Chef Lee Ann Whippen rolled out a new brunch menu at Chicago Q, including Eggs Benedict with smoked chicken, brisket hash, and a smoked bacon sausage breakfast sandwich topped with eggs. more ›

If you make something with pork and pineapple and call all your friends up and invite them over for dinner for "porky-pine" and they show up and you are not, in fact, cooking a porcupine, they are going to be hella pissed. They will not think you are cute for your clever play on words. We know this from experience. We've been trying to get people to think we are cute for years. The best you can do is to set the hot pork on the table and quickly back away. more ›

Every bar and grill in this town has specials, yes? We've been hitting them up recently, and have discovered that a lot of specials aren't... you know... special. Giving us $5 pints when pints are usually $5 is not a deal, friend. Hark - Logan Square's Dunlays on the Square recently started a special that we can enthusiastically get behind: Thursdays are ½ price ribs. Full and half racks! Like most of the dudes we know in Chicago, we prefer a full rack but we'll take what we can get (heyoh!). We stopped in at Dunlays to give this new weekly special a try. more ›

We’ve been dying to try Logan Square’s Brand BBQ Market, and we finally made it in for lunch. Brand has a current lunch special of a chopped pork sandwich, a soda, and fries for $6.95. That’s for dine-in only and does not include tax or gratuity, but what a deal! We couldn’t pass it up so we stopped in to see what Brand could do with their pigmeats, and find out what else they have to offer. more ›

It’s a real shame that it is so difficult to make your own ribs in the city. We’re pretty sure your landlord is not crazy about the idea of a big barbecue smoker on your rickety wooden porch. Your condominium association might have an objection to you precariously balancing a huge smoker on your 25th story 3x3 cement porch. Nor do we think it good form to funnel woodsmoke into your neighbor’s bedroom window. These challenges aside, you can make what we call “high-rise style” barbecue ribs right at home. (Barbecue smoker purists, turn away!) more ›

Anyone with a pulse in Chicago knows that 2010 was the Year of Barbecue. With the opening of heavy hitters like Lillie’s Q, Chicago Q, and Ole Hardwood crowding in on long-time darlings like Robinson’s, Honey One, and Fat Willy’s, you can’t swing a dead cat pig in this city without hitting another BBQ joint. Not that we’re upset about that. So now that it’s finally the end of the year and things are settling down, what can you do to keep the porcine love alive? The city's barbecue restaurants are stepping up to distinguish themselves and compete for your business, so take advantage. more ›

Fourth of July came and went but we are still furiously working to perfect our grilling recipes. A few weekends ago, we brushed up on our “yet to be perfected and yet to be named” spicy barbecue sauce to top some baby back ribs. Check out our recipe below and let us know if you have a favorite barbecue sauce (store bought suggestions are always welcome). more ›

It's completely OK to laugh at this because no one got hurt: A truck carrying 50,000 pounds of beef ribs caught fire last night near Hazel Crest. Authorities don't know what exact cut of rib the truck was hauling, but made plenty of barbecue jokes. Mmm, barbecue smell. more ›

Common sense dictated that we should have stayed in Saturday night in the slightly drafty but hospitable environs of our apartment. However, when the fine folks at Unibroue plan a beer dinner, it's usually a great event. What made Saturday night's event stand out was the location of the dinner. more ›

WTTW’s Geoffrey Baer more ›

Lately we've dedicated more than a few sentences about Honky Tonk BBQ, the new Pilsen-based barbecue restaurant officially opening in late September. We even announced that they were doing a sneak preview of their menu last weekend. Having sampled their 'cue while making our rounds on the street fair circuit we had a lot of questions, mainly about the true quality of the meat. more ›

A few weeks back in one of the "Friday Buffet" installments we wrote about Honky Tonk BBQ, a vendor that's been traveling around the street fair circuit all summer serving up some decent barbecue, but nothing that makes us start searching for superlatives to describe it. We've attributed that to them traveling around, spending full weekends with the same stuff to sell to passers-by who might be more interested in purely bacchanalian pursuits. Our suspicion is that, once they officially open to the public in September, Smoque might be in for some serious competition for the attentions of foodies and BBQ enthusiasts. more ›

Since our hipster cred went down the drain last night when we saw The Police at Wrigley, we decided to just join the ranks of our parents and give up. The on-sale listings from Ticketmaster confirmed this for us when all we found were shows at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. Shows that would have excited us about forty years ago, but who's to say grandpa and grandma don't deserve a great night out. The... more ›

Before you continue reading, we want you to raise your right arm, take your index finger, place it on the top of your head and begin to scratch. A woman visiting Chicago from Tennessee was arrested yesterday morning after attempting to visit the Skydeck of the Sears Tower with a loaded gun in her purse. When passing through the metal detector, it was discovered the she was packing a .38-caliber revolver. She was taken into... more ›

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they... more ›

Sixteen years ago this Chicagoist contributor was sailing around Indonesia's Flores Sea on an oceanographic research vessel re-mapping shipping lanes that hadn't been charted since the original Portuguese and Dutch colonists claimed Indonesia for their respective monarchies 400 years prior. We originally met up with our ship in Darwin, Australia, where a carved-from-granite tattooed bartender/"Thunderdome" extra shoved a Victoria Bitter in our right hand and a XXXX bitter in our left, after we ordered a Foster's in our most lame Yahoo Serious-inspired accent. "Foster's is piss water, mate. Like Budweiser in the States," he said. Unknown to us then, that bartender set us on a path from which we haven't strayed. more ›

