Adam Siegel 

Transporting diners to countries far from the Lake Michigan shore is what Adam Siegel has been doing for the past few decades. He first gained local fame as the James Beard Award-winning chef at Bartolotta-owned French spot Lake Park Bistro. After a long tenure with The Bartolotta Restaurants, he left to open his own place, Lupi & Iris, whose menu is inspired by the cuisines of the French and Italian rivieras.

After hanging up his chef’s coat for the night at Lupi, the Chicago native enters the culinary domain of home. There, the food has an intrinsically different feel to it. He’s both the classically trained chef and the grandson simmering up history in a stockpot. To Siegel, the process of making chicken soup feels like the best kind of exercise. “I like chicken with noodles, chicken with rice, and my absolute favorite is chicken matzo ball soup,” he says. The chicken soup recipe he uses is his grandmother’s. It was handwritten in her recipe book and has a history of its own. “She probably learned it from her family over the years,” he says. Many, many years of chicken soup-making. Siegel’s grandmother’s ancestors came from Austria, and she was the first in her family born in the United States. “It’s deeply rooted in European cooking methods and Ashkenazi Jewish history,” he says. It’s a favorite dish of Siegel’s wife. It’s a favorite of his daughter. It’s something that loves the freezer. It, of course, loves to be eaten immediately. Siegel loves it “garnished with a lot of carrots, for sweetness.” White rice bumps up the heartiness. Wild rice, he says, makes it extra delicious – chewy and almost smoky. “It warms the body and soul,” he says.

To get the most out of his chicken, Siegel cuts the breast meat away from the carcass and trims the leg and thigh down. After cooking, he takes those pieces out so they don’t get dry. He either uses the meat to garnish the soup or saves it for a “great” chicken salad.