We've written about Blue Sky Inn (including an interview with Executive Director Lisa Thompson) before. The bakery and cafe they run in Albany Park (4749 N. Albany, 773-478-2233) is part of the non-profit organization's mission to provide job training to at-risk youth. It's also a great-looking storefront. more ›

It's been almost two weeks since Albany Park (and several other parts of the Chicago Metro Area) suffered from horrible flooding. But the story has already faded from media headlines, even as residents just now begin the hardest part of recovery. One group of Albany Park residents, however, has taken to the Internet to keep others informed. Albany Park Neighbors is a blog that keeps neighborhood residents informed of meetings and other recovery efforts, as well as allowing residents to share their personal story. So if you're from the area or just want to know what's going on as the neighborhood recovers, surf by. Meanwhile, Gov. Blagojevich asked President Bush on Wednesday to declare Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, LaSalle and Will Counties as disaster areas to secure federal recovery funds for those areas. more ›

As neighborhoods like Albany Park and many suburbs begin to dry out and clean up from this weekend's flooding, residents are beginning to ask for help from the federal government. Senator Dick Durbin was joined by 39th Ward Alderman Margaret Laurino, and a representative from Barack Obama's office to get a first-hand look at the massive flooding that happened from this weekend's intense rains. Said Durbin:

This has been devastating. A lot of these folks don't have insurance to cover this. One hundred billion gallons of water dumped on any community . . . is something you can't prepare for. I think when we need FEMA, they will be here.

The Chicago River has flooded the north-side neighborhood Albany Park. As a result, the Chicago Fire Department has evacuated several families. more ›

A new study from the Chaddick Institute at DePaul examines Chicago's diversity by neighborhood by creating a "composite diversity index." The study measured ethnic diversity, income diversity and age diversity. According to their findings, more ›

There's no shortage of good Persian or Lebanese food in Albany park. Kedzie Avenue has Noon O' Kabob and the amazing Semiramis. Near the intersection of Kedzie and Lawrence sits Al-Khaymeih. This spacious restaurant offers the best of both dining worlds. Customers are treated to familiar Lebanese dishes served promptly by very attentive waiters who cleared out empty plates as soon as they saw them, kept the pita and hummous coming and uncorked our bottles of wine as we pulled them out (Al-Khaymeih is BYOB). more ›

A few months ago, we profiled the bánh mì at Tank on Broadway as One Great Sandwich. After a flurry of comments, Matilda checked in, saying "Ever try the Vietnamese bakery on Lawrence just west of Rockwell? good stuff." Well, we have. It's called Nhu Lan, and they've been a welcome addition to a pretty barren stretch (culinary speaking) of Lawrence Avenue since near the beginning of the year. more ›

Recent weeks have been very busy at Blue Sky Inn. They just launched a revamped website, passed their Health Department inspection allowing them to open their new café and bakery in Albany Park, and are tying up loose ends in advance of their spring fundraiser next Friday at the Esquire Theatre. more ›

Any moment now, Blue Sky Inn will open the doors to its new bakery and café. Located at 4749 N. Albany in Albany Park, the bakery will serve as another extension for the non-profit organization's mission of providing creative, recreational and educational activities to at-risk youth. We dropped in Saturday to take a look. more ›

What kinds of cars do Chicagoans drive? more ›

Bad behavior cranks up on the weekends, so here's a quick heads-up on all the horrible, terrible no-good things going on in our little world. more ›

Focus, People, Focus is a weekly photography feature that features a photograph taken by a reader of the site. If you'd like a chance to have your photo featured on Friday as part of Focus, People, Focus, upload your photo to Flickr and tag it with "Chicagoist". more ›

Saturday night found us in the company of old friends enjoying Lebanese food at Semiramis in Albany Park. Semiramis is a BYOB restaurant, which can lead to some unfortunate food-and-drink pairings if one isn't careful, or worse, if someone in the group decides to play sommelier for everyone (for the record, we know better). So everyone made their own decisions about what they wanted to drink, and we picked up a six-pack of New Belgium "Skinny Dip" across the street at the liquor store. It wouldn't have been our first choice from New Belgium during summer; that would have been Blue Paddle. And someday New Belgium should have their full complement of selections available to Chicagoans. It just wasn't to be on this day. more ›

We hate to admit it, but the décor at this popular Colombian eatery tucked in Albany Park is a little bit on the tacky side. Paper mobiles hanging from the ceiling and mismatched wall art that’s a little outdated give the “no frills” description a new meaning. more ›

Your day will brighten at Tre Kronor. Well, at least ours did. more ›

The “‘Check, Please’ effect” is defined as “a surge in business for the three highlighted restaurants (featured on any given episode) after the show appears with later small surges whenever the program is rerun, which is multiple times on WTTW.” The term “surge” is a generous one. If unprepared, a smaller restaurant is mobbed and taxed beyond its capabilities. Albany Park’s Noon-O-Kabob is often presented as exhibit “A” for the effect’s existence. More recently... more ›

Our spring rush has netted a fresh new class of pledges for our interview beat: Keidra Chaney, a self-described pop-culture nut, joins us from Lincoln Square, by way of Englewood, West Pullman, and Wisconsin. When she's not interviewing people like the folks at the A+D Gallery for Chicagoist, she works at DePaul, and she freelances for magazines like Venus Zine, Bitch, Friction, and Colorlines. Karl Klockars is also a Chicagoland native, growing up in the... more ›

Dharma Garden Thai Cuisine is a restaurant full of contradictions. And we mean that in a good way. One side of this Albany Park eatery is flanked by a long bar, although the restaurant is BYOB. Dharma prides itself on using healthful ingredients and cooking processes — the menu informed us “dharma ragsar” means “natural healing” in Thai — but 10 out of the 20 apps are deep fried. To be fair, a majority of... more ›

The setting was a surprise party for a friend in Albany Park a couple weeks back (we get up north). The hosts were turning their backyard into an open air movie theater. It was a Friday night, they only had a couple hours in which to prepare. Needless to say, they were pretty swamped when we showed up. While talking about work gossip, one of the hosts asks, "Would you mind checking the sangria for... more ›

Chicagoist really hates it when people get paint on our clothes, and yes, it has happened more than once. But when it does, we try not to make racial slurs in front of children. We’re real humanitarians like that. more ›

Have you ever entertained out-of-towners asking where to find the best hot dog in the city? Or deep-dish pizza? Should they go to Chinatown or Albany Park for good Asian-style barbecue? What spice houses sell real saffron? Is your short-term health affected by eating at a Harold's Chiucken Shack? more ›

After 37 years on the police force, Chicago's first female detective has retired. In the early 1960s Cindy Pontoriero began working in the Chicago Police Department at age 19 as a stenographer. At that time there were only a few women in the department and none of them were employed as detectives .. until 1972 when the department promoted her to homicide detective and she became the first. Stenographer to homicide detective.. not a bad... more ›