Dispatch From Poutine Fest, Chicago's 'Love Letter' To Canada

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Missy Ruminski prepares The Peasantry's entry. Note that poutine is not only a delicious snack but also a source of light and warmth in the universe.

Missy Ruminski prepares The Peasantry's entry. Note that poutine is not only a delicious snack but also a source of light and warmth in the universe.

There is no greater mystery in America than this: Why is poutine not available everywhere?

French fries with cheese curds, covered in gravy there's nothing more American than this Canadian dish that's not actually American. And while you can find it stateside more easily than you used to, poutine should be in every restaurant in the country, and probably somewhere on our flag.

For one day in Chicago, at least, poutine gets its due, at the Poutine Fest. There's no particular poutine connection to Chicago, except that we like things that are perfect.

The creators call the festival "the first of many love letters exchanged between a tipsy, slurring Chicago and picturesque French Canada." It's also 11 restaurants battling for poutine supremacy, and for a trophy with a gravy boat on top.

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The "King of Poutine" trophy

The "King of Poutine" trophy

When I walk into the back room of Haymarket Pub & Brewery, where the festival was held last Sunday, the first thing I notice is there are lots of beards, and the air itself has been deep fried.

I meet up with my friend Dan Pashman, who hosts the Sporkful podcast and who you hear sometimes on Weekend Edition Sunday. He believes poutine would be better if it were served with the gravy on the side, so you could mete out perfect bites and avoid sogginess. I tell him you could also ask for a bunch of cans of paint instead of Starry Night, but I'll trust Van Gogh on it.

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A poutine from El Ideas, which tastes way better than it photographs.

A poutine from El Ideas, which tastes way better than it photographs.

The Publican is one of my favorite Chicago restaurants, so I'm happy to see they've got a station. But they're having some "electrical issues," and aren't serving yet. Two tiny pieces of chicken sit, rather sadly, in a lukewarm deep fryer.

I start with a very fancy poutine from El Ideas. It's got duck sausage and foie gras. And those little green things on top are just there as a reminder there are people who've made healthier choices than you, and they're probably deeply unhappy.

But is the foie gras overkill?

"It's cheating," says El Ideas chef Phillip Foss.

It's delicious, but I think it's a little over-the-top for a dish most likely to be eaten drunkenly at four in the morning. Foss isn't so sure.

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Art Jackson of Pleasant House Bakery prepares his take, which uses skirt steak, and chunky British chips in the place of fries.

Art Jackson of Pleasant House Bakery prepares his take, which uses skirt steak, and chunky British chips in the place of fries.

"Depends on what you're drinking."

Poutine just seems like one of those things that isn't invented so much as discovered. These things are just meant to be together, like coffee and cream, or The Beatles.

I try the Haymarket's take: smoked ham hock, Andouille sausage, and lemon-soaked apples. I ask the young woman preparing it if she thinks poutine is the next big food trend. Could it replace the cupcake? Could it replace bacon? She laughs, as if to say bacon is not going anywhere. Bacon is forever, like a diamond.

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Little Market's poutine served in its traditional dish, a seven-passenger boat.

Little Market's poutine served in its traditional dish, a seven-passenger boat.

I take another pass by the Publican's station. No luck.

If I made a list of the reasons the Midwest is objectively superior to the rest of the world, the ready availability of deep-fried cheese curds would be right at the top. So when I see that Little Market is deep-frying their curds before putting them in their poutine, I head right over.

It's a formidable poutine: In addition to the fried curds, it's got red wine-braised short ribs.

The more poutine you eat, the more useful the iPhone's panorama function becomes.

Says chef Ryan Poli, "We call it Vladimir Poutine."

Four or five poutine boats in, I start to wish I'd been pacing myself. I'm slowing down. I head over to try Red Door's entry it's got duck confit, chorizo verde, and pickled jalapeno. Their poutine is right between Mexico and Canada, just like us.

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When zooming in on his iPhone to see if this picture was in focus, the photographer left two pretty gross chicken grease streaks on the screen.

When zooming in on his iPhone to see if this picture was in focus, the photographer left two pretty gross chicken grease streaks on the screen.

I'm done. Completely full. I could not eat another bite. These are the lies I'm telling myself when Ryan from Little Market yells out, "The Publican has poutine! Form a line!" Love of poutine, you see, is bigger than competition.

The Publican's take has fried chicken tail and blue cheese. It is worth the wait. I'm too full to try the entry that would eventually win, a wild boar and pickled red onion concoction from The Gage. It'll be days until I'm again hungry enough to be disappointed about missing it, but that day will come.

