Big city, little diner

say hi to penny for me

Hi, everyone!

Hope you’re hanging in there. I’ll admit I’ve been feeling a bit discouraged (which has motivated me to do some, uh, bizarre things lately).

But I’m still going to work on things that hopefully make life better for those around us, whether it’s encouraging you to go check out small restaurants throughout the city, or through other events, like this one that’s coming up next week.

That’s why I’ll be participating in another Crust Fund Pizza charity pop-up with John Carruthers on Thursday, November 21, which is coming up quickly. This little get-together is to celebrate the publication of Super Pizza World, which is a compilation cookbook that John’s been working on for years now. It features recipes from local chefs like Mike Satinover of Akahoshi Ramen, my former boss and close friend Derrick Tung of Paulie Gee’s Logan Square (who also owns the Wicker Park and Wheeling locations), along with my long-time internet pal and baking superstar

Andrew Janjigian

. Shit, I almost forgot. I contributed to the cookbook too.

We’ll be cooking alongside Jonathan Zaragoza of the Birrieria Zaragoza family (who’s a talented fine dining chef in his own right), along with Danny Sweis of Ragadan, who I somehow managed to convince to make his famous milkshakes for dessert. It’ll be held at See You Soon, Clayton Hauck’s photography studio, located in the Kimball Arts Center located at the corner of Bloomingdale and California.

Tickets are extremely limited and will sell out immediately, so here’s the link. If you can’t make it, that’s okay, John and I are planning on more pop-ups in the future.

Today’s Party Cut drop is for paid subscribers (subscriptions simply cover my expenses for the newsletter), so hop on board if you’re ready:

And onto the food: Today I’m excited to introduce to you one of the cutest diners I’ve ever seen, where the owner’s as much a draw for me as the food is.