When Chicago was selecting sites for a new casino in 2022, we endorsed the bid that would have landed the giant entertainment center on the plot of land known as The 78, the name being a concise riff on Chicago having 77 official neighborhoods.

Why? For starters, The 78, which is bordered by Roosevelt Road to the north, Clark Street to the east, 16th Street to the south, and the South Branch of the Chicago River to the west, is an enviable, shovel-ready site for development.

Its selection for the casino would not have, ahem, displaced anybody and at considerable expense. It offered river frontage, leading us to envision lovely waterfront bars and restaurants that would not attract the free-and-clear objections and lawsuits that applies to lakefront projects and that could, in essence, extend the trajectory of Chicago’s successful River Walk to the North. There is room to breathe within this 62 acres of former railroad land, now owned by developer Related Midwest, and The 78 is supremely well served by existing modes of public transportation. That would be especially the case once the long-planned new CTA station is built at 15th Street.

All of those arguments would apply just as well to a development that included a new stadium for the Chicago White Sox.

But that wasn’t the most important reason why we were, and are, so enthusiastic about The 78.

Right now, it’s a barren barrier, a dead zone undermining the potentially symbiotic relationship between Chicago’s Loop and the South Side.

If The 78 were developed, and done right, it could relink the South Loop with Chinatown and Bronzeville and could radiate economic development out from the business district to the south, filling the kind of hole that the West Loop entertainment district has plugged to the west and that the Gold Coast residential neighborhood long has provided to the North. Get rid of that no man’s land and just maybe the huge success of Millennium Park, another railroad-related project, from two decades ago could be emulated in a section of the city with a greater need.

The 78 is a huge, fallow asset and, given how well suited it is to entertainment, a casino or (better yet) a new sports stadium is what it needs. For a sense of what this could look like, all you have to do is look at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, with its lively eateries and relationship to a reignited downtown, or to the huge pedestrian area around Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas or, of course, at Wrigleyville.

Guaranteed Rate Field is, frankly, unloved and unlovely. It’s too harsh, isolated, steep, hemmed in and fan-unfriendly. The neighborhood often has been resistant when it comes to developing the surrounding parking lots into fan amenities. Despite its relative youth, it’s a relic of a time when the stadium still was just the stadium. Now, as we well know, sports teams don’t so much hope to spark development as to control (and ideally own) what goes on down the street, where fans stay, eat and play.

Unlike the NFL, which plays few games a year, Major League Baseball plays all summer long with scores of home games each season. Office workers could walk to the new stadium from the Loop, potentially a carrot when it comes to getting workers back downtown.

We understand, as tourism officials well know, that the Cubs and the Sox are very different propositions when it comes to economic development. The Cubs attract huge numbers of out-of-town fans who stay in hotels and cite Cubs games as the anchoring reason for their weekend visit. The Sox fan base is primarily local, spinning off far less secondary spending. But that does not have to remain the case. The site where the games are played is a big factor.

We’ve long been on record believing the days of handing over taxpayer funds to hugely profitable sports franchise owners should be over. We’ve said many times that the Chicago Bears, still playing the long game of chicken or persuasion or whatever, should pay for their own stadium, being a private business planning to operate in a private facility.

We feel that same way about the White Sox, although that view doesn’t preclude city and state governments from working with the team (or with the Bears, for that matter, if they’re serious about staying in Chicago) to make any move as hospitable and supportive as possible. It’s not unreasonable to chip in on infrastructure and the public areas, especially if the site also is going to include housing, parks and the like. Even Ald. Nicole Lee, 11th, whose ward long has been home to the White Sox, has said she is impressed with the plan.

No doubt tax increment financing will be needed, which some would call a form of public financing. Philosophically, in terms of insisting on private investment, the devil is in the details there — TIF money can go to public improvements that arguably a private developer might otherwise shell out for. We note the current mayor’s queasiness on TIFs, given the city’s cash-strapped situation. He ought to make an exception here if the public and private interests are properly aligned. And we don’t see a big problem with basically transferring the existing 2% hotel tax to this project, since that already is dedicated to a similar use.

