Now that the polls for Best of Chicago have closed I can say this without fear of tipping the scales of this venerable experiment in democracy: Funeral Potatoes are the great heroes of Monday Night Foodball. I’m in their corner for Best Meal Kits and Best Pandemic Pivot—which we’ll find out about on March 3—but right now I’m greedily rubbing my paws together in anticipation of this Monday, February 7, when Eve Studnicka and Alexis Thomas return to the Kedzie Inn in Irving Park for their second turn at the Reader’s ongoing chef pop-up series.
Did you miss their beer-cheese-and-kimchi-ranch-loaded fries on their first Foodball last September? Still pining for those pimiento cheese hash brown-stuffed jalapeno poppers? Haunted by the warm, womblike comfort of a spiked lapsang souchong drinking chocolate?
I can’t exactly help you there, but on top of deploying their regular weekly meal delivery magic, Studnicka and Thomas are taking orders right now for a short but seductive made-to-order menu with what Studnicka describes as concession stand-style “low-brow dishes reimagined with luxury ingredients or luxury dishes with more commonplace ingredients,” a theme they plan to embrace all month with their regular delivery menus.
That means the corn dog with maple mustard and Vargo Brother kraut is actually Kurowski Polish sausage beneath its beer batter. The mac and cheese is mined with venison summer sausage hunted by Thomas’s mom. The veggie chili in the loaded walking taco is “a blend of crumbled Beyond Beef and Phoenix Bean smoked tofu, simmered in a spiced tomato sauce with aromatics and yellow mustard,” according to Thomas. “I was in marching band in high school, so I had to go to every Friday night home football game. Our concession stand always had walking tacos. So this is an homage.”
There’s a malted Belgian chocolate chip cookie for dessert and a gingerbread biscoff drinking chocolate that’s just begging for a shot of the maple whiskey Jon Pokorny has behind the bar. As always, preorder now for peace of mind, or roll the dice (and have your proof of vaccination ready) on a limited number of available walk-in orders beginning at 5 PM on Monday, February 7.
We’re off next week for Valentine’s Day, but see the rest of the current Monday Night Foodball schedule below.
- February 14: Valentine’s Day bye week
- February 21: Oskar Singer, aka @ryehumorbaking, and Uma Jupiter, aka @_fa1th_of_the_hrt_, present “Chateau Picklebone”
- February 28: Thattu and Jaye Fong of Maa Maa Dei
- March 7: “Hot Mix Beef” with Titus Ruscitti, aka @chibbqking, and Eric May, aka @easy_eats_chi
- March 14: Joey Pham, aka @flavorsupreme, and Kelly Ijichi of Mom’s Chicago present “MSG (Monday Snack Gathering)”
- March 21: Lorraine Nguyen, aka @lolo_agogo, and Joey Pham, aka @flavorsupreme, present “SUPRANOS: a Vietalian Experience”
- March 28: Desi-style barbecue with Dhuaan BBQ Company
- April 4: Shin Thompson and Liga Sigal of Bokuchan’s
- April 11: A second act from Oskar Singer (aka @ryehumorbaking)
- April 18: Ricky Hanft of The Wurst
- April 25: Roel Estanilla of @pigandfire
Kedzie Inn
4100 N. Kedzie
(773) 293-6368
kedzieinn.com
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