Aug
2
Art Smith, Up Close & Personal
Filed Under #DeliciousDIRT, Charities, Chefs, Chicago, Exclusive, FEED, Food Mafia, Food Nerds, Food Porn, Interview | Leave a Comment
Delicious DIRT Gets Up Close & Personal With Chef Art Smith
Chef Art Smith
The executive chef and co-owner of Table Fifty-two + Art and Soul restaurants, Art Smith has received the culinary profession’s highest awards and has cooked for some of the world’s most famous celebrities. In 1997, Smith became the personal, day-to-day chef to Oprah Winfrey, a position that lasted ten years and has made regular television appearances on programs such as Iron Chef America, The Today Show, Nightline, Fox News, Extra, Dr. Oz and Oprah. In 2003 he founded Common Threads, a non-profit organization that teaches children about diversity and tolerance through the world’s great cultures. For his tireless Common Threads leadership, Smith was honored by Chicago magazine as a Chicagoan of the Year in 2007. That same year, the prestigious James Beard Foundation named him Humanitarian of the Year. All photos courtesy of Kipling Swehla. CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
Chef Art Smith on Twitter
Chef Art Smith on Food Mafia
Table Fifty-two
Table Fifty-two on Facebook
Table Fifty-two on Twitter
Table Fifty-two on Food Mafia
MBK
Molly Bett Kovler is a social worker turned social media strategist, editor, publicist, blogger and event executor. After graduating with a Master’s from The University of Chicago and working on the Obama ’08 campaign, MBK founded and runs Elevate Your Presence, LLC. EYP is a full service publicity, social media, editorial, management, and event execution firm defining excellence. MBK is highly connected & heavily embedded in the social web. Join EYP’s exclusive client list to Embrace. Evolve. Elevate – Elevate Your Presence. #DeliciousDIRT
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Delicious DIRT. Art Smith Exclusive
“The Gov. of Florida, taught me that in order to get ahead you had to understand politics and diplomacy. Oprah taught me to honor your word and always give people your best. Life taught me to always have a parachute,” Art Smith. CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
Deviled Eggs @ Table Fifty-two
Yes, Oprah gave her whole studio audience cars… However, the most meaningful gift she gave Chicago and food nerds across America was opening our eyes to the one and only wonderful Chef Art Smith. The TV star and head chef behind President Obama favorite Table Fifty-two and Art & Soul, (plus future restaurants in California and Atlanta) has a heart made of gold. What you may NOT know is this fantastic chef has become a recent marathoner and runs a remarkable charity, Common Threads.
None of the above should be surprising to anyone who has met Chef Art Smith. His Southern roots and upbringing shine not just in his cooking, but also in his overall demeanor. The way Art treats everyone he meets is with pure kindness. We are sincerely proud to call him our friend. Art cooks the food we love, the food we crave, and the food we devour!! Even better, he serves it with panache. We, at Delicious DIRT, adore Chef Art Smith – as a mentor, a chef and a friend. Below, get to know Art Smith, up close and personal. We hope you’ll enjoy reading his interview as much as we loved giving it.
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Apr
25
Delicious DIRT. Obama ’12 -> Let The Journey Begin
Inside: Obama 2012, Organizing For America, MYBO
Yes We Can. Yes We DID! Now We WILL AGAIN!!
Can’t believe it’s time to re-elect Obama already! Feels like YESTERDAY we were out there taking care of biz Obama ’08 style! Wanna see an oldie? Check out MBK’s first MYBO post from ’08 + get INSPIRED!! 
4/27+ 4/28 This week–>> Get involved! Start a new chapter as we look toward 2012! Organizing for America is having an Open House on Wednesday + Thursday of this week! Come on down and get your meet and greet on! You’ll get connected at this informational event while getting a taste of the work that needs to get done for the Obama Re-elect. (Bring a fully charged cell phone!)
Specifics:
Start: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 5pm- 9pm
End:Thursday, April 28, 2011 5pm- 9pm
HOST: Brian Gorman
LOCATION: Organizing for America Downtown Office (Chicago, IL)
29 S. Lasalle St Chicago, IL 60603 More Info: HERE + RSVP HERE.
Maybe you’ll get lucky and score some loot! 
Nov
1
Obamarama, MK, Cibo, and TopolObama!
Filed Under Chefs, Foodies, Obama, Openings, Restaurants | Leave a Comment
Updated story- Elevate Your Presence has some delicious dirt for Chicago Food Mafia. October 30th, after his Hype Park rally for Alexi Giannoulias and Quinn, President Barack Obama dined for three hours at Topolobampo owned by Chef Rick Bayless. Sunday October 31st, the three ate at Hype Park staple, Valois Cafeteria – “See Your Food”. For details including what everyone ate, see below.
Elevate Your Presence and Chicago Food Mafia heart Chef Rick Bayless! He even tweeted President Barack Obama‘s delightful surprise visit last night at Topolobampo including a stream of photos (see below). Way to go Bayless. Love the social media usage!!