The fate of Guaranteed Rate Field has to be part of this discussion, of course, and it’s unlikely that site would satisfy the Bears, for most of the same reasons that the White Sox don’t want to stay, even if there were a new stadium. But an empty concrete shell by the side of the Dan Ryan Expressway would not be acceptable. Part of the package should include redevelopment plans: housing, sports facilities for the community, a stadium for the Chicago Fire if they are interested, playing fields and other benefits appropriate for a facility built with public money and owned by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.

All of those debates are to come. But of all the sports shenanigans we’ve written about these last few years, the idea of the White Sox at The 78 is far better than most. We cannot overemphasize the strategic importance of that connective tissue from an economic development point of view.

The 78 could make the Sox, South Loop, Bronzeville and Chinatown big winners, and that’s without having to stuff a slot machine or throw a pair of dice.

Join the discussion on Twitter @chitribopinions and on Facebook.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

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MOBILE, Ala. — In the last 25 years, the Chicago Bears have drafted two edge rushers who went on to have a double-digit-sack season for the team.

Mark Anderson, a fifth-round pick in 2006, had a career-high 12 during his rookie season. Rosevelt Colvin, a fourth-round pick in 1999, had 10 1/2 sacks in 2001 and 2002 before departing leaving as a free agent.

The only other edge rusher to reach at least 10 sacks in a season did it elsewhere — Leonard Floyd, selected ninth in 2016, had 10 1/2 sacks this season for the Buffalo Bills and the same number in 2020 for the Los Angeles Rams.

The Bears have fueled their pass rush largely with free agents or trade acquisitions, and general manager Ryan Poles filled a gaping need midseason when he traded for Montez Sweat and then secured the defensive end with a four-year, $98 million extension.

For coach Matt Eberflus’ defense to reach another level — and that’s the goal — the Bears need a pass-rushing threat opposite Sweat. A handful of veterans will be worth consideration in free agency, including Danielle Hunter of the Minnesota Vikings, but in a perfect world the team would be able to pair a rookie with Sweat, who will turn 28 in September.

It’s way too early to project how things will shake out, but if the Bears draft a quarterback with the No. 1 pick in the draft, they could consider a wide receiver, offensive tackle or edge rusher at No. 9. If Poles trades down at No. 9, he still could fish in the same waters for those positions.

UCLA’s Laiatu Latu is the most accomplished pure edge rusher in the draft and projects as a first-round pick after totaling 23 1/2 sacks over the last two seasons. The Pac-12 defensive player of the year also won the Lombardi Award as the best defensive lineman in the nation, and he has looked the part this week at Senior Bowl practices with some silky smooth spin moves on the edge and high-level hand usage.

Latu measured 6-foot-5, 261 pounds, so he has good size, but his arms probably aren’t an ideal length at 32 1/2 inches. For comparison, Sweat was 6-6, 260 at the combine in 2019, and his arms measured 35 3/4 inches. Eberflus puts a big emphasis on length when he’s scouting defensive players.

But the production is there, and the biggest question for Latu beginning next month at the scouting combine will surround medical reports. Latu briefly retired from football after suffering a neck injury at the beginning his college career at Washington. Latu suffered a stinger in practice as the Huskies prepared for the 2020 season.

“Just took a weird hit and got a stinger going down my body that lasted 20 seconds, like a lot of other people feel,” he said.

Latu didn’t feel right afterward, and following an MRI, Washington doctors decided he would need to sit out the season. He eventually required surgery for a slipped disk in March 2021. The Huskies medical team essentially decided it wasn’t safe for him to continue playing and basically medically retired him.

Rehab was supposed to be a grueling nine-month process. But 2 1/2 months removed from surgery, Latu felt no complications. He was still at Washington and had retained his scholarship but wasn’t allowed to play football.

