Dining Editor Penny Pollack Retires From Chicago Magazine After 30 Years

CHICAGO, IL -- On Tuesday, Chicago magazine announced the retirement of veteran dining editor Penny Pollack, 70.

Pollack joined the magazine as a part-time dining assistant in 1987. She said she began calling restaurants to update the monthly dining guide, and got to know many people in Chicago's restaurant circuit. Though she didn’t yet have her bachelor’s degree or a background in writing anything beyond her travel diaries, a career path opened, and by 1994 she had ascended to dining editor.

“Penny is a civic treasure whose name is synonymous with dining out in Chicago,” said editor-in-chief and publisher Susanna Homan in a media release. “We are lucky that her wit and insight have graced our pages for three decades.”

Under Pollack's leadership, the magazine's dining department was nominated for a James Beard Award and won gold from the City and Regional Magazine Association for a 1998 pizza feature, “Through Thick and Thin.” Many more awards followed. A lifelong pizza connoisseur, Pollack published Everybody Loves Pizza in 2005 with co-author and Chicago contributor Jeff Ruby. (For more local news, subscribe to free email news alerts and a daily newsletter for your hometown Patch.)

She said one of her favorite accomplishments was creating a weekly four-item online feature called ‘Morsels." That evolved into “The Dish” electronic newsletter, which is now read by more than 31,000 people every Wednesday.

Pollack is the subject of Chicago’s November issue “Back Room,” the back-page feature showcasing the earned wisdom of local luminaries. Her last day with the publication is October 26, with the final dining section she oversaw appearing in the December 2017 issue.

Pollack said there's a lot to do in Chicago and she has no intention of being bored.

“I’m going to take a whack at the pile of books on my nightstand. And I’ll finally have time to sort out my contacts on my phone.” Now that, after three decades of cloaking her identity as a diner to remain anonymous, she is “out of the pantry,” she said, “I’m going to be eating out and saying ‘hi’ for a change.”

Image courtesy of Tronc Communications