Steve Dolinsky has won 13 James Beard Awards for his TV, radio and podcast work. He is the Food Reporter at NBC 5 (Chicago), where his “Food Guy” reports air every Thursday night at 10 p.m.
Steve is also the Producer and Host of “Pizza City," a bi-monthly podcast featuring some of the greatest pizza makers in the nation, and was previously Co-Creator and Co-Host of The Feed Podcast with Chef Rick Bayless (which garnered a Beard award in 2015 for best podcast), a weekly show that ran from 2014 to 2019. He has also written food and travel stories for the Travel sections of the Chicago Tribune and Canada’s Globe and Mail, and was a frequent contributor to Public Radio International’s “The World.”
Steve is the author of “Pizza City, U.S.A.: 101 Reasons Why Chicago is America’s Greatest Pizza Town” (Northwestern University Press). In order to write the book, he visited 185 places in Chicagoland over the course of six solid months of eating. His “Pizza City U.S.A. Tours” began in May of 2018. Steve curates four tours throughout the city, each one giving guests a chance to sample four styles of pizza in three hours. There is one bus tour (usually led by Steve) and three walking tours every weekend. More info at pizzacityusa.com. His second book, “The Ultimate Chicago Pizza Guide: A History of Squares & Slices in the Windy City” is due out in the fall of 2021.
On the consulting side, Steve started Culinary Communications, a food industry-focused media training company that works with chefs and other food and beverage professionals outside of Chicago, teaching them how to prepare for and handle all kinds of media exposure. He also works with real estate companies to curate spaces involving food and drink clients, organizes and leads virtual pizza and/or cocktail experiences for companies and works with individual clients to curate unique culinary experiences.
Since 2009, Steve has been one of 26 Academy Chairs for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, recruiting and overseeing 40 voters in the Mid-USA/Canada region. He has spoken and/or moderated at several industry events, including the James Beard Awards, the Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen and the New York City Wine and Food Festival.
Steve volunteers his time for charitable organizations in the Chicago area that focus on hunger relief, including Share Our Strength and Meals on Wheels.
Before joining ABC 7, Steve was Executive Producer and Host of “Good Eating.” The weekly, half-hour show aired on CLTV, the 24-hour cable news channel owned by The Tribune Company. He produced and hosted 52 shows per year for 8 years, garnering six Beard Awards for his work there.
You can follow his eating adventures on Twitter and Instagram @stevedolinsky, as well as his website: stevedolinsky.com.
The Latest
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The Food Guy: El Che Steakhouse & Bar and Brasero
Cooks need heat-resistant forearms to work the grill at El Che Steakhouse and Bar in the West Loop. That’s because during service, it’s a literal inferno of wood, charcoal and beef: marrow bones, strips, filets, you name it. The guy behind it all? John Manion.
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The Food Guy: Tracing truffles from Europe to Chicago
If you think truffles are just a chocolate treat, think again. The truffle actually grows wild in the forests of Northern Italy and Croatia.
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The Food Guy: Tasty desserts for crowds at 2 South Side spots
With the holiday season here, there might be a few extra guests around the house over the next few weeks.
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The Food Guy: Chile Toreado and Cadinho in McKinley Park
McKinley Park offers all kinds of interesting things to eat, but along one short block near 35th and Archer, there are two delicious spots to eat, featuring the food of very different countries.
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The Food Guy: Pie Life Pizza and Novel Pizza Café
We all know Chicago is a great pizza town, and few know it better than NBC Chicago’s Steve Dolinsky.
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The Food Guy: Indus Progressive Indian
Diwali is one of the most important holidays in Hinduism. It’s a five-day festival celebrating the victory of light over darkness, with the most important festivities taking place Thursday night. Lamps are lit, homes are decorated and feasts are enjoyed with traditional foods, some of which are on the menu at a new Indian restaurant in Highland Park. There...
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The Food Guy: Broken Tart
Our Food Guy, Steve Dolinsky, says if you’re looking for treats that are a little more substantial, look no further than a two year-old bakery in Oak Park.
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The Food Guy: Sanders BBQ Supply Co.
Chicago’s South Side has its own unique barbecue culture, rooted in the 1940s. and some of the area’s best barbecue can be found in Beverly.
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The Food Guy: New deli, bagel shop open in Evanston
There is a lot of smoking, curing and baking these days in Evanston – not only at a new deli but at a new bagel shop as well.
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The Food Guy: Umaga Bakehouse
There are dozens of great bakeries in Chicagoland, many with origins rooted in other countries. Polish, Italian and French bakeries are in abundance, but Filipino? Not so much.