YUMMMM- Chicago Food Mafia, Elevate Your Presence and even President Barack Obama love the scallops and lobster at Chef Rick Bayless‘s Topolobampo. Delicious Dirt no matter which way you dice it.
Chicago Food Mafia and Elevate Your Presence congratulate one of our favorite restaurants, Cibo Matto! Bon Appétit Magazine named Chicago’s Cibo Matto on their list of best pasta places in the country!!! Mouth is watering.
Chicago Food Mafia Had a GREAT afternoon Friday October 29, 2010 with Elevate Your Presence and Michael Kornick (of mk The Restaurant and DMK Burger Bar). It was great watching Michael in action and we can’t wait to have dinner at MK tonight! Welcome to the Chicago Food Mafia Michael!!!
Jun
4
Obamarama
Filed Under Obama, Social Media, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I am writing simply to say that I am still so moved by Barack Obama. I just finished watching Brian Williams’ Inside The Obama White House. I literally laughed, cried, and was engrossed almost the entire time. I actually watched it twice. And it was two hours…
I have to say that although this post is probably boring beyond belief, that I am still so inspired, so moved and so excited by our new president and his amazing staff. I feel so very privileged to have gotten to work on the campaign and in fact, it makes me want to get involved even now.
The real inspiration and reason I became so passionate about social media was the Obama campaign. Even now, the president’s cabinet uses social media tools on the daily. Sadly, people still choose to bicker about the real impact of social media and or still don’t see the value. My approach has been to engage with them and try show them how valuable social media is. I decided today that I can not quite do that anymore. It is becoming clearer everyday the value social media carries and for those who refuse to learn about it, well, all I can say is, talk to me next year and we will see if you still refuse to roll with it.
What I love is how Obama’s team is so progressive, so candid, and so real. I love how even four months after inauguration day, I am still so inspired and so moved by our new president. I never imagined politics and the first family to be so truly invigorating. Can’t wait to get more involved in some respect and see how things continue to evolve.
GO B.O.!!
Mar
30
First Sunshine Sealed Post
Filed Under Mindfulness, Obama, Social Media | 2 Comments
Delicious DIRT. This post was taken from Sunshine Sealed, MBK’s personal blog 3/09.
This is my first blog post since the Obama victory where I was a New Media Coordinator and I blogged for the Obama campaign. Back then this field was better known as “New Media” and now it is more often called “Social Media” and as I have integrated into the world of what is now knwn as social media, this name change is often the topic of conversation.
I feel so grateful for the experience I had on the Obama campaign, the people I worked with, and the entire process as a whole. The fact that I was part of the single biggest social media movement of our lives, well that is just inspiring, motivating and just plain old awesome. It is remarkable how the campaign grew utilizing social media which was not mainstream and still rather unknown. Yet the ultimate conundrum is that it is not that remarkable because social media reaches more people than any other medium so it is obvious why it worked. The most genius part was deciding to take a grassroots approach to social media resources. This Fast Company article on Chris Hughes and how he helped launch FB and Obama’s campaign is great. It has amazing insight into this topic and I would suggest reading it at your leisure.
The entire world of social media has grown in recent years, but it was not until after the campaign and the recent months, that it has become mainstream. Back during the election, so few people even knew what “new media” was or even about Twitter, Facebook, etc… Now, even people who bashed those sites and those networks (which reach more people today than any other medium – do not know the stat yet), have joined these social media sites. Some of them still do not know how to use them, but they have joined… Some even have made up excuses about why they joined… That is ridiculous to all of us social media geeks who know that Twitter, for example, is probably one of the best news aggregates out there. Even the New York Times and CNN get their news from Twitter. One of my FAVORITE websites is Mashable- The Social Media Guide. For more info on what I describe above and one of my favorites, check out Mashable’s article about the ten most extraordinary Twitter updates.
Either way, the grassroots aspect of the Obama campaign and how social media was used so BRILLIANTLY to win the race is something so grand, so immense, so important and so relevant. It was not only relevant to the race, but also significant to the world- in every arena- right NOW. I believe social media is the wave of the future and I am so passionate about it that I have decided to try to take what I learned on the campaign and what I have learned in the time since, and find a new career in it.
I am a social worker- got my Masters in social work a few years ago and have been working in schools for many years with children and animals. The first blog post of my MYBO blog, (My Barack Obama), has a bit of background on me, and you can read it by clicking here. I actually had not read this first post in many many many months. I reread it moments ago and honestly was touched. If you chose to read one post, click the above link and read the first.
As my uncle Peter says, “feel no obligation”, and I mean it. If you want to view my MYBO blog in its entirety, click here.
My personal blog, Sunshine Sealed, will cover my journey into the world of starting my own company during a time when the economy has fallen. Take the journey with me. Living in the moment/ mindfulness, is vital and I work on it every day. Check out this Psychology Today article about living in the moment and great ways to learn how to do just that.
Carpe diem,
MBK
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