Ian Chillag is a producer/humorist with Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!

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The Vaportini: A Cocktail Inhaled, Not Stirred

A sip or a hit? Jack Faller sucks up a bourbon Vaportini at Red Kiva lounge in Chicago.

Here at The Salt, we've heard about some whacky cocktail trends swirling around the country recently from bacon-infused mescals in Washington to liquid nitrogen martinis in San Francisco.

But why do you need to drink your cocktail when you could inhale it instead?

That's right, folks, the "Vaportini" has arrived. And it's making a big splash on the cocktail scene in Chicago.

In essence, the Vaportini is a simple device that evaporates flavor-infused spirits, so you can breathe in the aromas and alcohol through a glass straw.

Restaurateur Julie Palmer experimented with a variety of designs for the Vaportini, but in the end, the simplest worked the best: a hand-blown glass globe with a candle underneath it.

Think of it as something between warming a brandy snifter over a candle and freebasing Knob Creek bourbon.

Restaurateur Julie Palmer came up with the idea after visiting a friend in Helsinki. "She would go into the sauna with a bottle of vodka and pour it over the coals," Palmer tells The Salt. "You could really feel the effects of the alcohol without drinking it."

When Palmer returned home, she wanted to recreate that experience at Red Kiva, a cocktail lounge she had opened up in Chicago's hip West Loop neighborhood.

She enlisted the help of her father, who's an engineer, and started experimenting with a few fancy designs. "I even taught myself to solder," Palmer jokes.

But ultimately she settled on a simple setup: a hand-blown glass globe with a candle underneath it. A shot of spirit sits in the globe and as it heats up, the liquid evaporates and fills the sphere with flavorful and intoxicating vapors, which you can then suck up through a glass straw.

Palmer officially launched the Vaportini last December, and by January, she had to stop taking orders for the $30 devices because she ran out of supplies.

"I'm negotiating with bars all over the country to bring it in, and I'm working with a local distiller to develop spirits specific for it," she says. "I made a lemon-and-tarragon-infused vodka it was incredible."

Jake Malooley, a reporter for Time Out Chicago, got to try the Vaportini firsthand recently, while writing an article on the device.

He gives the gaseous quaffs mixed reviews.

"I felt like it was unsatisfying," he tells The Salt. "Part of why we drink beer and cocktails is for the taste it's cold and refreshing. The Vaportini eliminates a lot of the sensual elements of the cocktail experience."

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To mix up a Vaportini, add your favorite spirit to the glass globe and light the candle below. A few minutes later, vapors fill with glass with flavors and alcohol.

To mix up a Vaportini, add your favorite spirit to the glass globe and light the candle below. A few minutes later, vapors fill with glass with flavors and alcohol.

Nevertheless, Malooley says he was surprised by how much of the whiskey's nuances came through in the vapors. "When you inhale it, you can taste the flavors of each alcohol on your tongue. You can tell it's whisky."

Malooley doesn't think vapor cocktails will replace the liquid versions anytime soon. "It's a fun accessory to do as a dessert course or start off the night, but you wouldn't want to spend the whole night with the Vaportini it just wouldn't be satisfying."

So the Vaportini is fun, but is it safe?

Behavioral biologists Dennis Thombs and Scott Walters, who study alcohol abuse at the University of North Texas, say scientists haven't examined alcohol inhalation in humans yet, so they don't know if the Vaportini poses any extra risks.

"What I will say, though, is that inhaling is a very efficient and rapid way to delivery drugs to the brain," Thombs tells The Salt. "So I would think one would get intoxicated quickly."

On the other hand, a Vaportini has a large amount of water in it, even when it's just straight bourbon or vodka, Walters says. "You'd have to inhale a lot of water before you'd get a whole shot of alcohol. But it might clear up your sinuses."

Malooley agrees. After "sipping" on the Vaportini for about 30 minutes, Malooley says he felt "a mild buzz that wore off fast."

"When we left the bar, I even asked the photographer I was with if he wanted to go get a beer, because I felt like having a real drink," Malooley chuckles.

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Chick-fil-A Welcome In Chicago, Alderman Says, After Renewed Pledge Of Respect

A Chick-fil-A in Fort Worth, Texas, on "appreciation day" last month.

A Chick-fil-A in Fort Worth, Texas, on "appreciation day" last month.