Carnivores are happy people. Or at least that’s the case for the ones buying their meat from Paulina Market. From the outside, this West Lakeview store, with its brick facade and minimal windows, offers few clues of what awaits inside. But pull open the front door, inhale, and that lovely aroma of smoky goodness is a telltale sign. If you still haven’t figured it out yet, the pink pig-head ticket dispenser by the entrance should clarify things. (Be sure to grab a number; you’ll need it.) more ›

"This place feels like Northside," we remarked to our dining companion as we sat down at the Five Star Bar & Grill on 1424 W. Chicago Ave. Despite the rock-and-roll-inspired decor (which was strangely matched with the weapons-inspired overhead lamps), we felt like we could have been dining on N. Damen — same frat-boy atmosphere, same mediocre selection of standard bar fare, and same feeling as we left of "did we really just spend... more ›

There’s a lot of debate about the best pizza in Chicago. Choosing deep dish, pan or thin crust can be just as taxing as choosing between Gino’s, Lou Malnati's and Uno’s. But sometimes you just need a pizza without all that fuss. We’d much rather skip the hassle of waiting in line to sit in a crowded room of tourists and head to our local pizza joint: Marie’s Pizza & Liquors. There’s rarely a long wait for a table thanks to their spacious dining room that captures all the glitz and glamour of a hotspot in the '60s. Red booths line the walls along the bar and the main carpeted dining room. Mirrors etched with scenes, such as the Chicago skyline, fill in the walls above the booths. Tables of varying sizes fill in the rest of the space underneath several massive crystal chandeliers. But don’t get your boogie nights on just yet; Marie’s is a family place. more ›

Surfing between the Police reunion on the Grammys last night and an all-new evening of animation on Fox (and if Family Guy's "My Drunken Irish Dad" song isn't being sung en masse this St. Patrick's Day, we'll be sorely disappointed), Avenues' chef Graham Elliot Bowles took on Bobby Flay on "Iron Chef America." Knowing that the Tribune had Bowles' appearance featured in yesterday's Sunday magazine, we didn't buy the Sunday paper yesterday and stayed away... more ›

Yesterday, When we wrote about the CTA’s plan for high-speed service out to the airports, we wondered if anyone – like CTA President Krank Kreusi – mentioned it to CTA Chairwoman Carole Brown before it hit the dailies. We naïvely thought that Frank wouldn’t be so careless as to let yet another CTA money-making scheme (see last year’s plan to buy fuel from Venezuela) hit the papers before first telling the person who heads the... more ›

Whenever we're at the supermarket shopping for a barbecue, the one thing we consistently forget to buy is fruit. On the grill it tastes so great! And almost any large fruit will work, we hear. What we normally like to grill are peaches, but we heard that plums are good too. This weekend we also tried bananas with a brown sugar & butter coating. more ›

Hard though it may be to believe, occasionally we at Chicagoist carry differing viewpoints. These tend to manifest themselves most strongly when it comes to discussion of the arts, though we have learned that the way to resolve contrasting opinions need not be through a duel to the death. Anymore. So with that in mind, we decided to hand associate editor Scott Smith and music critic Tankboy each a copy of the new Catfish... more ›

Pull out your worst pair of "Bad Pants" and wear them to the 9th Annual "Bad Pants" Charity Golf Open on September 11 at Indian Lakes Resort. more ›

Chicago is a city full of iconic imagery. From its skyline and architecture, to its beaches and boulevards, to its trains and neighborhoods, take one look at any of those and you know that you're looking at home. The Maxwell Street Market once deserved to be listed among all those other landmarks. These days, Maxwell Street itself is unrecognizable. All traces of its open market glory were buried long ago by urban planning and the... more ›

The mojito brings to mind a time in history where visiting Cuba that didn't require buying air fare in Cancun, Jamaica or the Bahamas; a Cuba where Michael Corleone sealed his brother Fredo's fate with a kiss; and musicians like Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, and Omara Portuondo didn't have to wait until late in life to bcome recognized by American audiences. The mojito is the gateway to a slew of Caribbean fantasies with the faint recognition of son montuno and timba music in the background. Those of us who've taken that plunge have made the pilgrimage to La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana, where Ernest Hemingway drank his mojitos served with extra rum and no club soda, and not left disappointed. more ›

Pass on the Veggie Burgers? more ›

Chicagoist is taking the day off for Memorial Day. In the meantime, here's some knowledge to drop on your friends and family as they gather around the grill. Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day is a day to remember those who served in our nation’s armed forces. General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, was the first to officially proclaim the day on May 5th, 1868, and it was observed... more ›

Chicagoist will admit to having had a long-standing bias against rosés and other pink-hued wines. It stems from years of people ordering white zinfandel, or pinot grigio with a dash of grenadine added, if no white zinfandel were available. In recent months, however, we've started to lose that bias. As we've learned more about rosé, we realized that we should have directed our frustrations at the folks who insist on drinking wine badly. Most rosés... more ›

Chicagoist wanted to get out of the neighborhood for brunch on Sunday. We thought about heading down to Blue Island's Maple Tree Inn, but remembered that the junior varsity was out en masse. Eventually we decided to hop on a train and take our chances. more ›