“You can call me stubborn, but I went into playing men’s rugby and really just testing my body, tackling grown men and stuff like that,” he said. “I earned a contract from the Seattle Seawolves to go and play with them for an extended part of time. They’d pay me and give me housing, stuff like that, turned that down. I wanted to chase my passion for football.”

Latu sought another opinion on his neck injury and met with Dr. Robert Watkins in Southern California. Latu was cleared to play football, entered the transfer portal and turned into a heck of a find for the Bruins.

Every team here has asked him about his journey and the medical process, and he can point out he had no injury issues the last two years at UCLA.

“Head, neck and heart, those are the three issues that get really tricky for the medical teams,” a high-ranking personnel man said after practice Tuesday at South Alabama’s Whitney Hancock Stadium. “It could be a deal where half the teams pass him and half fail him.”

Sweat had a heart issue when he came out of Mississippi State. He was reported to be diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which results in thickening of the heart walls. Some later said that diagnosis was incorrect, but the official I spoke to said his team removed Sweat from its draft board. Sweat is a clear example of a player with a medical-related issue who can go on to have a productive and durable career despite the questions of highly trained doctors.

On the field, Latu isn’t great defending the run and has had a few instances in practices in which he has struggled to set the edge.

“He’s not overly strong,” a college scouting director said. “He’s willing and it’s not a lack of effort in the run game. You might want him to add some weight if he’s a three-down player. But there’s so many sub packages, if you’re just drafting him to hunt the quarterback, you’re fine.”

In a draft class that isn’t stocked with elite edge rushers, Latu could have skipped the Senior Bowl and kept his focus strictly on preparing for on-field testing at the combine in Indianapolis.

“I was told I could never play football again,” Latu said. “To me, I can’t get enough of it, especially learning from the best of the best while being out here. Really just gaining knowledge and growing.”

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Look, baking a pie is hard work.

Alicia Hinze knows that — and it’s why she loves them. Hinze is the pastry chef behind The Buttered Tin, a breakfast restaurant and bakery in Lowertown and Northeast Minneapolis.

Alicia Hinze is a baker and owner of the Buttered Tin, the St. Paul bakery and cafe in Lowertown. (Pioneer Press: Chris Polydoroff)

“They’re tedious; they’re meticulous,” she said. “There’s a lot that goes into a pie. So when someone makes a pie for you, it means there’s love there. They must really love you.”

Even so, pie doesn’t always get the reputation it deserves. Maybe it feels like something your grandmother would make, not you — and it doesn’t help that plenty of store-bought pies can be schlocky and saccharine.

But it doesn’t have to be this way, local pie experts say: Well-made pie can be creative and expressive and tell stories of generations, and it should be celebrated.

Author Rose McGee, who bakes pies to facilitate community healing through her organization Sweet Potato Comfort Pie, has also lent her recipe to public school lunchrooms. Occasionally, she’ll stop by to chat with the kids over a slice.

One year, McGee said, “one little girl said, ‘No, I can’t eat this pie! I only eat my grandmama’s pie.’”

In honor of Pi Day — March 14, or 3.14, the first digits of the mathematical constant — this year, we checked in with several top-notch pie bakers around St. Paul and the Twin Cities to help us make fun and successful pies at home.

How to get the crispiest, flakiest crust

A cherry pie made by Sarah Millfelt of Milly’s Kitchen Madness, a bakery subscription company in Stillwater, bears a cutout of David Bowie. To achieve a firm texture in her cherry pie, Millfelt strains the filling and cooks down the juices in a saucepan until they’re thick, then re-adds the mixture to the fruit. (Photo courtesy Sarah Millfelt)

Know your ratios: A good pie dough is roughly a 3-2-1 ratio of flour to butter to water. “That’s really all you need to know to make a good pie dough,” said Rachel Anderson, owner of Vikings & Goddesses Pie Company on Marshall and Cleveland avenues.

