Still Smoking!!!! The Chicago Firehouse

I had a chance to go back to one of my favorite places the other day - the Chicago Firehouse!  During the NATO summit I sent some participants there and found out that my favorite item, the lobster bisque wasn't available - I wasn't sure if that meant that I had talked about it so much, they couldn't meet the demand, or they had (shudder) actually taken it off the menu....

I went over and spoke to the owner and he laughed at me.  I was concerned - naturally.  I don't want to be the person who is telling the world about the quintessential bowl of lobster bisque, causing mouths to water all over the world - and they get there and the dish isn't there anymore.  I can't count how many people I directed to the Firehouse, or to the other restaurants I sent people during that weekend.

So, I had to try it again for myself myself .  As usual, the place doesn't disappoint - it's still one of my favorite restaurants on earth - I will always highly recommend it - and I will tell you why:

Start with the jumbo lump crab cake - it's the sweetest crabmeat I've had in years. It prepares you for the rest of the evening and the good flaors yet to come.  Follow up with the lobster bisque - you can thank me later - I have a hard time finding lobster bisque that I enjoy as much.  Everyone I send to the Firehouse knows about the bisque.  I'm having the rainbow trout, which is so good, it melts in my mouth.  There are other offerings - the filet mignon, the double cut pork chop, the grilled salmon.  Save the Chateaubriand for the night you propose, but it'll melt in your mouth.  If she doesn't say yes, she doesn't deserve you.

Back to the Frontera - Frontera Grill !!!!

Two of the most requested restaurants in the country are Frontera Grill and Topolobampo - Rick Bayless' places on Clark Street.  You practically have to make reservations a year ahead of time to eat there, but you absolutely won't find more palatable Mexican food.

I prefer Frontera Grill personally, but Topolobampo is also wonderful - I just have simple tastes when it comes to Mexican so Frontera works for me.

Start with the bacon and garlic chive guacamole - you'll be ruined for anything else.  Follow up with the lamb shoulder in black mole with extra cilantro, the mole poblano enchiladas, the fresh corn tamales with chicken (get extra carmelized onions), or the steak trio tacos - you're talking about an evening of pure enjoyment.  I usuallygo by late in the evening, but if you are sucessful in getting a great table during prime time - you can finish your evening by taking a walk around the neighborhood - one of the best in the city.  I'm usually leaving so late, I share a cab with one of the cooks - or the hostess on duty.

Why I Won't Walk In the Susan G. Komen Walk For The Cure This Year

First of all - you know that it had to take a lot to get me to even CONSIDER walking in the annual Susan G. Komen Walk in Chicago. I can certainly find something to spend my time doing other than walking 60 miles over three days - but I was going to do it this year because you have to push yourself to do what you think is impossible - this year is going to be a milestone birthday for me and I wanted to celebrate it doing something I never dreamed I could do - I even bought some new gym shoes and was walking at the club to try and build my stamina for what this journey might involve. I had compiled my prospective donor list and everything. But I was thrown for a loop when I learned yesterday that the Susan G. Komen Foundation, long regarded as a proud warrior in the eternal fight against breast cancer, had decided to stop offering funding for mammograms at Planned Parenthood this week.

The decision was a heart stopper. After I became a Delta (30 years ago this May 29th), I was introduced to Planned Parenthood and I volunteered for them downtown and at the facility on North Sheridan Road. I did my internship at Planned Parenthood while I was at Loyola, and I had to get my advisor's permission to do so. My advisor was a priest, so he was loathe to grant my request, but agreed as long as I would discuss abstinence. I have worked with them (and admired the fabulous Faye Wattleton) on and off for years until it got too dangerous to stand on the front lines.

This latest betrayal is like a slap in the face. To insult Planned Parenthood is to insult me - I'm not about to donate another dime to this sham. Planned Parenthood is for many women the only available medical care in their area. Millions of women use Planned Parenthood every year - contrary to popular belief, it's not just about abortions - it's about training and life saving, and making a commitment to helping someone who may not know enough to help themselves. If Susan G. Komen isn't behind Planned Parenthood, then I can't get behind Susan G. Komen - I urge you to join me in the struggle.

Backlash grows over Susan G. Komen-Planned Parenthood flap

By

Lucy Madison

Play CBS News Video

(Credit: iStockphoto)

Two days after Planned Parenthood announced that its funding from the Susan G. Komen foundation had been cut, women's health advocates are taking to the airwaves to make their dissatisfaction known, decrying the decision as a crass political calculation and urging Komen to reverse the decision.

Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, said she was "very shocked" that Komen, a leading breast cancer charity, was cutting ties, and said she hoped they would change their minds.

"I really hope that they will rethink this decision and that we can become partners again," Cecile Richards said Thursday on MSNBC. "We share with the Komen foundation the same goal, which is to make sure that women get access to health care. We were very shocked and very surprised that they decided to pull funding from our health centers, because we're a very significant provider of breast exams to women."

The breast cancer charity has been on the receiving end of scathing criticism since Tuesday, when Planned Parenthood announced that the influential charity had decided to pull hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of annual funding for breast cancer screenings and preventative education.

The organization has defended its decision as part of an ongoing effort to exact "stronger performance criteria for our grantees," but many Planned Parenthood supporters have accused Komen of caving to pressure from the right in what they cast as an ongoing assault on abortion rights.

As of Thursday afternoon, 26 Democratic senators had attached their names to a letter urging Komen to reverse the decision.

"It would be tragic if any woman--let alone thousands of women-- lost access to these potentially life-saving screenings because of a politically motivated attack," the senators wrote in the letter. "We earnestly hope that you will put women's health before partisan politics and reconsider this decision for the sake of the women who depend on both your organizations for access to the health care they need."

