A good brush for the grill is an essential tool for every grillmeister.

Toro is prized fatty tuna belly and is ideal for curing. This is the cure the new chef at The Restaurant uses for his dish.

For his 15th summer in the Windy City, Christopher Kostow decided he needed to earn a little cash. Money, it seemed, would help loosen the apron strings.

2 sweetbreads, soaked overnight in cold water to remove blood

To walk into Juju’s Mediterranean Kitchen is one of those adventures where you stumble onto something that is, well, real — if you were in a foreign country, you’d know this is where locals go; either that or you’ve accidentally opened the door and walked into someone’s home.

Conversations always seem brighter and decidedly more intimate in beautiful, romantic settings.

An organization I belong to is gathering at my house next week. In preparation for the potluck that is part of the meeting, one of the members casually asked me if I’d have my grill going.

My best friend Claudia and I just returned from a trans-Atlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2. The captain informed us that the fuel cost for the one-way voyage was $1 million. My gas bill pales in comparison, but I, like everyone else, am feeling the crunch of rising fuel costs across the board. It’s taking big bites out of my grocery bills too.

History, agriculture and the Berbers, Morocco’s earliest indigenous inhabitants, have all joined to produce one of the world’s greatest cuisines.