-ingredient banana pancakes). For this reason, they cook best in a nonstick pan, and I also recommend a thin, flat spatula for easy flipping.

Why you’ll love it

• The batter comes together in under two minutes, with nothing more than a couple of eggs and equal parts whole oats and cottage cheese.
• It all goes in your blender and blitzed just long enough to break down the oats (some chunky pieces are OK) and mix everything together.

Key ingredients in cottage cheese pancakes

• Old-fashioned oats: Also called rolled oats, old-fashioned oats cook faster than steel-cut oats, absorb more liquid, and hold their shape relatively well during cooking.
• Cottage cheese: Cottage cheese has a mild, creamy flavor profile that works well here.
• Eggs: You’ll need 2 large eggs.

What to serve with cottage cheese pancakes

• Oven-Cooked Bacon
• Honey Butter
• Blueberry Compote
• Apple Cider Syrup
• Strawberry Honey Butter
• Red Fruit Salad with Lemon-Vanilla Bean Syrup

3-Ingredient Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Serves 2; makes 8 (3-inch) pancakes

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup cottage cheese

2 large eggs

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Maple syrup, jam or sliced berries, for serving

1. Place 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 2 large eggs, and 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt in a blender and process on high speed until well-combined, about 30 seconds.

2. Heat a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Working in batches, add the batter in 2-tablespoon portions, spacing them evenly apart. Cook until the pancakes are set around the edges and deep golden-brown on the bottom, 2 to 3 minutes (this batter won’t bubble up like traditional pancake batter). Gently flip the pancakes with a thin spatula and cook until the second side is golden-brown, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate.

3. Repeat cooking the remaining batter. These pancakes are best when eaten fresh off the griddle and still warm. Serve with maple syrup, honey or jam.

Recipe note: Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to five days.

(Kelli Foster is the senior contributing food editor for TheKitchn.com, a nationally known blog for people who love food and home cooking. Submit any comments or questions to editorial@thekitchn.com.)

©2024 Apartment Therapy. Distributed by Tribune Content AGency, LLC.

All three restaurants were founded after 1965, when major immigration reforms expanded the rights of Asians to immigrate to the United States. This post-1965 wave of immigrants founded the historical South Asian neighborhood on Devon Avenue.

But the history of Indian food in Chicago is over 120 years old, if one looks closely. Indian restaurant workers, laborers and students have been in Chicago since earlier in the 1900s. There is evidence of Indian food being sold in Chicago at various points in the 1920s and 1960s; likely, there are many more stories that have been lost to time.

I asked this question about Chicago Indian food history after watching the fascinating new PBS America ReFramed documentary “In Search of Bengali Harlem,” directed by Vivek Bald and Alaudin Ullah. The documentary points us toward hidden histories of Indian restaurants run by Bengali Muslim men in Black and Latino neighborhoods. That group founded some of the first Indian restaurants in the Western Hemisphere, including New York.

“If you were to go to New York in 1955, the majority of Indian restaurants that you would find in Manhattan were run by Bengali Muslim men,” said Bald, a historian at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Those restaurants, for many many years and even to the present day, call themselves Indian restaurants because that’s what the American clientele understood and expected. But actually they were run by Bengali Muslim, eventually Bangladeshi, men.”

One of the major revelations of Bald’s work is the existence of Bengali “ship-jumpers” who escaped labor akin to indentured servitude on British naval ships by staying in the U.S. when they came into port.

Though the documentary doesn’t cover Chicago, I asked Bald if that history reached the city. He explained that the networks of ship-jumpers extended from Eastern ports to the industrial Midwest — one group he studied traveled to work in steel mills in Gary, Indiana, and may have ended up in nearby Chicago.

Looking at the 1930 census, Bald told me he found “about 30 to 40 South Asian Muslim men — most likely Bengali — working in laboring jobs and living in Black neighborhoods” in Chicago. They’re listed as having been born in India and racially classified as Black or Hindu.

Bald’s work explores this group’s important contributions to restaurant history in the U.S.. Bald is also the author of an influential 2013 book of history, “Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America.”

The impact on the restaurant industry is indisputable: Many credit Bengali cooks for inventing internationally famous dishes such as chicken tikka masala.

There is plenty of evidence that Indians have been present in Chicago for over 100 years — it seems likely that some may have started restaurants or hawked food. At the very least, the Chicago public was interested in Indian food as early as 1907, when several articles explaining the cuisine appeared in the Chicago Daily Tribune.

Saint Nihal Singh, who was a Punjabi immigrant, wrote two pieces of food writing for the Tribune. A piece from 1909 titled “Dainty Dishes of the Hindoo Pleasing to American Palates” taught readers how to cook dishes like “piaz chutnee,” “fried chicken a la hindoo” and “bhujia.” Singh argued that Indian food is not difficult to cook for Americans and suggested methods to prepare the food at home.

Singh was a prolific traveling freelance journalist. Another article for the Calcutta newspaper The Modern Review in 1908 told the story of Indian students in Chicago. Bald explained that Indian students were part of a longer run of exceptions throughout American immigration law.

Of particular interest is a wonderful photograph accompanying the article depicting a group of Indian students, all male, dressed in suits. One student named Ghosh is listed as a “cook” from Bengal. Was Ghosh working in another restaurant or selling his own food?

For a partial answer, Singh wrote of students taking jobs waiting tables, washing dishes or taking kitchen work to pay their university fees. It’s possible Ghosh became a cook to pay for college.

Anu Kumar, researcher and author of the novel “The Kidnapping of Mark Twain,” writes frequently about intersections between Indian and American history. She wrote about Singh for Scroll.in, showing that Singh’s roots in Chicago may have been deeper than is widely known. She described Singh’s marriage to Chicagoan Cathleyne Brookes, an American writer who accompanied him on trips throughout America.

