Mindy. F***ing. Segal.
Because we are all in desperate need of a little comfort and love, in the Season 2 premiere we sat down with Chicago’s OG queen of culinary cannabis and perfectly burnished pastries: Mindy Segal. The James Beard Award-winning owner of Bucktown stalwart Hot Chocolate and innovative mind behind Mindy’s Artisanal Edibles shares her journey into cooking and baking, her dancing alter ego and how to make proper cannabutter—for all those of us holed up and in need of weekend projects. And note, we recorded this just before the growing coronavirus pandemic required us to become shut-ins.
Ina Pinkney, The Breakfast Queen of Chicago
It's the final episode of Season 1 so we called in the big guns: Ina Pinkney, the legendary restauranteur known as "The Breakfast Queen" who served Chicago the most important meal of the day for 30+ years from her spots in Lincoln Park and the West Loop. Learn how she got her start, her battle with polio as a young child, how obsessing over the details helped her stand out (33:00), her brief foray into local politics and civic engagement (47:03), how she helped get the citywide smoking ban passed (52:00), fun stories from her life like dancing with Fred Astaire (1:00:35) and her advice for restauranteurs (01:05:00, seriously though listen to this if you own a restaurant or plan to one day). Thank you all for listening to Season 1!