Bloom Archives
Tag: Christine Barbour
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The Irish Lion: A True Pub—and Restaurant to Boot
BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR You’ve got to love a restaurant whose signature dish sounds like a warm hug from an Irish grandma. Talk about comfort…
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Scholars Inn: For Fine Food and Romance
BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR It might have been made for romance. Secluded, cozy, intimate, the Scholars Inn Gourmet Café and Wine Bar sits on a…
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Restaurant Tallent: “A Contemporary American Jewel”
BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR Big-city restaurant reviewers don’t routinely come down to Bloomington on business, but Chicago Tribune writer Phil Vettel had heard good things…
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Afghan Food: Exciting, Exotic, Haunting, A Cuisine Worth Trying
BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR Afghan food tantalizes the American palate like a half-remembered melody, at once exotic and familiar. Flavors we have learned to love…
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Tasting Menus: When the Chef has Carte Blanche
BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR Sometimes you just need to leave it to the chef. You would never tell a painter how to capture a sunset,…
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The Owlery: It’s Hip, It’s Friendly, It’s Vegetarian
BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR Welcome to the Owlery, a fun and quirky eatery in Bloomington’s Near West Side neighborhood, whose name pays whimsical homage to…
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Nick’s English Hut, Still the Same, Well, Almost
BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR In the same Kirkwood Avenue location for 69 years, owned by the same man for 49 of them, Nick’s English Hut…
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My Thai Cafe: For “Gorgeous” Food & Decor
BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR When Jit Carpenter’s health required that she give up her restaurant, Jit’s Thai Cafe, last September, those of us who had…
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“Don’t Mess with Lennie’s Menu!” Its Longtime Customers Warn
BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR It was boredom with the pizza delivery business that got Mease and his then-wife, now partner, Lennie Busch interested in opening…