Not Your Average, Bottom of the Baryl

NOT YOUR AVERAGE, BOTTOM OF THE BARYL, TRAVELING EXPERIENCE by Abby Yuhan photos by Joanna Ma

When it comes to planning trips to new places or even figuring out what to do in your own city, many people spend hours upon hours researching activities to do, places to eat, and things to see. Some people will find travel companies to help them plan, but even with them, the process is almost never easy or fast. University of Chicago fourth years, Alex Pu and Yuyang Zhang, have started their own company to help travellers explore their city/the city of their choice without any stress. Baryl is a travel startup that creates “personalized itineraries at the click of a button.” Their goal is to move the travel industry into the 21st century by making it more technologically advanced, fast, and easy. And Baryl understands that food especially, is intertwined with travel. In order to gain a better understanding of Baryl and its relationship with food, I sat down with the Alex and Yuyang to ask them about them, their company, and their mission: *the transcript has been edited for the purposes of clarity

Tell me a little bit about yourselves.

Pu: My name is Alex Pu. I’m a 4th-year in the College, studying business economics. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia. I’m in Hyde Park now, enjoying my last year of school, and I really like startups and food. Zhang: I’m Yuyang, and I’m also a 4th-year. I’m double majoring in Psychology and Business Economics, and I’m from Beijing. Obviously as cofounders of Baryl, we love travelling and food, and me especially, I’m a big international traveller, which is a big reason I decided to work on Baryl.

What is Baryl?

Pu: Baryl is a travel startup, and we help travellers create personalized itineraries when they travel. So a large focus of what we do is helping people figure out places they want to eat when they travel and things that they want to do. Based on their preferences we are able to create a very hyper personalized experience. Zhang: And at the same time, Baryl specializes in activity and food at your destination. We have our own proprietary database which is composed of a lot of data points and recommendations that are more niche, so not just things that you are going to find on Yelp or TripAdvisor.

Why did you start Baryl? What’s your mission?

Pu: We started Baryl because we’re problem-solvers. What we came to realize is that when we went to plan trips, as much as we love travelling, the planning part isn’t always the most fun. Even in the last 15 years, not much has changed on the customer’s side. It still takes people, on average, 10+ hours to plan a trip. With as much as society and technology has progressed, we believed that there had to be a better way. That’s what we wanted to solve: being able to plan trips at the click of a button and take that 10 hour planning process into something that looks more like 5 or 10 minutes. Zhang: We love good food places, and we love good recommendations. We especially value places that are personalized based on our preferences. This whole personalization trend is very important for our generation and the younger demographic.

Where do you see your company down the line? How do you plan on growing it?

Zhang: Right now we are definitely still relatively early on. Immediate goal going forward is launching our product, which is this cool tool that everyone can use, and ultimately, an app. We really want to push it out in the market so that anyone can use it. Pu: Down the line, we hope that Baryl becomes a household name, and that it becomes the go-to travel-planning tool people think of the moment they decide to travel. We think there’s a lot of space for change here because the travel industry has been very stagnant, and we want to be the ones to push it forward. Zhang: And especially right after Covid, a lot of people are rethinking how they travel, and are looking to travel again. This is a good time to introduce a new way of planning that people can adopt.

How does food fit into your mission for your company?

Pu: We are all huge foodies. I think most people consider themselves foodies even though there are different degrees of it. People like fine-dining, discovering niche hole-in-the-wall places, and eating local foods. If you look at our Instagram, Eric (social media manager) is hard at work, trying every restaurant in Chicago, bringing his friends, and sharing that with our community. Even though we have this larger mission, in our immediate community with the students around us, we see us bringing them value. Zhang: And at the same time, food and travel are so intertwined. A lot of people travel for food. Whether it is local cuisine or street food, food is a very big part of travelling, so it inevitably ties into the core of what Baryl does.

Just for fun, what are your personal favorite foods or any food recommendations you have?

Zhang: In terms of Chicago restaurants, Café Ba-Ba-Reeba in Lincoln Park is my favorite. But, in terms of actual favorite food in terms of one thing you could make me eat for the rest of my life, it would probably be classic tomatoes and eggs because that’s just home. Pu: Something I discovered recently is Tsukemen ramen, which is essentially dipping ramen. Every time I’d seen it online, I thought it was stupid, but I had it at this one place in Atlanta, and it was probably the best ramen I ever had. It absolutely blew my mind.

After sitting down with Baryl in an interview, they offered to send me and Joanna on our own personalized adventure to Pilsen, Chicago. Alex, Yuyang, and Eric personalized the half-day trip to our interests, food preferences, money, and time after a 5-10 minute meeting with them. They created a timed itinerary for our day that required us to do absolutely zero work or research.

We essentially went on a walking tour of Pilsen that involved a plethora of food. The carnitas at “Don Pedro” were super tender, flavorful, and cheap. “Birreria Reyes” had mouth-watering “birria de res” or “de chivo” (beef or goat), and you get so much bang for your buck. “La Michoacana Premium” is a large, bright pink ice cream shop. Joanna and I tried their popsicles, and my cucumber popsicle was unique and refreshing. Across the street, we got tamales from “La Casa del Pueblo” that were soft, warm, and delicious. Next, we went to the National Museum of Mexican Art, and on the way we stopped and saw famous murals above a laundromat. The museum had many unique installations including a Día de Los Muertos exhibit, which included pieces from artists on both sides of the US-Mexican border. Then, we visited one of the most iconic aspects of Pilsen: the Pilsen murals. The murals go on for blocks and feature humongous images that range from political messages to cartoons, in many different artists’ styles. Finally, we ended our trip with a hot drink from Café Jumping Bean, a very busy, homey coffee shop in the center of Pilsen. The café has a lot of unique drinks, so I tried their Mocha Almond Latte, which definitely hit the spot after a lot of walking on a chilly day.