“I like learning about people who the world has forgotten about,” Kumar said. When asked why Singh was writing about Indian cuisine when many were unfamiliar with the food, she mused “maybe he was just trying to bring out the exotic out of it all.”

So while Indian food was certainly being discussed in Chicago as early as the 1900s, Bald said he found tantalizing evidence of what appears to be the earliest known Indian restaurant in Chicago: Ranji Smile’s The Hindustan, described by the Chicago Defender as an “Indian restaurant and garden for the summer months” in 1920.

Colleen Taylor Sen, local author and historian of Indian food, has written about Smile and Chicago’s Indian restaurants, but even she was unaware Smile was operating an Indian restaurant in 1920.

“He’s the world’s first bad boy chef; he got drunk, he got into fights,” said Sen.

Smile was invited to cook at Sherry’s, a high-end New York restaurant, in 1899. His Indian cooking and flair for the theatrical quickly made him popular.

“After leaving Sherry’s in the 1910s and ’20s, he became kind of an itinerant curry chef who would go to high-end restaurants and have residencies for two months or three months,” explained Bald, who is writing a book about Smile.

He apparently did the same in Chicago. Smile’s restaurant, even if a temporary pop-up, may have been the first Indian restaurant documented in Chicago.

Smile was unable to permanently settle down, partly plagued by harassment from immigration officials and an inability to secure citizenship. He also was a bit of a mystery, according to Bald, and it was unclear what his background truly was. At times, he played up the theatrics of the exotic, calling himself a prince of Baluchistan.

Before this, Sen had believed the earliest Chicago Indian restaurant was House of India. First opened in 1963 at 2048 N. Lincoln , the restaurant was run by Colonel Syed Abdullah and his wife. The Tribune wrote frequently about Abdullah and his success, but the man’s life holds some mysteries like Smile. Abdullah claimed to be an Oxford-trained psychologist.

Sen has her doubts that Abdullah was even Indian. One of her sources, an employee of Abdullah’s, claimed he was actually an “African American from Tallahassee who served in the American army in Calcutta.” Many take issue with this interpretation, she said. When I brought this tidbit to Bald, he wondered if Abdullah could be the descendant of a Bengali ship worker and an African American wife. But Bald also wrote in his book about how, occasionally, Black Americans would “pass” as Indian by wearing turbans.

Alaudin Ullah, the subject of the “In Search of Bengali Harlem” documentary, feels that these histories need to be told because they have been purposefully erased. He is the son of a Bengali ship-jumper who owned Bengal Gardens, an early New York Indian restaurant.

“The culinary industry has definitely been influenced by Indian restaurants,” Ullah said. “South Asian cuisine has not gotten the recognition. There’s a revisionist history of cuisines, parallel to the erased history of South Asians.”

Some of the history may also have been lost. In a poignant scene from the documentary, Ullah and his half-sibling describe how the men of their father’s generation never gave up on their food, their religion or each other. It was more difficult to keep history alive for their American children, many of whom connected to the cultures of their Black and Puerto Rican mothers.

But Ullah is working to preserve the history of Bengali ship-jumpers; he wrote a one-man play about his father’s story working in restaurants called “Dishwasher Dreams,” which he starred in and performed at the Writer’s Theatre in Glencoe from December 2021 to January 2022.

In “In Search of Bengali Harlem,” Ullah visits a woman named Ruth Ali, the widow of Eshad Ali, another Bengali man who jumped ship and started a restaurant. Ruth, a Black American woman from South Carolina, married Eshad despite resistance from her family for marrying a foreigner. They ran a restaurant together, Eshad Ali’s Bombay India Restaurant in Harlem, for over 40 years.

According to Ali’s family, it was a popular fixture for some of the most famous icons of the Black civil rights era, including Malcolm X, Sydney Poitier and Miles Davis. It was a comfortable space for both Black and Indian people.

Despite that impressive pedigree, Eshad Ali’s restaurant is not frequently featured in histories of Indian food in America, beyond references from some Black authors. That may be because these Bengali Muslim men were undocumented and little-known to broader white America; instead, they settled in and intermarried within Black and Latino neighborhoods.

“These were migrants to whom the United States did not extend the promise of opportunity and inclusion,” Bald said. Instead, it was African American communities in Chicago, Puerto Rican communities in Harlem, and other marginalized communities that took them in.

“African Americans and Puerto Ricans were living up to the ideals of the U.S. nation when the U.S. nation was failing to live up to the ideals,” Bald said.

“In Search of Bengali Harlem” is available to stream for free on the PBS app and pbs.org.

For many, the thing to grill is ribs, but most anything will do.

I am not a cook or a grill guy but consider myself something of a rib expert, having eaten plenty (those at Twin Anchors are on top of my current list) and for a few 1980s years served as a judge for the Mike Royko Ribfest, generally acknowledged, by no less an authority than “The Chicago Food Encyclopedia” (University of Illinois Press), to have been “one of the nation’s first large barbeque competitions.” I remember those days fondly, as I wrote a while ago, “the unity, the harmony and the togetherness of them all. There were, side by side, groups from Glencoe and West Pullman, Rosemont and Roseland, Austin and Streeterville — white, Black and brown. There was no anger or violence, no arrests or trouble. If there were arguments, they were about cooking methods or sauces ‘sweet or tangy.’ These were harmonious and hopeful gatherings.”

So, I was talking about grilling with Joe Carlucci, a man I have often consulted in matters of food and drink. His name may be familiar to you because he has had an acclaimed and influential presence on the local scene. He said to me, “You can’t cook, you know?

Carlucci was born and raised in New York. After graduating with a degree in psychology from Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University, he worked in the music business for a few years, saying, “My first day on the job I had to pick up Bette Midler at the airport.”

