For the 2024 Outstanding Restaurateur nominees, Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere, Baobab Fare in Detroit, Michigan is more than just a restaurant. Founded by the husband-and-wife team, who are refugees from Burundi, East Africa, Baobab Fare is a celebration of vibrant flavors and simple ingredients, authentic dishes and rich culture, and a destination in which community, connection, and conversation intersect…
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Mezkla
Tucked into the brick façade of downtown Holland, Michigan’s W. 8th Street, where Late Victorian architecture meets contemporary, mixed-use development inspired by the style, Mezkla Taqueria & Fruteria is bringing a fresh, bold flavor to the vernacular palate. While modest in footprint, the brick-and-mortar storefront is just one chapter of a much larger story for Founder and Owner Patricia Vasquez,…
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Daisies: from seed to radical taproot
For Joe Frillman, executive chef and owner of Daisies in Chicago, Illinois, food is a deeply personal act that often evokes memory and nostalgia—for better or for worse. It is an experience that invites diners to participate in a journey that can delight the palate, tie generations, and expand horizons, and it is also one that seeks a certain level…
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To Adalina
In poetic, literary tradition, a hospitality destination set in the Gold Coast Historic District of Chicago, Illinois has reimagined a second-generation restaurant space into a sensory feast, where its muse is both mystery and namesake, giving voice to the exploration and delight of the culinary experience. Its impression, carefully curated, leaves a lingering hint of curiosity on the palate, as…
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For the joy of baking
By definition, baking is the preparation, process, or activity of cooking through the use of heat. From bread and cakes to pastries and cookies, baked goods in all of its iterations across the globe often linger in the minds of those who have savored them, where creativity and heat transform simple ingredients into something more. It is often an art…
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A culinary tradition
Today, many Americans have easy access to pre-prepared food—whether it be slabs of meat packaged at the grocery store or a ready-to-eat meal from a fast-food chain, acquired from just five minutes spent in a drive-through line—and the life cycle of each plant or animal behind the meal is often not thoroughly considered. With an outlook inspired from more than…
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Spirited exploration
The process of distillation is often a poetic one, speaking to age-old traditions spanning rich, diverse cultures, landscapes, and agricultural origins. Within its composition—from the herbal notes of gin and bright earthy flavors of tequila and the malted aroma of whiskey—a narrative unfolds of both planting and harvest, climate and soil, innovation and historical technique, and chemical equation and artful…
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Skyline coastal
In an open-air ode to leisure dining as seen in seaside towns along the Iberian Coast, the makers of renowned Chicago destinations like The Violet Hour, Big Star, and The Publican, have launched a new rooftop bar concept offering sweeping views of the Chicago skyline, and a relaxed interpretation of the outdoor cervecerías signature to Spanish and Portuguese coasts. Bar…
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MDRD in cityscape
The skyline in Grand Rapids, Michigan could be considered one of the most changed in the Midwest, with development projects and creative moments of design found around most corners of the downtown core, which spreads along western Michigan’s Grand River. It is a burgeoning travel destination with a bent for hospitality, with several recent hotel projects hosted in hospitality families…