Use frozen butter: “Cold is your friend with pie crust,” said Emily Lauer, who runs the pop-up bakery Fruit & Grain. Her secret: Instead of a true lamination process, which creates airy layers in pastries like croissants, she freezes her butter and shreds it with a cheese grater. But even if you opt for a more traditional process, make sure your butter stays in firm pieces rather than softening in the dough. “I love rolling out the dough and seeing all that chunky butter in the crust, and knowing it’s going to turn out to be super flaky, browned goodness,” Hinze said.

Buy a scale: We all think we know how to measure a cup of flour, but the reality is that weight is more accurate than volume, Lauer said. Find a cheap scale; no need to get fancy. “It’ll make your baking in general so much better, but for sure your pie crusts,” she said.

Skip the vodka: Some bakers swear by using chilled vodka in their pie doughs to keep things cold and halt the production of gluten, which could make the crust tough. If that works for you, great, Hinze said, but she prefers good old ice water. “It’s the fat and the flour that’s going to create the bubbles and flakiness, not the water or vodka, which just stops the gluten from forming,” she said. “I don’t buy into that.”

Blind-bake the crust: Some recipes call for partially baking the crust empty, before adding the filling, even if the pie will be baked again. This technique is worth doing all the time, our local experts said, because it creates crispy edges and helps avoid raw, soggy bottoms. “That’s a really big red flag if this is not step one of your recipe,” Anderson said. Some stores sell pie weights to prevent the crust from puffing up in the oven, but you can simply lay down parchment paper and pour in some dried beans, Lauer said.

How to make a perfect filling

Rose McGee, the founder of Sweet Potato Comfort Pies, carries four homemade sweet potato pies to the food volunteer tent at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 to give to volunteers to mark the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s killing. Volunteers brought a total of 46 pies; Floyd was 46 years old when he was killed on May 25, 2020. (Mary Divine / Pioneer Press)

Let the main ingredients shine: If she’s eating a sweet potato pie, McGee said, she wants to be able to taste the sweet potato. It’s not a pumpkin pie, so put away the allspice and pumpkin pie spice blend. Similarly, Hinze said, apple pies should taste like apples, so don’t go crazy with cinnamon and sugar. “There’s something to being true to the authenticity of the pie,” McGee said. “If you’re calling it a sweet potato pie, then it’s sweet potato pie!”

Cook out the cornstarch: Fruit-based pies often call for a thickening agent like cornstarch, which helps avoid runny fillings — but if the pie is underbaked, the result will be grainy and unpleasant, Anderson said. “If the cornstarch hasn’t been cooked out, (you’ll notice) a little more of a cloudy color, and the cornstarch sticks to your teeth a bit,” she said.

Sarah Millfelt, owner of Milly’s Kitchen Madness & Bakes, poses with a box of her desserts in her backyard in Stillwater on July 11, 2023. Millfelt, the former director of the Northern Clay Center, launched the business three years ago as a cottage bakery, so everything is made in her home kitchen. (Jared Kaufman / Pioneer Press)

Use the “pie gel” trick: Here’s a secret from Sarah Millfelt, who runs a Stillwater-based bakery subscription box called Milly’s Kitchen Madness, for well-set cherry pies. After adding sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice or other ingredients to the cherries, strain them, but don’t discard the juices. Cherries go into the crust, and the liquid goes into a saucepan to reduce. Then, pour the thickened cherry sauce back into the pie before it hits the oven to nail that rich texture. “It’s an extra step, extra pots and pans you have to wash, but, oh, it’s so spectacular,” she said.

How to finish strong

Crimp it: For hand pies or full-size double-crust pies, clean edges aren’t just for looks. A well-crimped edge is key to keeping the filling inside. “If you press down on it and there’s a tiny bit of filling (oozing out), it’s going to burst open a hole,” Anderson said.

Curb your sweet tooth: “I don’t want to bite into a pie and it’s a sugar bomb,” Hinze said. If you’re using a naturally sweeter crust, like one made from graham crackers, for example, she recommends toning down the sugar in your filling to compensate. And if your pie has two crusts — one on the bottom and another over the filling — resist the urge to sprinkle sugar on top.

