Smile Politely. Speak Directly. A Champaign-Urbana Culture Blog

If you aren’t here for college, then there are few reasons to roam among the suburban youth who tan, binge drink and mate along East Green Street for eight months each year. There are a few hidden treasures, however: some seriously decent eateries catering to academics searching for digestible food. One even offers full wait service (gasp!) and a full bar (no!). Soon to be swept into downtown Champaign's old train station, Café Luna offers delicious lunches, dinners and Sunday brunches. Make the trip if you are feeling adventurous or are otherwise campus-bound. Certainly after their move next month there will be no reason not to try it out.

When I first saw the recipe for Creamy Celery-root and Haricot Vert Salad in this month's issue of Gourmet magazine I was reminded of how much I love celery root, particularly in this type of salad. Dressed in a tangy sauce known in French cookery as a remoulade, vegetables transform into something special. Sauce remoulade is a combination of mayonnaise, mustard, capers, chervil, tarragon, parsley, chives, gherkins and a touch of anchovy (optional). A thick creamy sauce, remoulade is traditionally served cold and appears not too different from a tartar sauce — but it’s much better due to all the fresh herbs. Louisianans have their own version of remoulade — "kicked up a notch," of course, with cayenne pepper, and often served alongside shrimp. Celery root, or celeriac, in my opinion, is the perfect foil for remoulade. Crunchy and earthy, it balances the tangy creaminess of the sauce, combining to form a beloved culinary classic known as celeriac remoulade.

Americans eat an average of 253 eggs per year, according to statistics provided by the United Egg Producers. That's a lot of eggs, but it’s not entirely surprising, given that eggs are an essential part of our common diet. Incorporated into a plethora of prepared products, baked goods and on their own, many of us eat eggs, in one form or another, on a daily basis (vegans excluded). It takes 280 million laying hens to satisfy our current egg habit — a multi-billion dollar industry. Yet, why do so many of us restrict our eggs to the breakfast table? Is it our fear of cholesterol, lack of imagination or just habit?

While it isn’t difficult to find a bar in downtown Champaign that suits your mood or credit card balance available (or a club, if that’s your bag), finding a decent place to eat can be tricky. If you don’t feel like stepping on peanut shells or shouting over played-out pop rock, then be prepared to spend 30 to 50 bones for a traditional fine dining experience. Indeed, it would seem that neither downtown nor Campustown has a single spot that is casual, but not tacky; civilized, but not pretentious; that can accommodate the burger fiends as well as the more high-maintenance diners among us.

If you go east down Springfield Avenue, however, you can find a place that is, for both the seasoned foodie and the seasoned townie somewhere in between middle-of-the-road and just right. The place to go, which also serves the more sophisticated of dedicated drinkers with a recently expanded martini menu, is Urbana’s Crane Alley.

About every month or so, the Red Herring restaurant transforms itself into a very special Indian restaurant. Simply called "Sambar," Indian people of all ages – students, professors, families, children – gather in the basement of the Channing-Murray foundation to enjoy some of the best homemade south Indian food available in the area. Sure, there's always a few in-the-know Western diners at Sambar, but personally, I think Indian food tastes better if enjoyed in the company of Indians.

There’s very little about Papa George, the restaurant that was until recently Pickles on Neil Street, that says “Greek.” In fact, the exterior screams bland American cuisine (a la Pickles), but the fact that the seldom-busy parking lot was overflowing last Friday night attests to how popular this restaurant has become and how, after a rocky start, the food has greatly improved.

The problem of authenticity arises again when entering and seeing essentially Pickles, with a few minor changes — a strip of wall near the ceiling has been painted Mediterranean blue and the tables now have textured blue candleholders. So it’s almost unavoidable to ask: Must a Greek restaurant have white-washed walls and be adorned with Corinthian columns and tchochkes from the old country for the food to be tasty and authentic? In the case of Papa George, the answer is no.

For me, Valentine's Day is just another Hallmark holiday. It's not that I don't believe in love or romance, I could just care less either way. That's not to say I would turn down a bouquet of roses, an invitation to dinner or chocolate — especially chocolate.

The world of chocolate is expanding, and chocolate manufacturers are including more details on their packaging, including cacao percentages, regional names and type of bean. These descriptions are hard to decipher — or use to your advantage when baking, buying or eating — without a brief understanding of chocolate: where it comes from and how it is made.

She bought a chili kit at the supermarket, we made it, and I was converted. Then we broke up, and I didn’t make chili for awhile. I was always eating someone else’s, or it was canned chili over a hot dog, or, the absolute worst, cafeteria chili.

Fast forward a few years, and I decided to make chili for my (once, current, and future) sweetie. No seasoning packets, no kits, no training wheels. Since then I have tinkered around with this recipe, and have always changed one thing or another. This isn’t really the kind of recipe that calls for specific measures. What you’ve got are ballpark figures. So feel free to adjust things for taste, and like in any good relationship, experiment. You never know what you might like.

—Brandon T. Washington

Banana, blueberry, ricotta, buckwheat, buttermilk, bao, bing (Chinese flatbread), German, potato, Schmarren, latkes, crepes, Johnnycakes, dosa — the list goes on and on. These, of course, are plays on the incredibly versatile pancake.

Pancakes can turn up in the form of appetizers, breakfast dishes, lunch courses, supper treats and desserts. They lend themselves to a variety of preparations and are often stuffed or served with fruits, jams, sausages, and even leftover meats or fish. It’ no wonder that around the globe pancakes find center stage for a wide variety of religious holidays and national dishes.

There was a time when sushi was perceived as exotic and foreign. Raw fish? Isn't that down-right un-American? Today, sushi is available everywhere in Champaign-Urbana – even at your local grocery store (i.e. Schnucks and County Market). So who serves up the best sushi in town? The answer, according to our niece Allison and her best friend Anna, is Yellowfin.

The foodie world is divided between sushi virgins and sushi connoisseurs (with very few people in between). In the quest to convert more people to sushi lovers, we decided to start early with our niece Allison. When she was 8 years old, we started taking her out to eat at sushi restaurants. Over the years, she has tried sushi at just about every restaurant in town. So when a new restaurant named Yellowfin opened a few months ago, she insisted that we go there as well.