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I'm always keeping an eye out for great food writing. Newbie Kevin Pang of the Chicago Tribune piqued my interest. Insightful, funny and will eat crocodile sausage with goat's milk butter. Now that's my kind of guy!

AndrewZimmern.com: As a writer for the Chicago Tribune, you’re one of the country’s rising stars in food journalism. What got you into this field?

KP: You're too nice, but saying that sullies the good name of food journalism. I come from a Chinese family that loves to eat. It's ingrained in our DNA -- the Cantonese saying for how-do-you-do is "Have You Eaten Rice Yet?" As with much in life, food writing as a career unexpectedly fell in my lap. My editor asked if I wanted to write about food. I said yes. C'est la vie. I've since expanded my duties to writing about pop culture and entertainment and lifestyle. But food, as you know Andrew, IS pop culture and entertainment and lifestyle.

AZ.com: You recently returned from Hong Kong. What was the most surprising food you encountered? Anything you can’t wait to get back there and try again?

KP: I was on assignment in Hong Kong to write about its food scene. Make no mistake: Hong Kong is an expensive city, but I was surprised at how inexpensive (and incredible) its food can be if you stray from the predictables. I still daydream about the beef brisket noodles at Kau Kee's, the wonton noodles at Mak's Noodles and the Hainan chicken rice at Tsui Wah, which might be the most delicious and luscious chicken I've ever tasted. The best part: all three restaurants are a 5-minute walk from each other in the Central district.

AZ.com: I love Chicago. The city has always had a vibrant food scene, which continues to grow and change. What are five new Chicago restaurants we should be taking note of?

KP: These are the new restaurant on every Chicago foodie's lips: Graham Elliot (the solo venture from 4-star Avenue's Graham Elliot Bowles), Urban Belly (Chicago's answer to Momofuku from Charlie Trotter alum Bill Kim), The Publican (Blackbird's Paul Kahan homage to everything pork), L2O (Michelin-starred chef Laurent Gras' love letter to seafood), and Top Chef-winner Stephanie Izard's yet-to-be-opened, yet-to-be-named restaurant. Stephanie's a rock star these days.

AZ.com: How about five undiscovered gems?

KP: Takkatsu, in Arlington Heights. They do tonkatsu (Japanese fried pork cutlets) with Berkshire pork that's so marbled it's like biting into butter.

Uncle John's BBQ on the city's South Side. Like other BBQ pits in the area, these guys smoke their meats using a technique I've seen in few other places outside Chicago: a four-sided, aquarium-style cooker with tempered glass. Every few minutes, they spray the hickory-wood fire beneath with a garden hose to get the sweet smoke stoking. Spend five minutes there and your clothes will smell like ribs for a week. Plus, they serve rib tips, a cut few people outside the Midwest are familiar with. It's the end piece of the spare rib (connected to the St. Louis cut). I find it more delicious than baby backs, because it's got more intramuscular fat, and there's always some cartilage and bone you've got to maneuver inside your mouth. It's a ton of fun to eat.

Sabas Vega in the Pilsen neighborhood. On weekends, they do cabecitas de chivo (steamed goat's head), which always sell out before noon. The consolation prize is the carnitas -- fatty, fork tender, wrapped with corn tortillas, pico de gallo and a squeeze of lime. Oh baby.

Kuma's Corner in the Avondale neighborhood. It's a metal bar, and their burgers are out of this world. I always go for the Kaijo, with bacon, crispy straw onions, bleu cheese and served on a pretzel bun.

Spring World in Chinatown. Most Chinese food Americans are familiar with is Cantonese-style, once removed for Western palates. Spring World serves Yunnan cuisine, a province in Southwest China that's a melting pot of ethnicities. The region is famous for its mushrooms and hams, with sour and spicy flavor profiles -- there's an appetizer I love called "Unusual Seasonings Chicken."

AZ.com: Five quintessential Chicago eateries?

KP: Al's #1 Italian Beef (not to be confused with Al's Beef). Imagine a French Dip sandwich, with twice the Italian seasonings, three times the garlic, and so soppin' wet you need a squeegee to mop off the table afterward.

Harold's Chicken Shack. They fry it with a vegetable oil-beef tallow mix, which gives it the perfect balance between crispy and crunchy.

Lou Malnati's. There's a debate over whether Gino's East or Pizzeria Uno had the first deep dish pizza. But many consider Lou Malnati's to be the best for eating pizza with knife and fork.

Gibsons Bar and Steakhouse. You can't say Chicago without saying steak. And Gibsons is the institution around these parts.

Billy Goat Tavern. Perhaps most famous for the John Belushi cheezborger-cheezborger sketch on Saturday Night Live, it's known locally as the pub that put a curse on the Chicago Cubs. It's too painful to go into details, but ask any long-suffering Cub fan about this and they'll tell you the sordid tale, only after letting out a heavy sigh. Oh, and their double cheeseburgers are quite good, too.

AZ.com: Best pizza?

KP: This may be sacreligious, but I'm not a huge fan of deep-dish pizza, nor anything else with a one-inch bed of cheese. I stick to Neapolitan-style, and no one does it better in Chicago than Spacca Napoli in the Ravenswood neighborhood. They're a member of Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, the Italian government-regulated group that keeps strict guidelines on what is authentic Neapolitan pizza (double-zero flour, San Marzano plum tomatoes, a specific variety of buffalo mozzarella etc.). L.A. folks can wait in line for Pizzeria Mozza all they want, but I'll take Spacca Napoli any day.

AZ.com: Best hot dog?

KP: My head says Superdawg, but my heart says Hot Doug's. If you held a weapon to my head and asked me to name one Chicago restaurant, I'd say Hot Doug's without blinking. The line is out the door on most days. It's a gourmet take take on the American hot dog -- this week, for example, they've got a Jamaican jerk pork sausage with passion fruit mustard and sauteed plantains. And on weekends, they cook their french fries in duck fat. Retire the trophy.

AZ.com: Chicago has to be one of the top American cities I’d like to shoot a Bizarre Foods episode in. Any interesting cuisine I should be sure to try?

KP: It's not so much bizarre, but Chicago has a huge Korean and Polish population. These two cuisines are hearty and warming, and especially great for those long, dark winters we have here. But once again, I'd head to Hot Doug's and their "Game of the Week" sausage. This week, they've got a crocodile link with goat's milk butter and bleu cheese, and a Chardonnay/jalapeno-infused rattlesnake sausage with smoked Gouda and chili-garlic mayonnaise.

AZ.com: What’s in your fridge?

KP: Skirt steak seasoned with "Chicago Steak Seasoning" from The Spice House, Chinese sweet sausage (lap cheung), udon, asparagus, pomegranate juice, Blue Moon beer. Oh, and a bucket of KFC chicken. You ever make next-day chicken salad with KFC? It's awesome. I chop it up, add scallions, diced green apples, and mix it with Kewpie-brand Japanese mayo, srichcha chile sauce and lime juice.

Kevin Pang writes about pop culture, entertainment and food for the Chicago Tribune. He previously wrote for the Los Angeles Times, and currently contributes to ESPN the Magazine. Pang, 27, was born in Hong Kong, lived in Toronto, grew up in Seattle, went to school in Southern California and now calls Chicago home.