Practice, practice, practice: Pie is hard, Hinze said. Even when you follow the recipe step by step, pulling the finished dessert out of the oven can still feel like a reality check. “You make it, pop it in the oven, wait hours, and are like, ‘Aw, man! It didn’t turn out. That sucks, that was half my day!” she said — but it’s worth it to try again.

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The kindest thing you can do for yourself when you’re stiff from being in the cold is to find some warmth: Because as the chill in your bones starts to fade, so does your stiffness. The same thing happens to hard winter vegetables when they’re enveloped in the heat of the oven — they soften and sweeten as they roast until they’re golden outside and tender in the middle.

A roasted vegetable is a wonderful vegetable, even when cooked simply with only oil, salt and pepper. There are plenty of ways to roast different vegetables, but sometimes, you want a single method that works with everything so you can buy whatever looks good and know what you’re going to do with it.

The sheet-pan method below works just as well on cold-weather roots, florets and dark leafy greens as it does with spring’s sprightly asparagus and string beans and summer’s juicy tomatoes and peppers. Just follow these easy instructions and exceptional results are guaranteed:

1. Cut the vegetables into uniform pieces.

Slice your vegetables big or small, just shoot for roughly the same size. Smaller pieces cook more quickly and produce crisper outsides, while larger ones offer more creaminess in the centers. Spread the pieces out on the sheet pan so they don’t steam and end up mushy.

2. Season and oil the vegetables generously.

It’s just like getting a tan at the beach: Oil up for a bronzed exterior. One to 2 pounds of vegetables need one to three tablespoons of oil and should be sprinkled with nice big pinches of salt (and black pepper if you’d like).

3. Roast on the lowest rack of a hot oven.

The magic oven temperature is 425 degrees, hot enough to caramelize outsides but not so hot that ingredients will burn before the interior cooks through. Setting the sheet pan on the bottom rack, which is nearest to the heat source, turns it into a big skillet and helps the bottoms of the vegetables sizzle and sear. But unlike a skillet on the stovetop, the surrounding heat of the oven simultaneously cooks the other sides, too. Most recipes tell you to stir or flip vegetables halfway through cooking, but this could result in only slightly golden outsides and potentially dry insides. Skip the flip.

4. Flavor the vegetables after cooking.

While you could coat the vegetables before roasting with spices and other seasonings, it’s easier to focus on roasting the vegetables well and not stress about small seasonings scorching. The cook time will depend on the density and size of the vegetables; when a fork pierces through easily, they’re done. If you’d like, toss the roasted vegetables on the hot sheet pan with anything you want to warm or toast, like spices, butter or chopped garlic. Or, contrast the sweetness of the vegetables by sprinkling them with fresh herbs, spicy sauce or a squeeze of tangy lemon juice. To turn the vegetables into a complete meal, serve them over grains or purée them into soup.

Roasted Root Vegetables With Hot Honey

By Ali Slagle

In this one-method-fits-all recipe, turn any combination of sturdy root vegetables into caramelized morsels. Whether you have carrots, beets, turnips, potatoes or sweet potatoes, rutabagas or any other root vegetables hibernating in your kitchen, cut them into pieces roughly the same size and cook them together on a sheet pan. Roasting on the oven’s bottom rack without stirring ensures one side will be golden brown without the interior drying out. You could stop after Step 1 and enjoy the vegetables’ inherent sweetness, or go on to Step 2 to toss them in a combination of butter, honey, lemon and crushed red pepper. The heat from the sheet pan will meld the ingredients into a spicy, tangy glaze for the vegetables. Enjoy with roast chicken, pork tenderloin, a hearty salad or a fried egg.