Walking around Pilsen on the route that Baryl gave us, we were able to immerse ourselves into the experience of exploring a new town. I was able to explore an area of Chicago that I’ve been wanting to see for so long without any stress. As someone who has never used travel advisors or companies because of my distrust in the people who run travel companies to find what’s best for me, I found Baryl’s process extremely specialized and eye-opening. Because of Baryl’s prioritization of food and personalization, the whole process was enjoyable and unparalleled to any experience I had before when travelling or exploring somewhere new.

A Dish’s Soul BY IAN HENDERSON PHOTOS BY KARINA MAK

During the beginning of the Covid quarantine, my sister, who dedicated a part of each day to preparing dinner for our family, decided to make Shakshuka. I tend to be an adventurous eater, but to prepare for the possibility that I would not enjoy it, my sister also made me a grilled cheese. At dinner, I quickly devoured my sandwich and then turned to the little serving of Shakshuka that my sister put on my plate. I hesitantly took my first bite and immediately fell in love. The tomato sauce had a delicate balance of acidity and sweetness, the egg yolk provided richness, and the overall dish had a bold flavor profile owing to the cumin and paprika.

Since that meal, I have made Shakshuka for myself several times, and it has helped to improve my culinary skills. Shakshuka is the perfect dish to try for a beginner chef, but it also allows for more advanced experimenting. The basic version can be made in a pan with just one can of tomatoes, a pepper, some spices, and an egg (as seen in the recipe below). On the other hand, the upscale Mediterranean restaurant, Ēma Chicago, prefers to add in a separately roasted lamb shank to bring more body to the otherwise simplistic tomato base. Two very different end-products, but both Shakshuka. The versatility of the dish is a result of its unique history. It is debated whether Shakshuka was first created in Tunisia or Libya, but it gained popularity when North African immigrants in Israel, who suffered from financial difficulties, relied on this healthy yet cheap dish to make a filling breakfast. Restaurants then began adding it to their menus and creating more complex versions of the dish.

While I was researching recipes on Shakshuka, I also encountered the Turkish dish, Menemen. Since it is also a tomato-based creation that involves eggs, it is often confused with Shakshuka. However, the two have several key differences. In Menemen, the eggs are scrambled rather than left intact. Additionally, oregano, basil, and thyme replace the cumin and paprika found in Shakshuka. While the other preparations differ between the two, the invention of the popular Turkish breakfast indeed shares a similar story with that of Shakshuka. In the early 20th century, Greek farmers who immigrated to Turkey used spices that they were familiar with to create a healthy and affordable breakfast dish that took advantage of the region’s fresh tomatoes. Before coming to UChicago, I had never tried Menemen, but Joan Nathan’s NY Times article, “These Turkish Eggs Shine in Summer,” inspired me to. A few weeks ago, I made the trip to a small restaurant called Turkitch Kitchen for my first taste. Unlike my meal at Ēma, which was reminiscent of the dinner my sister had prepared, I enjoyed a much brighter breakfast dish at Turkitch Kitchen. The deep smoky notes in Ēma’s Shakshuka were replaced with the light, minty aroma of thyme. The tomatoes shone through in both dishes, but the subtle variations resulted in two distinct experiences. An up-close comparison between Shakshuka and Menemen shows that a simple variation in herbs, spices, and technique can differentiate a dish’s story. The creators of Shakshuka and Menemen were both focused on creating something simple and affordable and saw the bold flavor and versatility of tomatoes as the perfect base ingredient. Both dishes evolved over time and branched out into many different variations. My experience trying Ema’s, Turkitch Kitchen’s, and my sister’s dishes has inspired me to move away from strict recipe guidelines. I have realized that it is all about starting with a good base ingredient and experimenting from there. Maybe it’s tomatoes, or maybe it’s not, but we should all choose one ingredient that we love, and prepare it however we like, and add what feels right to us. The end-result might be as magical as my first bite of Shakshuka.

Shakshuka

RECIPE BY RACHEL SUGGS PHOTOS BY KARINA MAK

prep 10 minutes cook 20 minutes makes 4 servings

GET DO

4 medium eggs 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes (unsalted if possible) 1 medium red bell pepper 1 sweet onion 4 garlic cloves 2 tbsp high smoke-point neutral oil, such as avocado, grapeseed, or sunflower (not EVOO) ¼ tsp cayenne pepper 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp curry powder 1 tsp sea salt ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Optional: 1 tsp harissa (if using, omit the cayenne pepper) 1 cilantro for serving 1 feta cheese for serving 1. Finely dice the onion and red bell pepper into uniform size.

Mince the garlic. 2. Heat the oil in a non-metal skillet (such as cast iron) over medium heat. (The metal in the skillet will have a bad reaction with the acid in the tomatoes during the simmering process). 3. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the onion and red bell pepper and saute until browned. Towards the end of the aromatic cooking process, add the garlic. 4. To the aromatics, add all the dry spices. Saute until the aromatics are coated, then add the can of crushed tomatoes and continue to stir. 5. Cover the skillet and let the mixture simmer over low heat for 5-10 min, stirring occasionally. 6. Using a non-metal spoon, form four equidistant divots in the tomato base. Working quickly, crack one egg into each divot of sauce. Cover and let simmer over low heat for exactly 5 min. 7. Once the egg whites are set but the yolk is still runny, remove the skillet from the heat. Top with fresh cilantro and crumbled feta. 8. Serve with pita, toast, or challah bread.

Sources used: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/dining/menemen-recipe-joan-nathan.html https://theculturetrip.com/middle-east/israel/articles/a-brief-history-of-israels-famous-dish-shakshuka/