Last Supper: Michael Nagrant

8 Posted by - May 13, 2014 - Last Supper

last supper chicago gluttons

The Question
You have one meal left in your life. You can eat whatever your want. What’s your last supper?

The Eater:
Michael Nagrant is the dining contributor for Redeye. He was the food critic at the Sun-Times before that newspaper decided to shed all pretense of caring about anything except hyperbole and yellow journalism. He contributed to the Alinea cookbook and freelances all over the place. Plus, he’s nicerenamufucker. Follow him on Twitter.

The Last Supper:
When I first started interviewing chefs, I used to ask this question a lot. There was a sort of young man’s hubris and optimism in that question. I sorta almost believed somehow the subject would actually truly have the opportunity to know when their last meal was coming and plan for it. It was easy to ask the question, because as far as I was concerned, the two us, me and the chef, were never gonna die. It was an optimistic, but inconsequential parlor game.

But, that all changed for me when Charlie Trotter stroked out on his couch last year. Arguably one of the greatest culinary visionaries of all time went down, unsuspectingly, in front of his TV, a man of ultimate control, controlled. He did not, as far as I know, consume a bottle of 1900 Chateau Margaux and a plate of pristine seafood as he’d hoped. I like to believe he’d just finished off a Hot Pocket.

And, as I’ve gotten a little older, metaphorically and literally, death haunts me more than it used to. I’ve seen the carcasses of so many news organizations I’ve worked for picked over, and I’ve lost some people I’ve loved. I don’t believe in fortunetelling, but I expect I’m gonna die earlier than I should.

So, now what I try to do is pursue some semblance of my ideal of a last meal as often as I can, day after day, instead of planning and hoping for a blowout that ain’t never gonna come.

I am not rich by any means, but I rarely pass up an opportunity to drink a glass of Pappy Van Winkle when that bottle glints at me across a bar. I get at least a pound of fresh never frozen Alaskan King Crab from Dirk’s Fish Market every year, dunk it in a pound of European butter and go to town. I get a white truffle in season from time to time and shave it over things like handmade pasta, and sometimes, directly in to my mouth.

I don’t make it to Memphis as often as I should, but when I do Gus’s World Famous fried chicken gets in my belly.

Everytime I go back to Michigan, I’m making sweet sweet love to a large “super” pizza from Buddy’s, a coney dog from Lafayette and some snackers at Olga’s kitchen.

buddies pizza

A photo of Buddy’s pizza that we jacked from michigan.org.

I just discovered it a few weeks ago, but every time I go to Las Vegas, I will stop by Kabuto, and I will go omakase and eat whatever chef Gen Mizoguchi tells me to stuff in my maw. And then I will demand some fatty tuna collar after he’s done telling me what to do.

I go to New Orleans every few years, and not a trip passes without a Parkway Bakery roast beef po boy, a half and half from Domilise’s, and BBQ shrimp from Mr. B’s. I don’t care where they’re from, but I eat a truckload of fresh oysters and a bucket of mignonette often.

I’ve kicked the turkey to the curb and on Thanksgiving there is now country ham on my table, Benton’s, Broadbent’s or Newsom’s depending on how I feel.

Three words: bul go gi. Rarely a fee months go by where hot charcoal coals aren’t involved and a forty of shitty cold Korean lager isn’t at my side. Same with Thai – crispy on choy at Andy’s Thai Kitchen and fucking everything at PokPok whenever possible.

It ain’t all fancy food. My mom makes this “éclair” cake from Jello vanilla pudding, graham crackers and baking chocolate. It is the very nadir of 1980’s Ladies Home Journal-inspired cuisine. I crave it on the regular. There is always a bag of Totino’s pizza rolls in my freezer or one of their “party” pizzas. Totino’s will likely be the true death of me, but what a heavenly way to die.

13 Comments

  • avatar

    Hay Day Triche est un tout nouveau programme qui vous permettra d’ajouter un nombre illimité de diamants dans votre
    compte de jours de foin.

  • avatar
    custom made tshirt June 29, 2015 - 11:02 am Reply

    Thanks for a marvelous posting! I really enjoyed reading it,
    you happen to be a great author. I will remember to bookmark your blog and will often come back sometime soon. I want to encourage you to
    definitely continue your great job, have a nice day!

  • avatar
    cheap t shirts printing June 30, 2015 - 7:05 am Reply

    What a data of un-ambiguity and preserveness of valuable knowledge on the topic of unexpected emotions.

  • avatar
    custon tshirts July 1, 2015 - 8:25 pm Reply

    Thankfulness to my father who informed me regarding this website,
    this web site is really remarkable.

  • avatar
    Engineers July 3, 2015 - 7:00 pm Reply

    Hey there would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re utilizing?
    I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most.

    Can you suggest a good web hosting provider at a
    reasonable price? Cheers, I appreciate it!

  • avatar

    Valuable information. Lucky me I discovered your site accidentally, and
    I am stunned why this coincidence did not happened earlier!
    I bookmarked it.

  • avatar
    booktastic board game July 17, 2015 - 10:53 pm Reply

    I always spent my half an hour to read this web site’s
    articles or reviews every day along with a mug of coffee.

  • avatar
    customize your own t shirt August 18, 2015 - 10:29 am Reply

    Hello to every body, it’s my first go to see of this
    webpage; this blog contains amazing and genuinely
    good stuff in support of readers.

  • avatar
    MyFreeCams September 1, 2015 - 6:30 pm Reply

    Can I simply say what a relief to find somebody that really understands what they’re discussing
    over the internet. You actually realize how to bring a problem to light and make it important.

    More people ought to read this and understand this side
    of your story. I was surprised that you aren’t more popular given that you definitely possess the gift.

    Nice, that was a great article. Have you thought about to visit webcam girl pictures?

  • avatar
    zobacz September 22, 2015 - 8:00 am Reply

    Spot on with this write-up, I honestly believe that this web site
    needs much more attention. I’ll probably be
    back again to read more, thanks for the info!

  • avatar
    www.mappery.com September 23, 2015 - 2:21 pm Reply

    Hello There. I found your weblog the usage of msn.
    That is an extremely smartly written article.
    I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to read extra of your useful info.
    Thanks for the post. I will certainly comeback.

  • avatar
    MeatPie January 3, 2016 - 1:45 pm Reply

    Totino’s party pizzas, specifically the sausage, are the best, shitty things I occasionally crave. But they’re becoming harder and harder to locate. My best luck has been the produce markets around Humboldt Park.

    Respect.

  • avatar
    activate espn September 20, 2019 - 10:01 am Reply

    For latest information you have to visit world wide web and on web I found this site as
    a best website for most up-to-date updates.

  • Leave a Reply to custon tshirts