He came to Chicago in the early ‘80s, began operating eponymous restaurants in the city and suburbs and worked with a couple of Mike Ditka’s joints. He still operates a few places and consults with others, including recently with some of the most popular grill guys in the world. They are the BBQ Pit Boys and this is how he found them about four years ago: “I was watching TV one Saturday morning and on came this guy with a beard being interviewed about grilling,” Carlucci says. “With my background in music I think I have a good ability to judge star quality and the guy I was watching had it.”

He tracked down the man, whose “grill name” is “Bobby Fame” but his real name is actually Bob Ahlgren, the creator of the culinary phenomenon known as BBQ Pit Boys. They talked. They liked one another. They became partners and Carlucci helped facilitate the recent publication of “BBQ Pit Boys Book of Real Guuud Barbecue” (Firefly Books). It is a handsome 256-page, colorful, lively and entertaining book. It is packed with recipes and tips for grilling and smoking a variety of meats, as well as sides and desserts. All the usual suspects are here, such as pulled pork, ribs and chicken wings. There are also recipes for alligator, lamb and venison. There’s fish, soups and sides. There’s a lot.

It also gives you the BBQ Pit Boys origin story, which Ahlgren told me over the phone a few days ago. “Well, I ran a small publishing company and was a serious antique dealer,” he says. “When YouTube first started around 2007, I thought it might be a good thing to spread the word about my business. Then a friend of mine from California wanted to get a recipe for something I grilled for him when he was visiting. I thought it would be fun to do that as a video and I posted it for him on YouTube.”

YouTube called him, asked him to become a partner and shipped him thousands of dollars worth of cameras and other equipment. They also sent him a check for $32.

That was long ago and the checks have gotten larger. The BBQ Pit Boys is now an international fraternal order, with some 18,000 international chapters and 230,000 pitmasters, according to the book. Episodes are posted every week and they have been viewed more than 94 million times.

The nature of the show hasn’t really changed. It’s still a group of guys around a grill, drinking and making food. Ahlgren is the host, affable and amiable and, as he says, “making sure we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”

The enterprise is based not in Tennessee or Arkansas, as the boys’ outfits might suggest, but rather in Connecticut. In addition to YouTube, the Pit Boys are now spread across the other prominent social media platforms such as Facebook, X and Instgram. They have 2.2 million YouTube subscribers, are in the top 5% of all YouTube channels and are number one when it comes to BBQ.

Not surprisingly, Ahlgren has been approached “more than ten times by network producers about doing shows for them,” he says. “But I have rejected them all. They talk about how they can make me famous but I am already famous and I don’t want to be part of fake TV, become part of the reality show world.  And I never want to lose control of the content and the way we deliver it.”

This was never intended to be a star-making vehicle. The focus is on the food and that’s one reason why Ahlgren and his pals wear sunglasses and cowboy hats that cover most of their faces. That aversion to the seductions of the mainstream entertainment business appeals to Carlucci, and to another food person who is also a partner with the Pit Boys. Ed Rensi is a former president and CEO of McDonald’s and he and Carlucci are intent on exploring all manner of opportunities.

“Bob and his pit boys have such a broad platform and the ability to reach so many people,” says Carlucci. “But we are going to be true to the spirit of the show and of the people. They never had a business plan. This is just a great fun idea that has blossomed into a wonderful enterprise.”

He tells me that a Pit Boys line of sauces and rubs is currently available in 3,000 stores across Canada, and a Pit Boys beer can be had in Texas. The website offers all manner of official merchandise.

Then he asked me which of the book’s recipes I was thinking of tackling.

“You can’t cook, you know?” he said.

“Yes,” I told him. “That’s why I’m going to try the Cigar Ash BBQ Sauce (page 233) or Bacon Oreo BBQ Cookies (page 255).”

He shook his head and rolled his eyes.

All events take place on June 16 unless otherwise stated.

The Loop and Near North Side

Adalina
Come for brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a waffle station, cigar rolling and giveaways or book a table for dinner, where $85 gets you a 22-ounce wet aged bone-in rib-eye, Parmesan fries, a smoked old fashioned and a slice of chocolate cake. 912 N. State St., 312-820-9000, adalinachicago.com

Bar Pendry
Treat dad to a wagyu burger served with a side of herb-seasoned fries and a beer for $28. 81 E. Wacker Place, 312- 777-9000, pendry.com

Chef Art Smith’s Reunion

A three-course Papa’s Menu ($45) includes a mimosa, deviled eggs, shrimp and grits, and beignets. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 700 E. Grand Ave., 312-224-1415, reunionrestaurants.com

Chicago Burger Company
Start celebrating early with a barbecue along the Chicago River featuring smoked chicken wings and barbecue burnt ends sliders served with housemade coleslaw and pickles (both $12), loaded bloody marys ($14) and margarita towers. 1-4 p.m. Saturday. 301 E. North Water St., 312-464-1000, marriott.com

Ema
Dine in to take advantage of a crispy lamb ribs special served with cherry barbecue sauce, smoked almond and mint Friday through Sunday. 74 W. Illinois St., 312-527-5586, emachicago.com

Hard Rock Cafe Chicago
A special menu features steak frites with bourbon coffee mushroom sauce and chives ($36) and a $15 smoked old fashioned. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 63 W. Ontario St., 312-943-2252, cafe.hardrock.com/chicago

Maple & Ash
The steakhouse offers brunch from 10 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Sunday for $160 or $65 for kids. 8 W. Maple St., 312-944-8888, mapleandash.com

Michael Jordan’s Steak House
Treat dad to a $145 special 34-ounce tomahawk rib-eye served with bone marrow mashed potatoes ($145) and a tobacco old fashioned ($23). 505 N. Michigan Ave., 312-321-8823, michaeljordansteakhouse.com/chicago

RPM Steak
Get everything you need for a backyard barbecue by picking up a filet ($120), New York strip ($180) or grass-fed rib-eye grill kit ($200). All of the packages include two steaks, asparagus, beef butter, steak salt and grilling instructions. Noon to 8:45 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. 66 W. Kinzie St., 312-284-4990, rpmrestaurants.com

