On Monday night, we were fortunate to attend the Great Neighborhood Restaurant awards, hosted by LTH Forum at Sun Wah BBQ. We love the GNR awards, because they are an expression of a genuine love for food and drink - mostly divorced from celebrity, media and hype. It's a chance for unsung independent spots to get their due, and the event was a great chance for nominators and forum members to meet some of the restaurant owners who serve them so much tasty food. Even better, this year there is no need to carry around a pocket guide - there's an app for that. more ›

The bar team at the Southern has been tinkering behind the scenes with a brand new cocktail menu for spring brimming with fresh ingredients and cooling flavors. And now they want to test it out on you. On Tuesday, April 12, from 6 to 9 p.m., the Southern will preview all the new cocktails for 5 bucks apiece. more ›

If you can write a convincing argument for the Foo Fighters playing a show at your garage in 25 words or less, you and 50 pals might have a chance at hosting the Chicago stop of their "garage tour" on April 19. The word count makes it so anyone who enters practically has to communicate their argument in grunts and emoticons, but we're hoping fans can pull off some creative Foo haikus given the constraints. more ›

The iPhone and Urban Spoon aren't your only option for finding dining near you on a mobile phone. Poynt is a free mobile application for your Blackberry that we've found very helpful in locating restaurants, mapping their locations and reading reviews. Here's how it works. more ›

If you're like us, sometimes you want to grab a bite to eat and may not know exactly what's nearby, especially in an unknown part of the city. Mobile phone applications are a great way to help you not only find out what's nearby but also direct you right to its front door. more ›

Oh, Verizon. Aside from providing me with a last-second Halloween costume idea every year, you've always been benign. Well, until this big no-no. It seems some nosy employees at Verizon accessed Barack Obama's cell phone records, though no voicemails or emails were accessed. Verizon Wireless President and CEO Lowell McAdam issued an apology statement, saying:

We apologize to President-Elect Obama and will work to keep the trust our customers place in us every day...a number of Verizon Wireless employees have, without authorization, accessed and viewed President-elect Barack Obama's personal cell phone account...All employees who have accessed the account — whether authorized or not — have been put on immediate leave, with pay. Employees with legitimate business needs for access will be returned to their positions, while employees who have accessed the account improperly and without legitimate business justification will face appropriate disciplinary action.

So's everyone else's, sucka. Research in Motion, the company that makes the way of life device, says a "component of the Americas network infrastructure" is broken, and they don't know when it'll be fixed. It's affecting all wireless carriers, so as much as we all love to curse a our various providers, this problem originates with RIM. more ›