Chicago Alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno, who led the opposition in his city to the opening of a Chick-fil-A restaurant there because of company President Dan Cathy's outspoken stand against same-sex marriage, now says he won't stand in the fast-food chain's way.

The Chicago Tribune reports that according to Moreno, "the restaurant has agreed to include a statement of respect for all sexual orientations in an internal document and promised that its not-for-profit arm would not contribute money to groups that oppose gay marriage."

We asked Chick-fil-A about Moreno's claim and got back this statement from spokeswoman Tracey Micit:

"Chick-fil-A is a family-owned and family-led company serving the communities in which it operates. From the day Truett Cathy started the company, he began applying biblically-based principles to managing his business. For example, we believe that closing on Sundays, operating debt-free and devoting a percentage of our profits back to our communities are what make us a stronger company and Chick-fil-A family.

"The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.

"Our mission is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."

Other than having reversed the order of the first two paragraphs, that's word-for-word what Chick-fil-A said on July 19, as the controversy over Cathy's comments and the support the company drew from conservatives such as Mike Huckabee began to build. The story built to a "Click-fil-A appreciation day" on Aug. 1 and a counter "kiss in day" for gay activists on Aug. 3.

According to the Tribune, though, Moreno feels:

"He achieved his goal of getting Chick-fil-A to 'affirm that they do not have discriminatory policies.'

" 'It's one thing to say that's the way you feel it's another thing to put it into a company policy and an official company statement,' Moreno said."

As for the issue of donating to groups that oppose same-sex marriage, BuzzFeed Politics notes that in its statements today (to us and others) Chick-fil-A "did not contest" that claim. But it also did not clearly confirm it.

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Panera Sandwich Chain Explores 'Pay What You Want' Concept

This Panera Cares store in Chicago switched from for-profit to nonprofit this summer, and it started asking customers to pay whatever they want.

This Panera Cares store in Chicago switched from for-profit to nonprofit this summer, and it started asking customers to pay whatever they want.

The concept of "pay what you want" for goods and services is a nostalgic throwback to the days when people trusted one another just a little bit more, and it's something you expect to see at the occasional farm stand or at a hip, independent coffee shop.

But recently, the sandwich and coffee giant Panera decided to get into the business with Panera Cares, a nonprofit version of the national chain. The company takes existing stores and donates the entire setup to the foundation. The money the store makes pays for the operations. Any additional profits go to local charities.

"They feel like every other Panera Cafe in America; they don't feel the least bit different," says Ron Shaich, co-founder and co-CEO of Panera Bread Co. Well, there is one difference customers will see: There's a donation box where the cash registers were.

Shaich is also president of the Panera Foundation, which runs the Panera Cares that recently replaced the Panera that had been a fixture of the Lakeview area of Chicago. He sees the cafes as a way for the company to help the community and raise awareness about middle-class food insecurity.

Lakeview is the fourth Panera Cares in the country, and Chicago is its biggest market yet. Panera does not track the numbers exactly, but it says roughly 20 percent of Panera Cares customers give more than they're asked. An additional 60 percent donate the suggested amount. The rest pay less or nothing.

While some customers were a bit confused by the donation boxes when earlier stores opened a couple of years ago, Chicago resident Laura Lamar says when the Lakeside Panera became a Panera Cares, it didn't really change her routine: Her coffee used to cost $1.79 a cup. Now, she just gives them $2, and tells them to keep the change.

"It's just, what, 21 cents," Lamar says. "It's not going to make a difference in my life, but it might help somebody else, and if everybody just gave an extra quarter or 50 cents it would make a difference."

But does it make sense for a business?

Robert Gertner, deputy dean of the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, says it's a fairly unusual model for a for-profit company. "It's very rare where you see companies where their charitable activities are a nonprofit version, if you like, of what they do," he says.

Gertner says it's hard to replicate this model well. He points to Ben & Jerry's, which has had a similar effort for decades. The ice cream company created "partner shops" where they waived the franchise fee, which was then run by local nonprofits.

The results, he says, were mixed, but in the long run, it did not really work out: Ben & Jerry's at one time had more than a dozen partner shops. Today, it has only three.

"I think it's something of a challenge to make it work well," Gertner says. "We'll see if it works well for Panera Cares."

Gertner thinks Panera has a chance. The nonprofit stores may even inspire more loyalty from customers and employees, who feel like they're making a difference. He says people are always more likely to give toward an immediate, easy-to-understand need like providing a meal, rather than for something abstract.

So far, Panera says this cafe, like the other locations, is paying for itself.

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