When I made breakfast for Wolfgang Puck, I asked him what he tastes first when doing a new concept or revamping a menu. Without hesitation, he said, "Sweets!" Me too.

Growing up, there was always a cake in my house "just in case someone comes over," as my mother...

When it comes to buying the Chicago Cubs, Mark Cuban no longer has game.
The brash billionaire's bid to acquire the baseball team from Tribune Co. was struck a fatal blow by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is charging the Texas businessman with insider trading. And the SEC...

On Nov. 17, 1978, the Star Wars universe was rocked by a disturbance in the Force more calamitous than the destruction of Alderon, more catastrophic than the Clone Wars, and more devastating than the introduction of Jar Jar Binks. It was The Star Wars Holiday Special (or TSWHS), a two-hour...

Or, When The World Comes to Hyde Park ( ... and Then Goes Downtown For Dinner)

The week or so before and after the general election were, for this blogger, framed by the following encounters, in the order of their increasingly surreal occurrence:

1) A conversation with two Jehovah's Witnesses,...

Two days before Columbia University Teachers College's Campaign for Education Equity announced its new research papers on the topic of poverty as the key barrier to closing U.S. education gap - I got a personal taste of how children in this country get left behind despite the massive amounts of...

It's time to gear up to seize the opportunities to advance a greener economy and cleaner environment with the new Administration and new Congress. The Midwest and Great Plains states can become business and economic winners in growing the new green economy as discussed in previous blog posts. Moreover, when...

Barack Obama's first big gift to newsprint was the run on most national editions during his second day as President-elect. His latest gift is more personal to the Land of Lincoln. Printing a letter in newspapers throughout Illinois thanking the state as he leaves the senate, Obama just ensured that...

It's been well over a week since Obama's victory, and while 99.9% of me continues to thrill, peevishness has crept into the mix. Actually, to be completely honest, the peeve-ratio has expanded exponentially over the past few months, like one of those "Just Add Water!" gimmick toys that bloat to...

While same-sex couples in Connecticut started lining up to get married this week, gay couples in California wondered what will happen if the courts uphold Proposition 8, which was passed by a close margin during the Nov. 4 general election. Unless you've been living in a dark room with just...

I drank the Obama Kool-Aid, but it took a while. I didn't quite see him as the messiah as quickly as everyone else. I may not be a native Chicagoan, but I've lived here long enough to see the Hired Truck Scandal, unapologetic nepotism, a woeful Tax Increment Financing system,...

We're the Second City again.

We lost the ranking as the second largest population center to Los Angeles back in the '80s. We're over it, though we have clung to the Second City label for sentimental reasons. Or maybe we just can't count: the Big Ten Conference has 11 teams.

Dear Aunt Beth,

Hey, hold up. I just read that letter from Worried, the girl who thinks she should be our school's delegate to the Model United Nations because she held a couple bake sales for our student body president, "Milo."

Well, pardon my French, but WTF?...

Ken Griffin, Chicago hedge fund magnate and one of the country's wealthiest men, is the anti-Trump. Unlike The Donald, Griffin hates being noticed. Even in good economic times, or when making one of his eye-popping philanthropic donations, Griffin steers clear of the spotlight.
All that is about to...

To be the White House's resident chef is to truly serve at the pleasure of the president. I don't think I'd want Homaro Cantu's Moto-style cuisine daily, but you never know.

The smart money seems to be on Oprah's former personal chef, Art Smith, Mexican chef Rick Bayless or...

An ex-South Sider friend of mine tells the story about his uncle, who found out he'd gotten a bookie and started gambling on football. At a family party he called the kid over, and whispered into his ear one piece of friendly advice.

"Never bet on a nigger quarterback."

Startled,...

President-elect Barack Obama declared victory in Grant Park amid celebration and the wafting scent of an herb now available for medicinal purposes in Michigan and our boy Fook caught the celebration on tape.

Hear it on this edition of Keeping Score In Chicago, along with Konkol's theory on...