Yield: 4 servings

Total time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds any mix of carrots, golden beets, parsnips, potatoes, rutabagas, sweet potatoes and/or turnips, scrubbed or peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 6 cups)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon honey, plus more as desired

1 teaspoon lemon zest plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper or 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne, plus more as desired

DIRECTIONS

1. Arrange a rack at the bottom of the oven and heat to 425 degrees. On a sheet pan, toss the vegetables with the oil and season generously with salt. Spread in an even layer and roast on the bottom rack, without flipping, until browned underneath and fork-tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

2. Add the butter, honey, lemon zest, lemon juice and crushed red pepper to the vegetables. Toss until the butter melts, scraping up browned bits from the pan as you go. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt (if bland), honey (if too spicy) and crushed red pepper (if too sweet).

Cheddar-Roasted Broccoli

Cheddar-roasted broccoli. With frizzled florets and crisp-tender stems, roasted broccoli is even tastier all dressed up in lacy skirts of Cheddar. Food styled by Barrett Washburne. (Nico Schinco/The New York Times)

By Ali Slagle

With frizzled florets and crisp-tender stems, roasted broccoli is pretty delicious on its own. Follow Step 1 if you need a go-to basic method, or keep going for broccoli all dressed up in lacy skirts of cheddar. Store-bought grated cheese will work, but freshly grated cheese will have an easier time surrendering to the heat of the oven. Let the cheese go past melted to just golden brown, at which point it will crisp into chips on your florets. Serve the broccoli alongside chicken cutlets, sausage or refried beans — or eat it straight from the sheet pan with your fingers.

Yield: 4 servings

Total time: 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds broccoli, cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch-long florets, stems sliced 1/4-inch thick

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3/4 packed cup/3 ounces coarsely grated extra-sharp cheddar

DIRECTIONS

1. Arrange a rack at the bottom of the oven and heat to 425 degrees. On a parchment paper-lined sheet pan, toss the broccoli with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer, cut sides down, and roast on the bottom rack, without flipping, until browned and crisp-tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Sprinkle the broccoli with the garlic, stir to combine, then spread the broccoli in an even layer. Sprinkle with the cheddar, then roast until the cheese is melted and nearly all golden brown, 6 to 9 minutes. Let cool a few minutes for the cheese to crisp. Use a spatula to transfer the broccoli and all the cheese to plates.

Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup

By Ali Slagle

This three-ingredient vegan soup isn’t a trick: It’s as velvety and rich as its creamy, dairy-full counterparts, with a sweetness that lingers and warms. Coax deep, nutty flavors from cauliflower and a whole head of garlic by roasting them until caramelized; next you’ll simmer them until nearly falling apart, then blend the mixture until silky-smooth. Gentle and comforting on its own, the soup can also serve as the start to your own creation: You could roast sliced onions or leeks instead of the garlic; stir in cheddar, Gruyère or Parmesan; or top with fried sage or capers. Accompany with grilled cheese or pumpernickel bread, or a hearty salad with grains or lentils.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 pounds cauliflower (1 very large head), cut into 1-inch florets, leaves reserved

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Salt and pepper

1 head garlic

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. On a sheet pan, toss the cauliflower florets and leaves with the olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Cut off the top 1/4 inch of the head of garlic to expose the top of the cloves, then place on a piece of foil, cut side up. Sprinkle exposed cloves with salt, then drizzle lightly with oil. Wrap the garlic in the foil and place on the sheet pan. Roast until the cauliflower is browned and tender and the garlic is soft and fragrant, 30 to 35 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a large pot or Dutch oven, bring 6 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt to a simmer over medium. Reserve about 1 cup cauliflower for the topping, then add the rest to the pot, including any browned bits on the sheet pan. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves from their skins into the pot. Cover and simmer until the cauliflower is very soft, 7 to 10 minutes.

3. Off the heat, using an immersion blender (or working in batches in a traditional blender), purée the soup until smooth. If thick, add water to taste. If thin, simmer, uncovered, for 5 to 10 minutes to reduce slightly. (The soup will also thicken as it cools.) Season to taste with salt.

4. Serve the soup topped with the reserved roasted cauliflower, a drizzle of olive oil and more black pepper.

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