Chef Jessica Walks First throws down all-Indigenous

New and old favorites at Ludlow Liquors [View this email in your browser]( [READER Logo]( [Food & Drink]( | March 1, 2024 The corner bar at 2959 N. California is on Native land. And as such, the multicolored kernels ground up in Jessica Walks First’s ash corn soup will come from Michigan Potawatomi. The little purple spuds in her potato (aka potatl) salad are Minnesota Ojibwe (via Peru). And the maple syrup in her baked beans is tapped on her own home Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin.   It’s been nearly a year since Walks First [first popped up]( at the former Red Lounge, where in her youth she and her sister used to dance on the bar on Native Nights.   And since then, a lot has happened with the caterer/activist/educator. She’s continued with her wellness work for the Trotter Project. Her Seed to Feed Native Foods Initiative is working on a series of regional food guides. And there’s a notable TV appearance on the horizon on a well-known cooking show that she can’t announce just yet.  Through it all, she’s been cooking at a feverish pace, barely breaking stride to inaugurate the new spring Foodball schedule. She’ll be returning with her chicken-fried woodland mushrooms with sage poblano ranch, and her beefy Indian taco on fry bread.  And she’s also debuting dishes at Ludlow, like that golden-colored nixtamalized corn soup with chicken, cilantro, and avocado. And bison burgers on bannock bread, two ways: one with conventional burger toppings, and the other with blackberry aioli, arugula, and white cheddar. Either way, you’ll need sides of the potatl salad and baked beans with those.  You can [preorder now]( or just walk into Ludlow, where Mercy and Storm will be pouring prickly pear mojitos behind the bar. It all starts at 5 PM this Monday, March 4, in Indigenous Avondale.  Meantime, check out the full spring Foodball schedule. [Spring awakens with a new lineup of OGs for Monday Night Foodball]( They’re all decorated veterans in March and April at the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Ludlow Liquors. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → [It’s all First Foods when Ketapanen Kitchen returns to Monday Night Foodball]( Check out Jessica Walks First’s all-Indigenous menu at the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Ludlow Liquors. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → [Best place to be absolutely anyone you want to be with a sexy Art Deco flair and maybe a martini]( by [Sydney Cox]( | [Read more]( → [a cup of saffron ice cream on a table]( [Best corridor for saffron ice cream]( The intersection of Kedzie and Lawrence by [Anca L. Szilágyi]( | [Read more]( → Get the latest issue of the Chicago Reader Thursday, February 22, 2024 [READ ONLINE: VOL. 53, NO. 10]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE (PDF)]( [Become a member of the Chicago Reader.]( [Facebook icon]( [Instagram icon]( [Twitter icon]( [Website icon]( [YouTube icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [Logo] You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from the Chicago Reader. Want fewer emails from us? [Click here to choose what you want us to send you](. Or, [unsubscribe from all Reader emails](. We’ll miss you! [Sign up for emails from the Chicago Reader]( | [Forward this e-mail to a friend]( © 2024 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616