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. Luckily for us Time Out Chicago's web editor......

Photo by Ankylosaur Send good thoughts Roger Ebert's way tomorrow. He's having surgery again. [S-T] Mary Schmich is so desperate to write something poignant about the woman whose body was found in Lake Michigan she quotes the tagline from Shawkshank Redemption. [Trib] Internet genius Adrian Holovaty and co. have launched Everyblock, a magical local news aggregator for Chicago, New York and San Francisco. [Everyblock] Want to work for the state? Now they have a......

Today we launch One Great Sandwich, a new feature where we cede the floor each week to a different Chicagoist staffer and let him or her wax romantic about a favorite sandwich. In the process we hope that our enthusiasm rubs off on you, the reader, and you decide to go out and try them, discovering more about us, yourself, the restaurants that make these sandwiches and the city we all call home in the......

The November issue of Chicago Magazine is on newstands, and the cover story is, simply put, open for discussion if you're a gourmand. Their list of 124 favorite dishes from restaurants throughout the greater Chicago area includes dishes from restaurants we expected on the list (Alinea's "Pineapple with Bacon Powder", e.g.), entrées we completely agree with (the bone-in filet mignon at David Burke's Primehouse), dishes from restaurants so new that we're surprised they made the......

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. Mulan was known for its Asian-influenced take on......

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. The series was started by Lautman in September of 2004, and it is co-sponsored by Chicago Magazine and 98.7......

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......

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). Nobody escapes this internet version of their cool college friends finding their high school yearbooks, including yours truly. Tom......

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......

Macy's is calling, mailing letters, sending junk mail and handing out coupons to customers who are boycotting them. Chicago Magazine announced their Chicagoans of the Year. Want some old stuff from the Palmer House? It's being auctioned. Speaking of auctions, a family is suing because rare Comiskey Park photos they own are already up for bid without their permission. And again, someone is auctioning off Walt Disney's NW Side home. Someone was shot at......

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. November's Chicago Magazine tackles the age-old question: Who has the best cup of coffee in the Loop? In a not-at-all shocking......

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. For a measly 10 quarters......

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. Until then,......

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. In last month’s Chicago Magazine, we read this interview with Ebert that said,......

Man. You know it's a sign of a rough weekend ahead when our friends at Chicago Magazine's Dish column release its weekly bundle of food-related news goodies and in it contains the news that not one, not two, but three restaurants are closing. Topping the list of closures this week is Pasteur, 5525 N. Broadway, a Vietnamese restaurant long considered one of the best in town. According to Chicago Magazine, the owners intend to reopen......

Ahhhh. The restaurant business. For as glamorous and sexy as some would lead you to believe, owning and operating a restaurant -- be it upscale or quick-service -- is unquestionably one of the toughest professions there is. Even amazing critical reviews can't keep you in business, and you'd think that the sort of acclaim River North's Pili Pili received since it opened two years ago that they'd be safe from closing so soon after. But......

Kind of like the Headbanger's Ball.. but.. uh.. for Chicago's print media. Um, ok. Bad joke. Tonight is the https://www.poetrymagazine.org/printersball_PR.html">1st Annual Printers' Ball celebrating print in Chicago. The event is from 6pm - 9pm at the HotHouse and is free. It will showcase a diverse selection of Chicago-based print magazines, journals, and weeklies. It's sponsored by: Another Chicago Magazine The Bird Machine Bridge Chicago Review Firebelly Design FOUND Magazine The Guild Complex In These Times......

So depending on which paper you favor, Kanye West either cast a long shadow over the rest of the Grammy nominees or was overshadowed. True, West walked away from the night with only three of the ten awards for which he was nominated. But really: why would you want the Best New Artist award anyway? (Hey, Maroon 5! Say hi to Christopher Cross, Hootie and the Starland Vocal Band on the road to oblivion). As......

Our friends at Chicago Magazine brought us news this morning of two restaurant closings when its Dish column revealed that Eli's The Place For Steak is closing in July. A Chicago institution -- if not for their steaks, then most certainly for their cheesecakes -- the Streeterville spot at 215 E. Chicago Ave. where it has called home for the past 39 years is being torn down by Northwestern Memorial Hospital. According to Chicago Mag,......

Every year Chicago Magazine chooses a handful of people who they believe have made our city a better place. This year they've chosen 6 people to honor as Chicagoans of the Year: John H. Bryanis the former chairman of Sara Lee and current board director of General Motors, Goldman Sachs, and BP who helped get the funds to build Millennium Park. He also rescued Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House when it was about to......

Chicagoist read through Thursday's Dish report put out by Chicago Magazine, but didn't see this bit til we reread it today - Down on the bottom near the end of the page you'll see a snippet saying that Margie's Candies is planning to open another shop at 1813 W. Montrose Ave. in January. We're not finding any more info, but can we just say how psyched we're going to be to have Margie's in......

Are you still at work? Dude, leave. Have you seen the weather outside? Today was a good day to bring your hat and gloves, son. No need to Ask Tom Why either. A quick note here as you're heading out for the holiday weekend. Smart Bar wil be hosting a CD release party for The New House Sound of Chicago. The 18-track comp is a recent history of the various masters of the new house......