Schneider Deli

Pick up a hot dog grilling kit with Vienna dogs, poppy seed buns, sauerkraut and chopped corned beef ($42) or a corned beef burger package with onion rolls, pickled red onions, cheese and Russian dressing ($50). Both come with pickles, deli mustard and a choice of two sides. 600 N. LaSalle Drive, 773-590-1345, schneiderdeli.com

Venteux
The French brasserie offers $18 bottomless beer pours plus a $29 steak and eggs dish with roasted potatoes and braised tomatoes. 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 224 N. Michigan Ave., 312-777-9003, venteuxchicago.com

Yardbird
A $67 Father’s Day family-style menu includes St. Louis short ribs, mac and cheese, and chicken and waffles. 530 N. Wabash Ave., 312-999-9760, runchickenrun.com/chicago

North Side and Northwest Side

Avenue Tap & Kitchen
The Lakeview bar offers an $18 combo featuring a cheeseburger and side, a pint of Modelo and a shot of Tullamore D.E.W. 3407 N. Paulina St., 773-858-7679, avenuetapchicago.com

Bar Roma
Share specials including wood-grilled bone-in rib-eye with garlic herb butter ($40), jumbo lump crab cake with sweet corn ($18) and ricotta cheesecake with strawberry rhubarb sauce ($11). 4-8:30 p.m. 5101 N. Clark St., 773-942-7572, barromachicago.com

Cody’s Public House
Watch the U.S. Open and enter a raffle to win a golf bag and a day of golf while sipping themed drinks including $7 John Dalys, $5 Goose Island pints and $8 Proper 12 mules. 1658 W. Barry Ave., 773-799-8217, codyschicago.com

Easy Street Pizza & Beer Garden
The Portage Park bar offers two hours of bottomless Modelo during brunch for $20. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 3750 N. Central Ave., 773-993-0464, easystreetpizzachicago.com

Lark
Pixel and Daddy Hunter perform during a Who’s Your Daddy drag brunch featuring $5 Bud Light and bottomless drink packages. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 3441 N. Halsted St., 773-799-8968, larkchicago.com

Le Sud
Dig into a cowboy-style rib-eye with Cajun compound butter, onion rings and a loaded potato ($68). 2301 W. Roscoe St., 773-857-1985, lesudchicago.com

The Patio at Café Brauer
Spice up your celebration with a $19 wing sampler with flavors including Thai chili and smoked chipotle honey. Fries are included and you can substitute loaded tots for $2. 2021 N. Stockton Drive, 312-507-9053, lpzoopatio.org

Pilot Project Chicago
Buy one of the brewery incubator’s draft beers and get a second one for $1. 2140 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-270-5995, pilotprojectbrewing.com

West Side and Near West Side

Aba

Aba means father in Hebrew and Arabic, so the restaurant is a particularly appropriate spot to celebrate with specials offered Friday through Sunday including grilled angus hanger steak with black garlic and rosemary jus and a Drop Dad Gorgeous cocktail made with Uncle Nearest whiskey, bourbon barrel-smoked demerara, bitters and a beef chip. 302 N. Green St., Floor 3, 773-645-1400, abarestaurants.com

Carnivale
Stop in the Rumba Lounge for photos, complimentary whiskey tastings, giveaways and games. 1-5 p.m. 702 W. Fulton Market, 312-850-5005, carnivalechicago.com

Guinness Open Gate Brewery
Chef Taylor Bischof hosts a cookout with live music and 10-ounce filet ($80) dinners that include two sides, a roll and two beers. All dads who order a steak will receive an engraved 20-ounce pint glass. 3-8 p.m. 901 W. Kinzie St., 312-521-0900, guinnessbrewerychicago.com

Heritage Restaurant & Caviar Bar
Chef Guy Meikle roasts a whole lamb on the patio, serving $45 platters with lamb sausage, romesco and olive tapenade. Noon to 6 p.m. 2700 W. Chicago Ave., 773-661-9577, heritage-chicago.com

Nettare
Come for brunch starting at 10 a.m. and get steak and eggs plus a bloody mary for $29. 1953 W. Chicago Ave., barnettare.com

WineStyles
A pig roast includes two sides and a drink. $20-$25. 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. 6182 N. Northwest Highway, 847-518-9463, winestyles.com/norwoodpark

South Side & Near South Side

Pearl’s Place
Tuck in to an absolute feast from this Bronzeville mainstay. The Father’s Day buffet ($33) includes barbecue rib tips, fried jumbo shrimp, jerk chicken, smothered steak, collard greens and cornbread. Finish the meal off with desserts such as sweet potato pie or peach cobbler. Guests can dine in or grab a take-home meal package for a more intimate feast. 3901 S. Michigan Ave., 773-285-1700, pearlsplacerestaurant.com

The Quarry Event Center
Real Men Cook’s 35th annual Father’s Day celebration features home chefs serving sweet and savory dishes plus live music. $25; $15 for kids. 3-6 p.m. 2423 E. 75th St., 312-259-1143, thequarrychi.com

Suburban and multiple locations

Amerikas

Dads can get the restaurant’s signature smoked mezcal old fashioned for half price and dig into a Tomahawk steak special. 734 Lake St., Oak Park, 708-613‑4254, amerikasrestaurant.com

The Capital Grille
The steakhouse chain offers a special 22-ounce prime bone-in rib-eye with caramelized shallot jus and truffle butter paired with a glass of Caymus 50th anniversary cabernet sauvignon. Multiple locations, thecapitalgrille.com

The Hampton Social
Dads get a free pour of rosé when they dine in. Multiple locations, thehamptonsocial.com

Oaken Bistro + Bar
All attendees will have the chance to win a weekend with a Bentley during a brunch buffet featuring a whiskey tasting, smoked salmon with bagels, carved rib-eye, omelets and French toast. Cigars are available for purchase. $65; $35 for kids. 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. 200 N. Field Drive, Lake Forest, oakenbistro.com

