Chicago's Great Culinary Middle Ground

Kuma’s Corner is known for long waits (no reservations) and for its long list of burgers.
By PETER MEEHAN
Published: November 29, 2009

PAUL KAHAN is one of Chicago’s best chefs, and his restaurants are reliable bellwethers for what’s going on in the city’s dining scene. When Blackbird, his first restaurant, opened 12 years ago, it presaged Chicago’s rebirth as one of the planet’s most dynamic restaurant cities — a promise fulfilled by restaurants like Alinea, Schwa and L20. Mr. Kahan followed Blackbird with Avec and the Publican, restaurants that are less formal, better suited to a city that needed less pomp and polish to go with good food. More

Across U.S., Food Stamp Use Soars and Stigma Fades

A GROWING NEED FOR A PROGRAM ONCE SCORNED Greg Dawson and his wife, Sheila, of Martinsville, Ohio, help feed their family of seven with a $300 monthly food stamp benefit. Center and right, the food pantry in Lebanon, Ohio, where residents can also enroll in what is formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. More Photos >
By JASON DePARLE and ROBERT GEBELOFF
Published: November 28, 2009

MARTINSVILLE, Ohio — With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children. More

Interactive Map

New word that I don't think I'll be using a lot...

"I passed up a side-street, one of those deserted ways ... dim places, fusty with hesternal excitements and the thrills of yesteryear." — Rupert Brooke; Letters From America; Sidgwick & Jackson; 1971.

Great Caeser's Ghost!

A bust of Julius Caesar, believed to be the oldest representation of the Roman emperor yet known, at the Antique Arles Museum in Arles, France.
By MAÏA DE LA BAUME
Published: November 29, 2009

ARLES, France — Dredged up from the murky depths of the Rhône River, beneath a heap of wrecked cars, rotting tires and more than 20 centuries of silt, the statue’s white marble visage was plain as day. More