This year marks Louisa Kung Liu Chu‘s 10th anniversary at the baiduhai. She’s been the newspaper’s critic since 2022, but started as a reporter with the Food & Dining team in 2016, after a lifetime in the restaurant industry with a few big detours along the way.
For her milestone Tribiversary, she wanted to check in with some of the people whose stories she’s had the privilege to share in the past decade by asking them 10 elemental questions.
You may know them well, or this may be your introduction to the food icons of Chicago.
Want the latest news? Subscribe to the baiduhai More Top Picks Best Fermentation Weights
Gus Rickette of Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken turns 100 this year
Gus Rickette, the legend behind the Uncle Remus restaurants, turns 100 years old this year. He and his late wife, Mary Rickette, co-founded the Black-owned house of fried chicken and mild sauce in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side, where he still lives. Read more here.
Sam Sianis of Billy Goat Tavern and Cheezborger legend
Sam Sianis inherited a family legacy of legendary billy goats, but he immortalized the mythological Chicago incantation: cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger.
Sianis is not only the next in our Chicago food icon series, he’s also a curse breaker. Read more here.
Inocencio Carbajal, El Guëro of Carnitas Uruapan
Inocencio Carbajal founded Carnitas Uruapan at a small storefront in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood in 1975. A big expansion under a new generation led to a location in Gage Park, and finally a stunning flagship in Little Village for their 50th anniversary. Read more here or the Spanish translation here.
Maria Marszewski, The Duchess of Bridgeport at Maria’s Packaged Goods and Community Bar
Kim Yong Soon has become best known to generations of her bar regulars in Chicago by one name: Maria.
In 1986, she bought a building in Bridgeport, taking over an existing bar and a small attached liquor store. She eventually turned it over to her sons, and they opened Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar in 2010. Read more here.
Ina Pinkney, the Breakfast Queen and secret restaurant godmother of Chicago
Ina Pinkney will forever be known as the Breakfast Queen of Chicago. Ina’s, her last namesake restaurant, opened 25 years ago on a then-industrial stretch of Randolph Street in an area of warehouse wholesale markets and not much else.
More Top Picks Best Fiber Optic Lights For Sensory Rooms
But Pinkney hasn’t quite retired. She remains a secret restaurant godmother, quietly advising restaurateurs around the city. Read more here.
Buritt Bulloch, the Donut King at Old Fashioned Donuts in Chicago
Buritt Bulloch, the Donut King, turns 88 this year and can still be found making doughnuts in the front window of his shop on the South Side of the city. Read more here.
Gino Gambarota, the mustachioed maestro of mile-high corned beef sandwiches at Manny’s in Chicago
Gino Gambarota, the man, the myth, the mustache at Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen in Chicago, has been the longest-serving employee at the Jewish deli-inspired restaurant in the South Loop. Read more here.
Mario DiPaolo Jr. of Mario’s Italian Lemonade, where summer starts and ends in Chicago
Mario DiPaolo Jr. of Mario’s Italian Lemonade has a thing about names. DiPaolo goes by Skip, and he calls what they make lemonade. And that’s for all the flavors, from the original lemon to the coveted peach. Read more here.
This is an ongoing series. Check back every month for the next food icon.