Old Town Pour House
A $30 Brews and Bites taster offered this week through Father’s Day features pretzel bites, smoked chicken wings, a mini cheeseburger and a Snickers pie shooter paired with Midwestern beers. 8 Oak Brook Center, Oak Brook, 630-601-1440 and 1703 Freedom Drive, Naperville, 630-448-6020; oldtownpourhouse.com

Perry’s Steakhouse & Grill

The restaurant’s Oak Brook, Schaumburg and Vernon Hill locations open early to offer $13 bloody marys, mimosas and rosé sangria until 4 p.m. and a $69 22-ounce bone-in caramelized prime rib. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Multiple locations, perryssteakhouse.com

Q-BBQ
The chain offers special Father’s Day platters for dine in and carryout June 14-16 featuring a choice of meat, two sides and hush puppies for $15 to $19. Add on a Hamm’s beer for $2. Multiple locations, q-bbq.com

Samantha Nelson is a freelance writer.

So when I had the opportunity this spring to visit Alabama’s shoreline instead of Florida’s, I jumped at the chance to see what life was like on the northern side of the Gulf of Mexico. Would the path slightly less beaten provide the same summery perks Florida is famous for? I packed my camera and favorite straw hat and went to find out.

‘Bama bound

Getting there was surprisingly easy.

My friend and I flew into Pensacola International Airport from O’Hare International Airport, which took just over two hours on a full flight. Pensacola is typically the airport of choice because it’s cheaper and offers plenty of flights.

We picked up our rental and began the leisurely hour journey, passing through small towns and crossing several bridges as we drove parallel to the water. We quickly waved goodbye to Florida, heading over Perdido Pass into Alabama’s Orange Beach.

Orange Beach and its neighbor, Gulf Shores, are two small beach towns on Perdido Key with combined populations of roughly 22,000 locals — which swells to millions with annual visitors. With a strictly tourism-driven economy, 85 percent of the area’s real estate is vacation rentals — or about 15,000 hotel and condo units, according to Kay Maghan, public relations manager for Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism.

We stayed at Turquoise Place, a luxury resort along Orange Beach with spacious condos in two buildings. Our unit had a fully equipped kitchen, a full-size laundry room and an ocean-view balcony with a hot tub and gas grill. Elsewhere on the property were pools, a water slide and a lazy river.

After settling down, we had dinner at The Gulf, an outdoor restaurant and bar with walk-up service made of cobalt blue shipping containers. Its patio shares a sea wall with the gulf and showcases plush couches and string lights that pair perfectly with my spicy blackberry jalapeño margarita, mahi-mahi tacos and a half pound of chilled peel-and-eat shrimp.

We watched as the sun went down as a watercolor masterpiece and stopped for a nightcap at 8 Reale OBAL, a speakeasy bar that will cost you a small pirate’s booty. With drinks averaging $25, the swanky spot is concealed behind a storefront posing as a jewelry store. We entered a code — provided daily on its Facebook page — and walked through a heavy vault door. The copper ceilings and navy velvet chairs showed off a secretly bougie side of Orange Beach — one that allegedly lured in Morgan Freeman the day after we left.

Up-close adventures

We began the next day on the beach, which stays cool courtesy of fluffy sugar-white sand washed down from the Appalachian Mountains, known as crushed quartz crystal.

The shoreline glittered with shells, partial sand dollars and colorful umbrellas as gentle waves rolled in the distance. Across the gulf were various water activities, including fishing, boating and parasailing. We watched cunning pelicans soar past, holding massive, doomed fish.

The mood was calm and friendly; even at the day’s peak, it never felt overcrowded, rowdy or messy.

Next was our hourlong lesson with Sandcastle University. Using buckets, measuring spoons, a cup, a plastic knife, and a straw, our instructor, Catie, astonished us with her simple techniques for building a turreted tower. The basics were a door and windows; the frills were staircases and cobblestone etching. For a 34-year-old, this was exceptionally fun.

We stopped for a quick lunch at longtime mainstay DeSoto’s Seafood Kitchen, known for its authentic Royal Reds — a premier variety of Alabama shrimp. Be prepared to twist a few heads off, but the buttery reward is worth it.

After some golden coconut shrimp and peppery au gratin potatoes, we began the 40-minute drive west to Fort Morgan, a seaside military fort built in the early 1800s and used during the Spanish-American War and both World Wars. A National Historic Landmark, it features spacious grounds with networks of connected rooms, tunnels and budding stalactites. The up-close access to history is amazing. In the distance, ships and oil rigs lay beyond the sea birds resting on cement blocks as waves splash against them.

We sought shade in the nearby Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge and took a relaxing 1-mile loop walk through the Jeff Friend Trail, which put us in the thick of a serene jungle. Surrounded by towering long-leaf pines, ferns and saw palmettos, we glimpsed only a tiny lizard, but heard a symphony of bird songs, squirrel chatter and plenty of mysterious fluttering from the bushes. Dirt trails led to a waterfront boardwalk before it curved into a lily-pad-filled bog.

The last stop for the evening was the lovely Jesse’s On The Bay. Upstairs, a fine-dining restaurant serves dry-aged steaks and fresh seafood. Downstairs, a bar called The Cold Hole serves cocktails.

Just steps from the bay, we watched the sun go down in a fiery blaze while sipping colorful drinks — the best way to end the day.

Cruising the coast

Saturday began with a free, heart-pumping 5-mile bike ride through Gulf State Park. Our tour guide, Corey, led us past grassy marshes, through ridges and across creeks. The oak canopies dripping with Spanish moss evoked the Southern gothic aesthetic you’d expect from Tennesee Williams.

In the evening, we sailed into the gulf on a yellow catamaran with Sail Wild Hearts. We enjoyed complimentary snacks and yacht rock as we savored our last magnificent sunset. A family of dolphins jumped beside us.

