Results tagged “chicagomagazine”

Chicago Magazine's Bryan Smith offers up "Trashed," a compelling look at the case of Michael York. York's body was found in a West Side alley after a weekend of partying that left him dead, apparently from a drug overdose, the body dumped there by York's friends. Smith examines what led up to York's death and what followed.

From the "calm the fuck down" department: Jeff Ruby's list of his 30 favorite burgers turned the echo chamber at LTHForum up to 11, much of it centered on why Patty's Diner (3538 Main St., Skokie, 847-675-4274) didn't make Ruby's cut. Some samples (emphasis ours):

Who would've thunk that burgers would be one of the year's big food fads, although we should have seen it coming with "the Cheeseburger Show?" (No offense, Pang).

Riding to work Wednesday morning this Chicagoist staffer and avid cyclist was doored ever-so-slightly by a trucker. While tending to the minor scrapes incurred from the sudden braking and subsequent tumble, the trucker proceeded to yell at us about how we shouldn't be on the street. Until we grabbed the bike lock and took a couple of swings at him. An accident happening while cycling (for us) is rare and we ride on the streets all the time. Still, it's is a hell of a lot safer than being on the lakeshore path, which often takes on a chaotic anarchy with all the joggers, cyclists, rollerbladers, beachgoers and tourists afoot.

• Hot on the heels of L2O's Beard nomination, Laurent Gras offers recommendations for cookware, appliances, spices and other kitchen essentials for the home cook over. The $279 brick toaster oven with convection from Cuisinart pictured above is among those listed. Also oin the list, a Pasquini Livia 90 semi-auto espresso machine ($1975 at Amazon.com). [men.style.com]
• Sun-Times food editor Janet Rausa Fuller also has some gadget recommendations, but at a more reasonable price range. [Sun-Times]
• Last week it was Pat Bruno, this week Helen Rosner casts a critical glare at Steve Dolinsky. [WBEZ, MP Chicago]

Ah, to have the budget of a magazine to play with. Scott Smith at Time Out Chicago gets to play with dolls action figures. Now Chicago Magazine's Jeff Ruby and John Kenzie have created "The Adventures of Steak Man," the "corn-fed crusader" who bears a striking resemblance to a middle-aged Burt Ward.

Despite Chicago Magazine's awarding of "Best Pub Trivia" to the Globe Pub a few months ago, we courteously beg to differ. Does the Globe have a drag queen falsetto-voiced nun holding "class" on a weekly basis? We doubt it. But Crew Bar and Grill sure does. We're also pretty sure that the Globe isn't so hardcore that they would create their own nuns-on-the-run video for it.

Chicago Mag food critic Jeff Ruby sent us an e-mail linking to a song and video he made summing up the life of a lonely food critic, with a scene-stealing role by his kid, rocking a Clash t-shirt.

Chicago Magazine's February issue has a list of 171 Chicago-based websites they think are worth checking out. Naturally we're in there ... twice! Once under "News Reporting" and then again as Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis' personal picks. The thing is until today, the only place this list lived was in the magazine, even through Chicago Magazine's website has been telling us "story coming soon" for weeks now.

Send good thoughts Roger Ebert's way tomorrow. He's having surgery again. [S-T]

El Cubanito, a Cuban sandwich shop on North Pulaski, has only been open for six months, but owners Alberto and Laritza Ramos have been getting "Judy at Carnegie Hall"-level raves from the usual suspects for their Cuban sandwich. The combination of the "LTH effect" and Logan Square Cubans longing for a taste of something they can call their own have reached such a fever pitch that Alberto Ramos told Chicago Magazine's "Dish" newsletter that he sells 400 Cuban sandwiches a day. We visited El Cubanito just before lunchtime Saturday and asked Alberto Ramos about that claim. He only backtracked slightly, telling Chicagoist that while he's not certain of the exact number, "it's a lot."

The November issue of Chicago Magazine is on newstands, and the cover story is, simply put, open for discussion if you're a gourmand.

It's Wednesday, which means around this time we wait with bated breath for Chicago Magazine's Dish e-newsletter to find our inbox. And, in what's shaping up to be a week of notable restaurant closures, we can add Chinatown's Mulan to the list. It comes to us as a shock, but not a surprise. Kee Chan (Heat Sushi) hasn't been involved in the day-to-day operations here for months.

It's making the rounds, so we feel sort of obligated to link it up, but bleh. Someone really did hang a skinned goat on the Harry Caray statue, though their curse-cursing didn't do anything. And the cops had to cut it down. Still trying to figure out what to do tonight? Local artist Brian Morris's solo show of drawings and customized toys has its opening party at Rotofugi tonight. If you like skulls and...

