New book dishes up oral history of Chicago dining

The big picture: Gebert talked to dozens of chefs, restaurateurs and food writers (including Monica) to piece together this compelling tome full of fascinating anecdotes.

• Taken together, they help make sense of where this food city came from and the colorful characters who got us here.

The backstory: Agate Publishing asked Gebert to write the book, and he sealed the deal right before COVID, leaving him to "work around people who were closing their restaurants, and document what was happening," the creator of Fooditor.com and skyfullofbacon.com tells Axios.

Biggest surprises: Learning about "the whole Jerry Kleiner/West Loop saga" and Tru chefs Rick Tramonto's and Gale Gand's "tale of the personal price of ambition, of what it costs you to shoot for the very top in the restaurant business."

His hope: "I want people to appreciate how much love and dedication and creativity go into our restaurants. We could all live on rice cakes and vitamin pills, but instead we get all these wonderful tastes of other cultures and of the personal histories of the people who cook for us."

You can register for Gebert's Thursday talk here.