Before we left, we ate at Big Fish Restaurant and Bar — an unassuming fine dining gem on the end of a single-story strip mall — and CoastAL, a beachy brunch spot with fresh seafood, pastries and massive cinnamon rolls. I had been looking forward to Big Fish for its beloved sushi, which did not disappoint. Straightforward and simple, the cucumber salad, pork gyoza and classic tuna roll were everything I’d hoped for. Get there early or be ready to wait.

With phenomenal food, views, access to nature and soft beaches, plus all the Southern hospitality you’d expect, Alabama’s Gulf Coast was a lovely antidote for Chicago’s fickle spring. It was a well-balanced mix of commercial and local, hometown and upscale. I could have spent longer exploring the area and would happily return.

For those who can’t make it for a summer vacation, a trip in mid-April is also a good bet. The weather is perfect and there are fewer crowds.

Linze Rice is a freelancer.

Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, 40, has been competing since 2005 and hasn’t lost since 2015. At last year’s Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest he downed 62 franks and buns in 10 minutes.

But Major League Eating event organizer George Shea says Chestnut is moving away from the contest due to a contract dispute.

“We love him, the fans love him,” Shea said, adding that “He made the choice.”

Shea says Chestnut struck a deal with a competing brand — a red line for the Nathan’s-sponsored event — but did not elaborate. He said the dispute came down to exclusivity, not money.

“It would be like Michael Jordan saying to Nike, ‘I’m going to represent Adidas, too,’” Shea said.

Chestnut did not immediately respond to a request for comment made through his website.

Chestnut has long dominated the competition. Those vying for second place in the past might have renewed hope to swallow their way to first place this year, including international competitors on the eating circuit.

Last year’s 2nd place winner was Geoffrey Esper from Oxford, Massachusetts, who downed 49 dogs. Third place went to Australia’s James Webb with 47. That was far from Chestnut’s best effort: his record was 76 Nathan’s Famous hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes in 2021.

In 2010, Japanese eating champion Takeru Kobayashi, Chestnut’s then-rival, also stopped competing in the annual bun fight due to a contract dispute with Major League Eating. Kobayashi crashed the contest in a T-shirt reading “Free Kobi” and was arrested. He was sentenced to 6 months’ probation. Kobayashi announced his retirement from the sport last month.

Located at 3724 N. Clark St., in what for a couple of decades had been the Full Shilling Public House, the new Goat joins the increasingly frenetic playground and booze-fueled area that surrounds Wrigley Field.

Earlier in this century there had been a Goat a few blocks south but that closed after two years. “But it is nice to be back,” says Bill Sianis, whose family has long owned the Billy Goats. “It was always in our plans to return to the neighborhood. Maybe we are meant to be together.”

Others agree. The Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce issued a statement about its excitement for “the potential for this legendary establishment to weave itself into the fabric of our neighborhood. The arrival of the Billy Goat Tavern in Wrigleyville signifies more than just the expansion of a beloved Chicago eatery; it marks the coming together of two iconic Chicago institutions — Wrigley Field and the Billy Goat Tavern.”

It’s possible — isn’t it? — that some people might never have heard of the curse? The tavern’s north room will inform them. The story is on the walls, traveling back to Oct. 6, 1945, and William Sianis, owner of a tavern known as the Billy Goat Inn on Madison Street across from what was then the Chicago Stadium.

On that day he brought his pet goat named Murphy to see the Cubs play the Detroit Tigers in the fourth game of the World Series. Murphy was wearing a blanket with a sign pinned to it that read, “We Got Detroit’s Goat.”

In short, the pair were not allowed to take their seats and they returned to the tavern. After the Cubs lost the series, Sianis sent a telegram to team owner Phil Wrigley, asking, “Who stinks now?” And so was the curse born, fueled by a combination of the Cubs’ ineptitude and the inventiveness of newspaper writers. It finally ended when the Cubs won game seven against the Cleveland Indians in the 2016 World Series.

The southern room of the new tavern is devoted to the other source of BG fame: its many famous visitors, from presidents to movie stars, and some of the journalists who wrote of the BG, none more enthusiastically or artfully than columnist Mike Royko. Its walls also tell of the 1978 “Saturday Night Live” skit inspired by the “cheezborger, cheezborger” mantra at the BG and starring John Belushi, Bill Murray and Robert Klein. This room also contains the kitchen.

At an informal family-and-friends opening a couple of weeks ago, the crowd was peppered with a few celebrities, a couple of politicians, some loyal customers of the other Goats and a few curious neighbors.

Sam Sianis, the patriarch of the family that owns and operates the taverns, was there. Sitting and smiling, he might have been recalling how he came here from his native Greece in 1955 to work for his uncle Billy, helped open in 1964 what is now the oldest BG, that subterranean tavern on Hubbard Street.

He was with his wife Irene and she was smiling too as they watched some of their six grown children — in addition to Bill, sons Tom, Paul and Ted, and twin daughters Patty and Jennifer — and 11 grandkids examine the handsome new place.

Bill Sianis had a goat on a leash and they wandered around, stopping here and there for people who wanted to touch the animal. Bill said he and the family had purchased the entire two-story building where the tavern sits, with apartments upstairs. “We are here for keeps and maybe the chance for another World Series,” he said.

Earlier this week he was back, with his wife, Boriana Tchernookova, a visiting clinical assistant professor in the biology department at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Sitting with them was their son, the youngest of the pack of Sianis grandchildren, nearly 4-year-old Ephraim.

“And he is already saying, ‘cheezborger, cheezborger,” Tchernookova said. “Maybe it’s genetic.”

Ana Luna was working nearby. She has worked for the Sianis family for 15 years, at the other Billy Goat locations and most recently in the Lake Street outpost that recently closed. She is excited and not only because this spot is closer to her home.

