Sometimes, we read a story that makes us feel like our brains will melt and leak out of our ears. Back in August 2006, a woman named Rory Beer climbed up on the bar at one of Division Street's classier joints, Bar Chicago. Ms. Beer (formerly Rory Roberts) then slipped and fell, permanently injuring her left foot and ankle. Now, Ms. Beer wants $50,000 in compensation for her injuries. Our favorite part? The lawsuit claims......

The fight between longtime Bridgeport staple Jimbo's lounge and landlords Ray and Donna DeGrazia took an unexpected twist when recent court filings indicated that the DeGrazias had reached an oral agreement to replace Jimbo's with a John Barleycorn. Barleycorn owner Sam Sanchez eventually backed out of the deal due to the continuing court battles and twists involving Jimbo's protracted eviction, which even owners Jimbo and Joyce Levato admitted is ultimately an academic conclusion. Still,......

If you've ever looked for info on the bar you're going to on any given Friday night, you've most likely run into Sean Parnell's site, the Chicago Bar Project. Started in 2000 and now listing hundreds of bars (including dozens that are no longer in existence), the Bar Project has changed from a simple list of nightspots into a comprehensive guide to almost all alcoholic destinations throughout the city. The Bar Project's entries range......

Yesterday marked the second anniversary of Weegee's Lounge, one of our favorite cocktail lounges in the city. While others like Violet Hour change out the cocktail menu with the season, Weegee's sticks to the time-honored classics and does them exceptionally. On a visit Saturday night a friend read the menu and remarked, "This should be considered one of America's true contributions to the world." Formerly a Polish bar, Weegee's is named in honor of photographer......

Sidewalks may be getting a little more crowded thanks to a new ordinance introduced to the city council yesterday that would allow straight-up bars to apply for sidewalk-seating permits. The current law allows only establishments who serve food—off a menu, from a working kitchen—to have sidewalk seating. Alderman Pat O'Connor (40th) proposed the measure, saying "Not everybody wants to go out and have a meal. They might just want a cold beer or a glass......

Red Bull has won a $680,000 lawsuit against Wet, a Loop bar that served its clubby patrons a different energy sauce when they ordered Red Bull. A manager at the company was at Wet and asked for a vodka Red Bull. She was served a vodka...Other Thing. From the Trib: [Red Bull employee Angela] Latino asked the bartender if it was made with Red Bull from a can. The bartender replied that it was made......

All About Beer magazine (via) listed their "top 125 places to have a beer before you die" (a nice arbitrary number, by the way). Five local taverns made the cut: Hopleaf (#24), Clark Street Ale House (#43), Map Room (#47), Goose Island (#84) and John Barleycorn, which makes the cut ten spots from the bottom at #115. Our doppelganger in the Emerald City wholeheartedly agreed with the inclusion of Hopleaf and Map Room, although Map......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. International Pop Overthrow Since this mini-festival takes it's name from Material Issue, the seminal power-pop group from Chicago, it makes sense that tonight's show is headlined by current Chicago power-pop maestros Frisbie. Double Door, 1572 N Milwaukee, 7:30 p.m., $10, 21+ Clubs Samantha Ronson spins at Crimson Lounge tonight. Her brother is Mark Ronson --......

Longtime Wrigleyville joint Nisei Lounge is apparently no more. The Sun-Times is reporting that the bar, in business since 1949, is up for sale and is closing its doors, although the deal hasn't yet gone through. But the clock is ticking. It always sucks when a local joint goes under, and when it was witness to demographic shifts like post-WWII migrations of Japanese-Americans, it's like losing another piece of history. From what we can tell,......

This classic peanut butter and chocolate combination is simple to make and will impress your friends because who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter together? More than one Chicagoist has made this recipe and we all give it the thumbs up. Try it for yourself. Chocolate Peanut Buddy Bars 1 c. peanut butter 3/4 stick butter 1 1/4 c. sugar 3 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 1 c. flour 1/4 tsp. salt 3 c. chocolate......

