Curtis Stone Loves Late-Night Tacos, Had Adventurous Taste As A Child

Celebrity chef Curtis Stone recently spoke with the Chicago Tribune about his food memories from childhood, his positive impression of restaurants in the Second City, and his "snack of shame." The Australian chef recalled always having an adventurous palate, especially as a kid. "My mum tells me stories of how my brother would have the same lunch in his lunchbox every single day and I would want something different every single day."

He was so curious about food he even took it upon himself to try innovative new flavor combinations.

"I remember sitting on the kitchen counter with a stick of butter and a bag of raisins," Stone explained, "and I was running the raisin down the butter and popping it in my mouth, and it tasted so good. It's like combining flavors from a 4-year-old's perspective. I think it was pretty sophisticated actually."

The What's For Dinner? author mentioned that he is impressed with the restaurant diversity and quality in Chicago and that he recently dined at one of Rick Bayless' restaurants and had a fantastic meal. Stone is also clearly a fan of Mexican food, as he mentioned that his guilty pleasure — or, as the Tribune referred to it, his "snack of shame" — is the taco selection he finds around Los Angeles.

"There's good tacos in Los Angeles — Downtown, East LA ... You can probably find me getting some street meat at like, y'know, 12 o'clock, 1 o'clock in the morning."

Are you a taco fan like Curtis Stone? Check out America's 75 best tacos for 2017.