5 Questions With… Rachel Adams and Lucy Hewett of Dinner was Delicious

Dinner Was Delicious is a Chicago based food blog. They’re raw, fresh and not afraid to say what they think, with the occasional curse word here and there. SAVEUR recognized them on their Sites We Love list for 2012 and we couldn’t agree more. Whether you’re just hearing about them for the first time or already head over heels for the awesome female blogging team, Rachel and Lucy, the interview below is a fun, food-focused ride you’ll want to tag along for. Enjoy!

Your blog is kind of all over the place (but in a very good way) with food recipes, drink concoctions, restaurant suggestions, cursing, etc.. How would you explain its organized chaos? How did the blog come to be?

Dinner was Delicious is a reflection of us and our lives– so “organized chaos” is pretty accurate. Everything on our blog is real stuff that we really make in our real (read: tiny) Chicago kitchens and we try to present it with as little dressing up as possible. That means cusses and dishes that aren’t styled to death. We hope that makes our stuff seem approachable and less Pinterest-y. Rachel has this theory that Pinterest was invented by the Man(tm)  to make women feel bad about themselves for not making a perfect cake bunting (or whatever) to keep us from overthrowing the patriarchy.

Anyway.

We like to give people stuff we know they can work into their daily repertoire, because it’s stuff we’ve worked into ours. Each month we generally try to include a main dish and at least one side that wouldn’t be terrible served at the same time, a cocktail, and a dessert. If we have time (and a budget) to shoot a couple more things, we stick in whatever else we’re really excited about. Lately it’s been breakfast stuff, but in the summertime, when we can luxuriate over tomatoes at the farmer’s market, we’ll talk about good produce or, in the bowels of winter, we like sharing our favorite restaurants to visit for mini-vacations.

Who are a few of your favorite food personalities (Gallagher is an acceptable answer here)?

Lucy will confess to wanting to bang Anthony Bourdain but, like, who doesn’t? Rachel’s pretty obsessed with Harold McGee and Jeffrey Steingarten, both of whom she holds responsible for the disasters she makes in the kitchen. We both want to be Dorrie Greenspan when we grow up.

Where is your ultimate food destination and why?

Chicago is the best eating city in the world. Period, hands down, forever, and ever, amen. We’re stupid loyal to our town.

If we HAD TO name somewhere else that we’d go, we’d probably be most excited about eating in San Francisco because of the super amazing produce (not to mention the people cooking it) or Quebec because poutine.

Speaking of food destinations, Chicago is known for several signature foods—pizza, Mexican, gastronomical stuff, hot dogs. What’s your personal Chicago fix or what food defines the city in your opinion? Also, where does that food come from?

What’s great about Chicago is that it’s a city made up of other tiny cities. Each neighborhood holds its own culinary legacy that’s totally unique and perfectly preserved. That’s what makes our city so special and eating here so fun. Perogi and Borscht with tiny, tender ricotta rolls and garlic oil in Ukranian Village, the Tamale Guy and elote vendors in Humboldt Park and Logan Square, ridiculous Szechuan and Dim Sum– including soup dumplings which are, like, the most, to say the least– in Chinatown, Greek Fries and Gyros in Lincoln Park, cafeteria style Soul Food in Hyde Park, Pho and Bánh Mì in Uptown.

What really ties it all together is some incredible proteins. Chicago is a city of carnivores and we think that we have some of the best butchers in town. We’re a huge city surrounded by fertile farmland. That gives us access to some of the best meat in the country and our butchers know exactly what to do with all of it.

The Butcher & Larder is one of our city’s hidden treasures and their baseball steaks (and bacon. and sausages. and lamb) turn our kitchens into our own Chicago signature food spots.

The world will end unless you please four very tough food critics with a dynamite dish (or drink). What are you making?

Fried Chicken and Biscuits with Chicken Gravy. Rachel has a recipe for fried chicken that she refuses to share and it’s the only thing she gets cocky or boastful about. It’s not fancy, it’s just good. Really good. The way food should be. And goes perfectly with cheap beer.

Rachel and Lucy photograph credited to Brent Knepper; food photograph courtesy of Dinner Was Delicious.