R&I, 1937-2010, R.I.P.

So my old magazine shuttered its doors today.

I worked at Restaurants & Institutions magazine from 2003 until 2006, and my time there were three of the happiest years I’ve had in my professional career. Aside from the Peoria Journal Star, I’ve never worked anywhere else as long as I worked there. It helped that my best friend worked there, too.

It’s not right for me to be terribly mopey about a place I worked at almost four years ago – several people there I care about greatly still work there (see best friend), and its sister publication, and what they’re going through begs that I not indulge too much in what is really their pain. Just the same, it is the first place I worked at that didn’t make it through all of this, and because it was an experience I look back on with fondness, I am sad about its closing.

I learned how to appreciate really great food there. I met some amazing people in the local and national food scene – it is still a point of pride that I don’t watch Top Chef without having met and or interviewed more than a handful of big-name chefs on the show.

(David Burke was on Wednesday’s Top Chef Masters show, and I remember how I spent my 30th birthday having lunch at his place here in Chicago, and how we came to the table to say hello and wish me a happy birthday.)

More than anything, I grew up there, and the people who worked there helped me get through the most challenging and difficult period of my life. They put up with my shenanigans, when a lesser place would have tired of my depression and sadness. I found support and professional growth from my bosses and colleagues, and I do to this day.

It’s sad to learn it – and so many like it – couldn’t be saved.