We manufacture almost everything from basic ingredients. We do not make the cheese or churn the butter, we do not make the imported linguini or the Eiffel Tower mustard, but everything else is made in house from basic ingredients, including the breads, all the salad dressings, all the sauces (even catsup and mayonnaise). Pork: Our [...]
This has been quite a year for us at the Rose. Jose leaving us unexpectedly was a hard thing to get through. No time has been more difficult than now when we are getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day, usually our biggest day, week of the year. This year however was complicated by the fact [...]
Rockford needs to know that Caesar salad is from Mexico not Italy and it is on whole leaves, not cut up in a bowl. Like most things, Rockford thinks about food, this is wrong. The first time I saw Caesar served correctly it was at a little restaurant in Madison called Boehm’s. It was run [...]
Back in the saddle, again We are getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day. This is going to be our most ambitious undertaking of recent experience as this year we are making or pickling our own corned beef. In addition, we are doing it absolutely without chemicals. The experience we have gained using celery juice to [...]
I was really excited when we made our first batch of bacon using celery to cure it. It comes out just the same as bacon made with saltpeter, but no chemicals. The color is bright pink. This gave me the notion that we could make our own corned beef for St. Patrick’s Day. I had [...]
My son is probably pretty upset with me as I have not as yet acknowledged his birthday present to me. I have been in a tailspin since the election. For the first few days I couldn’t think about anything else. Evidently, I hang out with mostly liberals because everywhere I went, I only ran into [...]
I had to do something really hard today. It reminded me of Uncle Frank. He used to tell a story about a dog he had and how he had to shoot the dog. He said his dad told him he had to shoot the dog. I can no longer remember why but it had to [...]
I can only find one Chicago restaurant that is claiming to be preservative free. I think we are way ahead of the crowd. When I started my first restaurant business at the corner of State and Madison streets, around thirty-five years ago, I just wanted to have a little downtown restaurant that served good food. [...]
The mold in the air ruins my Fall. This is the third or fourth year I’ve had this problem. I wake up to use the bathroom and upon standing I am so dizzy I almost fall. Exercise helps, so I set out Tuesday morning for my new walk. I still walk down through Haight Village [...]
Thursday I go to Chicago for my market trip to stock up for the weekend. I order fish, veggies and on this Thursday, make the first real trip to my new meat supplier, International, on the corner of Grand and Harlem. Finding it this time is not a problem because I went on a search-out [...]