Here’s what we missed while we were watching loud, fast planes and asthmatic midgets: Bailiwick Rep is working to expand their audience with Hogwash, a family friendly improv show, playing Saturday afternoons through November 17, and a special “Naked Night” performance of Barenaked Lads September 7 where performers and audience alike will bare it all. And it’s for a good cause. (link is NSFW, more or less) As foundation work commences for the Chicago Spire,...

Having attended the Printers Ball in the past, we knew that the free-to-all-comers event would attract more than its fair share of people. We also hoped that having Bridgeport's Zhou B Center host this year's model would allow for more accommodation of guests. We had intended to show up as the Zhou B Center is practically in our backyard, but decided to first pay our respects to the recently departed. Unfortunately, as we were making...

We can't believe we never heard about this before, but it took us years to hear about this, so we definitely miss things. There is a free monthly interview series called Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman. It's a live interview hosted by Victoria Lautman at the Lookingglass Theatre and takes place Sundays at noon.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys settled on a jury in the Conrad Black trial on Friday, and the real fun begins today with opening statements. Despite the Tribune's best efforts, Judge Amy St. Eve won't release the names of the 12 jurors and eight alternates, a move usually reserved for trials involving organized crime or terrorism. She is expected to let two of the alternates go today after making sure none of the other jurors suddenly developed an allergy to ridiculously rich media barons over the weekend.

Tom Sherman from fledgling Chicago tech site WindyBits filled up Mr. Fusion yesterday and traveled back in time to review nascent versions of your favorite Chicago websites. We're particularly taken with the proto-version of the Tribune (someone got a Flash book for their birthday), and the absolutely hideous, 1998 incarnation of the Sun-Times (image maps rule).

Chicagoist was one of a few local blogs to be featured in a recent Chicago Magazine piece. Proclaimed to be arbiters of information, we, along with Gaper's, Metroblogging Chicago, Beachwood Reporter and CTA Tattler, were quizzed on our journalistic bona fides and asked about what makes each of us unique. Obviously, blogs go beyond the idea of traditional journalism, which is why they're attractive to readers. Whether they're discussing topics that don't get as much...

Remember to crack a window. You don't want to die from inhaling Liquid Plumr fumes, like this guy. The Bulls are teaming up with WFP to feed hungry schoolchildren in Darfur, Sudan, with a $100,000 donation. Chicago Symphony Orchestra donated $60k worth of musical instruments to Chicago Public Schools. Jewel is closing Starbucks' in-store cafes and Dominick’s is adding them. Rivalfish shows how terribly white they are by trying to put together a remix...

"Silver Belles" via e.q.

With a Starbucks on every corner –- and 40,000 stores planned for the upcoming years -- it can seem like the coffee giant is the only place to get coffee. Those in the know, however, know that Chicago is home to a bevy of coffee houses, in the Loop and all around the city.

Domestic beer specials don’t typically blow our kilts up, but we were pleasantly surprised by the craft beer selection offered at Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro (3905 N. Lincoln Ave.), which happens to serve all of its American-made beers for $2.50 on Thursday evenings. Sure the name is a little long and confusing (what the hell is an Irish Bistro anyway), but the place has a banging beer list.

Hey, Andersonville residents!! Are you in the throes of sticky bun withdrawal from seeing your neighborhood Ann Sather close up shop? It's probably old news by now to some (we learned about it from Chicago Magazine's "Dish" e-newsletter), but Debbie Tunney, the longtime owner, recently retired. Her farewell message can be read at her catering website; a call to the Andersonville location says that the store will re-open soon under new management.

If it’s the beginning of June, it’s time for the annual Chicago Blues Festival. Now in its 23rd year, the blues fest seems to be on its way to becoming an actual celebration of the city’s blues heritage, and not just a cheap and fast way to make money off of tourists. Each year, the city presents local and national blues acts that are hit or miss. Some deliver the type of transcendent performances you’d...

Chicagoist picks up the Reader every week out of habit, more than anything. It's not that we don't have our gripes with the paper; we do. We also have more important things happening than to indulge in infrequent sophomoric commentary about Michael Miner, Liz Armstrong, and the music section - although Monica Kendrick always gets love from us for being a Motörhead fan. That said, if you consider yourself a gourmand, pick up this week's...

Yesterday, the hipster kids' favorite spot for comfort food, Hilary's Urban Eatery, shut the doors at its Division Street location with plans to reopen at an as-of-yet unofficial location in the Wicker Park neighborhood—though Chicago Magazine is reporting that fans should look for it sometime in the fall three blocks west between Ashland and Western Avenues. Moves such as Hilary's aren't uncommon, especially when you consider how popular it has become. Interestingly enough, our friends...

This morning as we were about to head out the door, the WGN Morning News crew* was showing another “found on the Web”video. The clip was of famed Chicago movie critics Roger Ebert the late Gene Siskel as they were taping promos for their show. It cracked us up so much that we went looking for it ourselves and found it here.

Man.