Countdown to Smoke-Out 2008! In case you forgot, or were outside smoking when someone shared the news, come January 1 there will be no more smoking in public places, including bars, restaurants, casinos, dorms, stadiums and anywhere else that is inside, aside from personal homes and cars. No idea yet on whether there will be smoking shanties outside of bars frequented by die-hard smokers, or if bars frequented by die-hard smokers will really obey the......

In quick succession, the Cook County Board shot down a series of tax hikes yesterday, including proposed increases on electricity and natural gas. Five other increases backed by Democrat Roberto Maldanado, including taxes on SUVs, hotel stays, jet fuel and liquor sold in bars, died without support from any commissioners. The 2-14 vote against the electricity and natural gas taxes, proposed by Stroger ally Bill Beavers, signaled the unofficial death of Board President Todd Stroger's......

A huge, golden brown turkey coming steaming from the oven. Piles of fluffy, buttery mashed potatoes. And a pumpkin pie, perfectly set in its pan. Also, a kitchen full of dishes precariously piled on top of each other and one or more exhausted cooks, too tired to do anything but sit down and watch everyone else enjoy the day's feast. Sound like your family? If so, there is an easier, less messy way to......

Today's Sun-Times has an interesting article on restaurateur and Chicago native LaVan Hawkins, who's opening Nancy's Pizza and Al's Italian Beef franchises even as he's set to go to prison on corruption charges. The biography of Hawkins is a true rags-to-riches, rise-and-fall-and-rise-again story starting with his early years running in a gang and battling drug addiction, then from working his way up from the lowest rung at a McDonald's to commanding a fast-food franchise empire......

It's easy to forget that, with all the hype recently bestowed to the Violet Hour since it opened months ago (much of it warranted, we'll preface), that this city was already teeming with master mixologists before Toby Maloney blew back into town. Case in point, at the recent "Chicago Iron Bartender" competition, Sepia's Peter Vestinos beat out a packed field including Nacional 27's Adam Seger, Tim Lacey of Spring Restaurant Group, and Otom's James Macknyk......

This week Missed Connections entered a big of a segregation war, with a few groups banding together to try and prove that more MCs happen in their respective neighborhoods than any other. (Let Chicagoist give you all a little tip: if your locale is full of arty, emotional, sexually fueled 20-somethings, more connections are made rather than missed. Trust us.) Either way, Wicker Park residents not only want to prove that they're the hot spot......

We now join another one of our irregular weekend crime & punishment updates, already in progress. Weird shit doesn't only happen on Craigslist: A woman answered a newspaper ad for a roommate and ended up getting robbed and sexually assaulted. It's easy to scare people away from the big bad internet when people meet up for a "Casual Encounter" and it turns out bad. Unfortunately, the traditional classifieds don't seem much safer, now do they?......

For real this time. While it's not exactly direct, he's not passing go and he's not collecting $200: Justice John Paul Stevens denied Ryan's request to remain out on bail while awaiting his appeal. Ryan, 73, is scheduled to go to prison on Wednesday. The Supreme Court could still hear Ryan's appeal, but he'll have to wait behind bars for their decision. Also, they're totally not going to hear his case. But ...Illinois' Most Important......

George Ryan is edging ever closer to the big house after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals denied today yet another request from the Ryan camp. This go-round, Ryan was trying to stay out on bail until the Supreme Court could hear his case, but the 7th said no. That leaves Ryan with just one option left: Ask the Supreme Court to extend his bail. If they decline, Ryan will head to the clink......

It's almost Halloween, and a dentist in Wilmette is out to ruin the festivities for kids with health-conscious parents by telling everyone just how bad candy is for your teeth. Dr. Dino Mantis, DDS, gave some general specifics about types of candy, rating them on a scale of 1 to 10 on how bad they are for your teeth. (He already peddled his rating system to the Trib.) The world's amazing and seemingly limitless supply......

