“Queen Vino” is the title Chrishon Lampley gave herself as the founder and CEO of Love, Cork, Screw, a Chicago-based, Black-owned, woman-owned wine company. Her website also describes her as a “badass Black woman ” who started with next to nothing after a freak flood destroyed her Chicago art and wine bar, and a decade […]

In the audio clip below, Eric Oleson, president of O and H Danish Bakeries in Racine, tells WGN’s Steve Alexander what the fluffy sweet-filled pastry is, how it started, and how it became a worldwide seller, especially during the holidays. And, if you think Kringle has something to do with Kris, it does not.

In the audio clip below, Stephanie Powell, Chief Sandwich Developer (that’s really her title) for Chicago’s S. Rosen Bread, tells WGN’s Steve Alexander about Harris poll results showing some of the many items — some of them odd — we pile between slices of bread and call it a leftover sandwich. She and her team […]

These recipes for making mashed potatoes a day or two before Thanksgiving will reduce the stress of the big day. Steve Alexander and his wife, Diane Montiel, have been using a recipe from friend Ann Wright for several years and in Diane’s words, “It’s magic.” Another friend, Nova Lanktree, has a slightly different recipe but […]

Christkindl markets are a 'must-do' for many and offer a taste of Europe in the city.

Feel free to take a crack (or quack) at the punchline, but in the audio clip below, WGN’s John Williams will share his Speed Joke. It’s a way to introduce Sean Smith, general manager of Culver Duck Farms, and Drew Frey, who oversees live production at the farms. They not only share their own duck […]

Sure, Verzênay offers the usual Thanksgiving staples like pumpkin, apple and French silk pies, as well as their buttery brioche dinner rolls, but how about mixing things up this year with a Thanksgiving Quiche? In the audio clip below, Pâtissiere and owner Arshiya Farheen tells WGN’s Steve Alexander she offers savory options, such as the […]

Spoiler alert: If you have the Christmas Cookie Challenge in your DVR and don’t want to know who won the Food Network bake-off, stop reading. Priscilla Sarmiento-Gupana, an Aurora pediatrician, was among the contestants, and in the audio clip below — which contains no spoilers — she tells WGN’s Steve Alexander about her love of […]

When informed that lawmakers in his home state of Wisconsin are attempting to make the brandy old fashioned the official state cocktail, Orion told WGN’s Steve Alexander, “I’ll be darned! I’ll have to start drinking more.” In the audio clip below, Orion talks about his longtime affection for the cocktail that is uniquely Wisconsin, thanks […]

With Erica Bethe Levin’s first child, she was afraid to wander from the norm. Her son was fed the texture-less, flavorless food from the big brand food makers that most other kids got. He grew into a very picky eater. But child number two (We aren’t as neurotic about second children, are we?) was fed […]

When Liam Donnelly discovered people would pay him to pick up their compostable table scraps, he started a route with hundreds of residential and business accounts. He’d pick up their full compost pails and leave a fresh one. He was 15, so he used his bicycle pulling a Radio Flyer wagon at first, then a […]

Deepfake technology affects everyday people, not just celebrities and world leaders.

In the audio clip below, you’ll hear WGN’s morning show host Bob Sirott, widely known as connoisseur of hot dogs, say, “I have decided to give up hot dogs. Forever.” It’s part of a larger story about how deep fakes are fooling people worldwide. And as Dooley Tombras, president of the Tombras Advertising Agency in […]

Opportunity came knocking for Cindy Kienzle 16 years ago — heavily disguised. She was laid off from the job she’d had for ten years, and which she loved: head of marketing and customer communication for the Chicago Transit Authority. At the same time, at age 48, she learned she was pregnant. Three years later, with […]

One of the biggest names in cheese comes from a small town in Wisconsin. Sargento started out in Plymouth, an hour north of Milwaukee, in 1953. It’s still there, and has cheese plants in three other Wisconsin towns, and is celebrating its 70th anniversary. In the audio clip below, Sargento’s EVP of Innovation Kristi Jankowski […]

Nearly every great food idea starts in somebody’s kitchen. A lot of them languish there, too, because in most cities, including Chicago, it’s illegal to sell food prepared in your home kitchen. And until this year, the South Side did not have a community commercial kitchen where food creators could do their thing. In the […]

In the audio clip below, Chad Wilson Olipop’s head of marketing tells WGN’s Steve Alexander why the prebiotic soda brand chose Chicago for its first leap into outdoor advertising. Olipop was created six years ago in Oakland, California, and rapidly became a darling of social media. Wilson says after carving out a niche on the […]

That iconic line was a fellow diner’s response to a meal-stopping outburst by Meg Ryan in “When Harry Met Sally.” The scene was filmed in Katz’s, a Jewish deli in Manhattan, and the line is the title of an exhibition coming to the Chicago area. Beginning October 22, the Illinois Holocaust Museum is hosting “I’ll […]

In the audio clip below, Javon Nicholas tells WGN’s Steve Alexander how she almost didn’t answer a phone call because the Caller ID said “Chicago Bears.” Yeah, right, Javon thought. Why would the Bears be calling her? It was legit, and her company, Egg Rolls ETC was named the Bears Small Business All-Pro for the […]

Social media’s a funny thing. You think you have a clever post and no one responds; you put up something you think is innocuous and it goes crazy. When Illinois farmer Deanne Frieders put up a photo on Facebook she snapped from behind her family’s extra-wide combine as she followed it (pulling a 30-foot soybean […]