Although Eric Larson has left the building, the spirit is still there behind the cheese counter, at the registers and in the café. I'm sorry to see him go, but I'm very glad that the market and café looks like it will be around a while.

Every year for the past five years or so, I've gone to the National Restaurant Association show at McCormick Place. I enjoy it for a lot of reasons.

At restaurants all over Chicagoland, you can buy Caesar Salads, pot pies and, at Winberie's, a Shrimp DeJonghe that, for better or worse, are not quite in line with classical requirements.

Traveling by cruise ship reminds me a lot of the experiences described by Thomas Mann in Magic Mountain; passengers on that ship and the patients in Mann's hospital share the experience of passing the days in expectation of eating. One day, we discovered the Zaandam's menu listed five "international" breakfasts. They all sounded interesting, so Carolyn and I and another friend decided to have all five.

Recently, at Hotel Guaycura in Todos Santos, a small town in Baja California, about 90 minutes north of the more famous Cabo St. Lucas, I had what was called on the menu a "burrito."  This burrito was a small plug of eggs, with onions, tomato sauce and …machaca.

Delia's, owned by a Romanian couple, is maybe missing a major opportunity by not serving more Romanian food.

I had, somewhat arrogantly, written off Mexican cheese. So I was taken aback, mildly shocked really, to have a platter of excellent cheeses set before me at the Guaycura Hotel in Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Ten years ago, some online food friends and I decided to eat from noon to noon, just for fun. Last week was the anniversary of this culinary odyssey, and so we did it again.

I've known Oak Parker Mark Brewer for almost twenty years; he and I used to work together for a communications consultancy.  I was a little surprised to hear that he's turned in his pen for tractor.

Last weekend, my daughter Josie and I went to Porkchop in the Randolph Market area and had a brunch that was worth the trip.