“Yes, I can walk to work and I am still getting used to it, but I know it’s going to be good here,” she said. “Of course we expect it to be crowded when the Cubs are playing and there are a lot of other events at the park during the year. But we can’t wait to start serving breakfast and meet all our new neighbors.”

One of those neighbors is Joe Shanahan, the owner of the Metro/Smart Bar/Gman Tavern complex to the north. He has been in the neighborhood for more than 40 years. He was at the opening party and told me, “We welcome the Billy Goat to the block and wish them only the best success. The Sianis family has made a great impression on me and all the people I work with. It is not everyday you meet an icon like Sam Sianis on his ‘opening day’ and get to meet a goat too.”

Lula Cafe won in the Outstanding Hospitality category.

Other local nominated chefs included Sujan Sarkar of Indienne, Jenner Tomaska of Esmé and Anna Posey of Elske.

The ceremony was livestreamed on Eater.com and hosted by a group of chefs including Nyesha Arrington, Richard Blais, Amanda Freitag and Marcus Samuelsson, as well as CBS host and correspondent Michelle Miller.

Lula chef and owner Jason Hammel, 2019’s Jean Banchet Chef of the Year and three-time Best Chef: Great Lakes category nominee, took the stage with family and staff after Lula Cafe won for Outstanding Hospitality.

“We truly believe at Lula that hospitality is love. And it’s a love with conditions and we believe that the conditions can be fair and just and kind,” Hammel said. “And I hope that everyone here and in the world and especially those with power will enact policies that protect and ensure that these conditions can be met and maintained for everyone. We will certainly hold ourselves to that goal.”

It was the first James Beard award win for the Logan Square staple. The cafe has been run by Hammel and wife Amalea Tshilds for over 25 years and partners with local organizations to offer meals to the neighborhood.

“This one’s really special to me because it’s a team award that recognizes all of us,” Hammel said on the red carpet. “Hospitality isn’t just about relationships with guests. It’s about relationships between us … It’s an important, real central value for how we run our business and I’m really proud to be recognized for this.”

After his win, Hammel elaborated, explaining that he thinks chefs need to step up and enact policies that support hospitality workers. Lula Cafe offers health care to full-time employees and Hammel said offering health care “would greatly help the restaurant industry.”

“It’s an unusual night, but I’m proud to represent,” added Hammel of his solo win. “I’ll sing from the rooftops the praises of Chicago restaurants. They’re great people … all nominees should feel very proud.”

Other restaurants competing in the Outstanding Hospitality category included Crawford and Son in Raleigh, North Carolina, Gemma in Dallas, Melba’s in New York and Woodford Food & Beverage in Portland, Maine.

Earlier in the ceremony, Kasama chefs Genie Kwon and Tim Flores presented in the Best Chef: Great Lakes category, which they won last year. But in a rare loss for Chicago in the category, chef Hajime Sato of Sozai in Clawson, Michigan, took home the award.

Sato spoke of collaborating with Chicago chefs and others in the Great Lakes.

“I always go back to sustainability,” Sato said. “Chicago … the Great Lakes region, let’s work together. That’s more important than anything.”

Sujan Sarkar of Indienne and Jenner Tomaska of Esmé represented Chicago in the Great Lakes category, but ultimately did not take home the win. Both Esmé and Indienne have one Michelin star. Vinnie Cimino of Cordelia in Cleveland and Jose Salazar of Mita’s in Cincinnati were also finalists.

On the red carpet before the awards, Tomaska said he’s “honestly humbled to have found a fantastic team to uplift our message at Esmé.” He also acknowledged another Chicago nominee, Hammel, saying the Lula chef was “the staple of Chicago and has been for 20-some years.”

Several Chicago restaurant institutions have won in the Best Chef: Great Lakes category over the past two decades, including Grant Achatz of Alinea in 2007; Koren Grieveson of Avec in 2010; Stephanie Izard of Girl & The Goat in 2013; Sarah Grueneberg of Monteverde in 2017; and in 2019, Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark of Parachute, which has since closed.

Early in the night, Atsuko Fujimoto of Norimoto Bakery in Portland bested Chicago’s Posey of Elske in the Outstanding Baker or Pastry Chef category. The Danish-influenced Elske has been nominated twice before. Alongside husband and partner chef David Posey, Anna Posey and the team at Elske have maintained a Michelin star since 2017.

Other chefs nominated in the Outstanding Baker or Pastry Chef category included Susan Brae of Moon Rabbit in Washington, D.C., Jesus Brazon and Manuel Prazon of Caracas Bakery in Doral, Florida, and Miami, and Crystal Kass of Valentine in Phoenix.

All four Chicago finalists this year have received multiple culinary honors and recognition from the Michelin Guide. Lula Cafe was named a Bib Gourmand winner in 2020, while Esmé, Indienne and Elske all have been awarded one Michelin star.

Several Chicago restaurants and chefs were semifinalists in other categories but did not make it to the list of final nominees this year, including John Shields and Karen Urie Shields for Outstanding Chef; Nicolas Poilevey, Oliver Poilevey and Marcos Carabajal for Outstanding Restaurateur; Zubair Mohajir for Emerging Chef; Duck Inn for Outstanding Restaurant; and Atelier for Best New Restaurant.

Other notable winners from around the country include Dakar NOLA for Best New Restaurant, Erika Whitaker and Kelly Whitaker of Id Est Hospitality Group in Colorado for Outstanding Restaurateur, and Masako Morishita of Perry’s in Washington, D.C., for Emerging Chef.

Chef and previous Beard nominee Elizabeth Falkner is a member of the James Beard Foundation board of trustees. She complimented the cultural and regional diversity of the awards.

“We have so much great culture and food and cuisines across the country everywhere,” Falkner said.