When lasted we checked in, all was not "love they neighbor" on the corner of Winchester and Thomas. Neighbors of the Inner Town Pub were angry about the drunken and sloppy behavior of the bar's patrons and wanted Alderman Manny Flores to do something about it. This week's Chicago Journal has a nice little wrap-up of what's happened since. Bar representatives, upset neighbors and Flores have been meeting on a monthly basis to improve......

Dust those cobwebs off your costumes, folks. It’s the Saturday before a hump-day Halloween, so that means tonight is the night to let it all hang out. That is, if your costume is of that genre. Otherwise, check out these Halloween haunts: The Six Corners Monster Movie Festival in Portage Park features seven classic horror movies both today and tomorrow. Tonight: Nightmare on Elm Street at 8 p.m. Internet gossip columnist Perez Hilton hosts his......

You have to read Metromix's "Reader Review Crew" pieces with a grain of salt. Or maybe a whole container of salt. We remember when the beer garden group visited Happy Village and wrote, "Why go to a bar when you can have a more pleasant experience at your buddy's place—and not have to leave your date sitting alone while you trek inside to buy beers? Now, we love a good dive bar, but dive bars......

We can't help thinking "superbug" makes it sound awesome, like a superhero, superfly, Super Mario, etc. Either way, There are two more cases of drug-resistant staph infections in Naperville. The City Council passed a new ordinance today that governs 4am bars: The bars are now required to have security cameras, better exterior lighting and "adequately trained" security guards/bouncers who attend CAPS meetings. Not a great day to be BP. Metra joins the CTA in......

Last weekend we were at Bridgeport Coffee House restocking on their "Stockyard" blend when we noticed a blend we hadn't seen before, "Ravenswood Roast." We asked owner Mike Pilkington when he started making blends honoring north side neighborhoods. "I'm not" was his answer. He then explained that the "Ravenswood Roast" was part of a new fundraising arm of his wholesale business. The idea began in spring, when a customer came into the shop inquiring about......

Halloween is approaching and for one lucky segment of the population, this means loads and loads of free candy. We speak here of those younger than 14, the lucky group whose costume descriptions don't usually start with "sexy" and whose only goal is to fill up their pumpkins as they trick-or-treat around the neighborhood. The Southtown created a highly-scientific NCAA-style tournament to determine the #1 best candy for this years' South Suburban trick-or-treaters. The testers?......

The smoking ban isn't just for bars anymore (well ... yet): The Chicago Park District wants to ban smoking on beaches and in playgrounds, too. And it looks like the plan will be approved by Wednesday, so run over to the playground and start puffing while you still can. The ban isn't just about keeping second-hand smoke away from the kiddies: It's environmental, too. Apparently you can collect 10,000 cigarette butts an hour cleaning up......

According to a new study done by former grad students at UIC, students who received candy prior to filling out teacher evaluations rated professors higher than those who didn't offer candy. We know...totally shocking, right? Benjamin Jee and Robert Youmans studied 100 students in three UIC psych classes. Students who completed an evaluation sans sweet encouragement gave the professors an average rating of a 3.85 out of 5, while those who received mini Hershey’s bars......

Naming the best bartender in Chicago is like trying to find an identical pair of snowflakes. Everybody has a favorite bartender and ours, a gruff, lovable fellow who told stories of Old Town's grittier days and always had a dram of bourbon at the ready when we walked through the door of our local watering hole, was recently fired from his job for refusing to serve Jaeger bombs to a group of Captain Awesomes who......

There are two big happenings tonight in Chicago. One involves Chicagoist's mild obsession, Top Chef, whose finale will be shot live tonight at an undisclosed location. (We'll be live-blogging it.) The other involves one of our esteemed city's baseball clubs ... you've heard of them, right? But since food and sports are both on the mind right now, we would be remiss in not mentioning the culinary wager made between Daley and Phoenix Mayor Phil......