"It's a very sad day," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., one of the letter's co-signers, in an interview on MSNBC. "Susan G. Komen has put in place a policy that says directly that they will not provide funding for organizations like Planned Parenthood because of a partisan witch hunt in the House against Planned Parenthood."

"I would ask that all members of Susan G. Komen to reconsider that policy, because it's dangerous for women and it's dangerous for organizations," Boxer added.

When the decision was first reported two days ago, Komen representatives pointed to a new standard in its grant-allocation process as part of the impetus for the change. That standard will prohibit Komen from funding organizations that are under local, state or federal investigations going forward.

Planned Parenthood has in the last several years become a frequent target of congressional Republicans because it provides abortion services in addition to other women's health services while receiving government support. (The government support cannot be used to pay for abortions.) The organization is currently being investigated by the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee over whether or not its funding may have gone to providing abortions, but no result of that investigation has been announced.

In a conference call on Thursday, Komen founder and CEO Nancy Brinker, as well as president Liz Thompson, suggested the congressional investigation was not driving the decision after all.

Brinker said that while "investigations are an issue," another factor was that Planned Parenthood provides what they described as "pass-through" services rather than direct care for breast cancer services.

"This doesn't have really anything to do with that," Thompson said on the call. "I don't know very much about that investigation, frankly.

Brinker said that under the new standards, "we like to be able to direct a person to proper training and diagnosis, and we don't like to do pass through grants anymore." Planned Parenthood, she said, provided only pass-through services.

When asked whether or not other organizations receiving funding from Komen provide only pass-through rather than direct care, Brinker said they were "working to that goal."

Thompson noted that Komen would not be pulling grants already in place, and that three Planned Parenthood locations would continue to receive funding.

"I would like to highlight, we do have grants that will be active that will provide screening services," she said.

Questioned on the number of organizations they continue to fund which provide abortion services, Brinker said, "We're not in the abortion business -- that's not something that we ask people about."

Many have pointed to Karen Handel, a new vice president to the Komen foundation, as a possible force behind the decision to cut off grant money Planned Parenthood. Handel, who ran for governor of Georgia in 2010, describes herself as "staunchly pro-life" and frequently called for an end to abortion during her gubernatorial bid.

In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, Democratic Congresswoman Lauretta Sanchez cited Handel's anti-abortion rights politics as possible evidence that the decision as politically-driven.

"I think it was probably driven by politics," she said. "I do believe that the federal investigation will find no wrongdoing on the part of Planned Parenthood. They are very strict about the type of work they do and accounting for all the funds."

The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, citing several anonymous sources in a Thursday morning blog post, reported that the new regulations were specifically adopted with an eye toward giving the foundation an excuse to cut ties with Planned Parenthood.

Goldberg writes:

"Three sources with direct knowledge of the Komen decision-making process told me that the rule was adopted in order to create an excuse to cut-off Planned Parenthood. (Komen gives out grants to roughly 2,000 organizations, and the new "no-investigations" rule applies to only one so far.) The decision to create a rule that would cut funding to Planned Parenthood, according to these sources, was driven by the organization's new senior vice-president for public policy, Karen Handel, a former gubernatorial candidate from Georgia who is staunchly anti-abortion and who has said that since she is "pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood."

Goldberg also writes that at least one high-profile Komen staffer, Mollie Williams, resigned in protest over the decision to defund Planned Parenthood.

Brinker and Thompson dismissed the idea that the decision was related to abortion politics, and flatly denied the accusation that the new rules were implemented with the intent of defunding Planned Parenthood.

Williams, in a statement to CBS News, said she was not responding to questions surrounding the issue, though she did note that "I believe it would be a mistake for any organization to bow to political pressure and compromise its mission."

When asked about her resignation on the conference call, Brinker and Thompson said it was not Komen policy to release information about employees.

Regardless of whether or not the decision was borne out of political motivations, however, its impact has been to dramatically mobilize Planned Parenthood donors.

Within 24 hours of the announcement Planned Parenthood had raised more $400,000 online, mostly from small donors, according to Tait Sye, a spokesman for the organization.

Additionally, the Fikes Foundation gave Planned Parenthood a $250,000 grant toward starting the Emergency Breast Health Fund, Sye said, in the aftermath of the Komen decision.

And on Thursday afternoon, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he would match up to $250,000 donations from his personal wealth.

"Politics have no place in health care," Bloomberg said in a statement. "Breast cancer screening saves lives and hundreds of thousands of women rely on Planned Parenthood for access to care. We should be helping women access that care, not placing barriers in their way."

It's A Travesty to Lose Carlos Quentin

I got word this morning that the Carlos Quentin era is over at the White Sox - he's on his way back home to San Diego. I'm literally the only person in the city outside of the White Sox who openly cheered when Carlos came to Chicago - nobody else knew who he was and friends and family peppered me with "Who is Carlos Quentin?" questions before he came here and proved what I had already seen - I should have been a sports scout! Carlos Quentin was a standout on the reality program "The Show", about six guys playing AAA baseball for the Diamondbacks. Carlos was one of the few to get to "the show" playing for his major league team coming to play against the Cubs and staying at the Westin on Michigan Avenue. Carlos was an "overnight sensation" getting a major hit on his first at bat - kids in candy stores and little girls bouncing out of "American Girl Place" don't have smiles as wide as Carlos did when he came to Chicago as a Diamondback playing at Wrigley against the Cubs - he was eating steak, sleeping in a California King bed, head resting on goose down pillows under an eiderdown comforter. I've been a Carlos Quentin fan since that day and I wish him well as he goes back home, but I wish he were still with us - the White Sox need home runs and he delivered.