The event marks the third year since major changes at the foundation as a result of critique from the broader industry. The James Beard Foundation held an audit in 2021 to address criticisms of bias and lack of transparency, which reorganized the committee and voting body behind the awards to better align with the foundation’s stated values. The foundation also implemented a code of ethics for potential awards participants, which lists some behaviors as against the foundation’s and the awards program’s ethics, including tip-stealing, discrimination, harassment and abuse. Those found in violation of the code of ethics after an investigation may be disqualified.

The awards have been held in Chicago since 2015 and guests from outside the culinary industry also attend. Taking the stage, Mayor Brandon Johnson touted the city’s food and dining scene.

“Chicago is home to more than 50 James Beard Award-winning chefs and restaurants whose food, talent, passion and brilliance continue to put our city on the map,” he said.

It was a quieter year for Chicago’s restaurants than in previous years; in 2023, Damarr Brown of Virtue won in the Emerging Chef category alongside Kasama’s Best Chef: Great Lakes win. But chefs and industry professionals at the event were excited about the city’s food scene.

“Chicago is such a world-class food city,” Blais said on the red carpet. “It’s just a fact. You walk up and down the street, there’s just so many great restaurants, so many great chefs.”

The Exchange Club of Naperville is not holding its annual Ribfest this year, club President Emy Trotz said this week, declining to say why the event was not happening or if it will return next year.

It would have been Ribfest’s 35th installation.

For decades, the multiday affair reigned as the pièce de résistance of summer fanfare in Naperville, drawing in thousands from all over the Chicago area and beyond to indulge in fare offered by award-winning rib vendors as well as a host of other attractions, including concerts by well-known performers.

The festival also served as the major fundraiser for the Exchange Club of Naperville, a civic service organization dedicated to ending domestic violence and child abuse. Funds raised by Ribfest typically went to local charitable organizations that supported the club’s causes, putting more than $20 million back into the Naperville area over its tenure, according to Trotz.

For a while now, though, Ribfest has been undergoing changes. It was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And before that, it was forced to leave its longtime venue at Naperville’s Knoch Park after renovations made the site no longer suitable for festivities.

When Ribfest resumed after its COVID-19 hiatus, Ribfest 2022 was moved to the DuPage Event Center & Fairgrounds in Wheaton and staged over the Father’s Day weekend in June rather than its traditional Fourth of July schedule.

Changes continued last year when the event date was pushed back to mid-September.

No plans for a Ribfest 2024 were broached with county fairgrounds officials, according Jim McGuire, CEO of the DuPage County Fair Association and fairgrounds manager.

Speaking over the phone Tuesday, McGuire said he hadn’t heard from any Ribfest organizers since about a month after last year’s event.

“We reached out,” he said, “and we tried but we have not heard any information.”

He added, “I don’t have anything on the books. We didn’t put anything down because we had not heard from them. We didn’t know what their plans were, so we moved forward.”

Asked if the fairgrounds would have been open to holding Ribfest this year, McGuire said yes.

The beginnings of Ribfest date back to 1987, when an idea for a community festival centered on ribs was hatched at a family gathering of Glen Ekey, the then-executive director of the Naperville Park District. Ekey passed on the suggestion to Bruce Erickson, a charter member for the Exchange Club, which was newly formed at the time.

A year later, the first Ribfest kicked off on Rotary Hill for three days in mid-June. The cost to attend was $2 a day. Bands like The Buckinghams, Three Dog Night and Ides of March accompanied the barbecue bash.

By 1989, the festival had found its footing. It moved to Knoch Park and took place around the July Fourth holiday. For the next 30 years, that’s how Ribfest stayed. All the while, the event expanded — in size and esteem.

It was voted Best Festival in Illinois by the Illinois Professional Festival Association in 1990. By 2000, only 12 years after launching, Ribfest had some 21 vendors flocking to Naperville from as far as Sydney, Australia, to show off their rib prowess.

Entertainment followed suit.

Take 2003, for instance, when Ribfest featured Hootie & the Blowfish. The band attracted such a large audience that scores of people had to be turned away at the gate. It was a harbinger for just how popular Ribfest would get. Just four years later, in 2007, it was estimated that between 285,000 and 290,000 people attended the festival.

Other Ribfest performers went on to include Los Lobos, REO Speedwagon, Heart, Rick Springfield, Sheryl Crow, Steven Tyler, Billy Idol and Flo Rida. Last year, Third Blind Eye and Phil Vassar headlined.

“Its success was known throughout the region,” Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli said Monday. “I mean, we had people show up from all over the country to sample ribs or to serve them at this annual event. It was a great annual tradition.”

Wehrli knows Ribfest well — he used to work at the event. For decades, Wehrli served as a part-time police officer for the Naperville Park District, a post that had him working Ribfest year after year.

“It started out real early for me in my life. … It was a lot of fun over the years to see how it grew and see its success poured out into the dollars and cents into the community,” Wehrli said.

Looking ahead to the long-term future of Ribfest, Trotz wouldn’t say much. Asked if there was a possibility that Exchange would host the event again, she said, “There’s always a possibility (it could return). I just know this year was not possible.”

Naperville Sun and Chicago Tribune archives contributed.

tkenny@chicagotribune.com

More than 100 restaurants are finalists in 22 categories for the coveted James Beard Awards. Just being a finalist can bring wide recognition and boost business. The most anticipated categories include awards for outstanding restaurateur, chef and restaurant.

For another year, the winners will be announced at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. Central. and will be livestreamed.

Jenner Tomaska of Esmé, Sujan Sarkar of Indienne, Anna Posey of Elske and Lula Cafe were announced as official James Beard Award Restaurant and Chef Award nominees in a ceremony in April. The four Chicago nominees compete in three categories and were selected from a longer list of semifinalists announced earlier this year.

Last year, Chicago chefs won two James Beard Awards: Tim Flores and Genie Kwon of Kasama for Best Chef: Great Lakes and Damarr Brown of Virtue for Emerging Chef.