Comedian Patton Oswalt is a noted foodie, and has been known to talk about everything from KFC to Chicago's better restaurants at length. But we didn't know that one restaurant was a fan of him until we stumbled across an interview a few weeks ago from the WTF With Marc Maron podcast, discussing a dish featuring an unusual topping that is usually only made by hand. more ›

We'll never understand why The Muppet Christmas Carol doesn't get more love. The music is alternately joyous (above) and tear-inducing, like "Bless Us All," which seriously still gets us.... more ›

There are tons and tons of Christmas movies out there, many of which are classics and many more of which are "classics." These are some of our favorite but often overlooked holiday-themed uh, treasures: The 1986 Drew Barrymore/Keanu Reeves/ Pat Morita/Richard Mulligan Babes In Toyland is almost unbelievable in its surpassing lunacy. Between the "Cincinnati" song and the evil villain who lives in a bowling ball, this movie simply screams "Christmas." Oh, there's plenty more... more ›

Carole Jo Utech, Chicago Festival Association more ›

In a story that seems like the most dark and twisted Seinfeld episode ever, a Palos Heights family is trying to figure out what to do after someone stole their 4-year-old son's walker, pediatric stroller, and a backpack with a turkey sandwich from his driveway. Stephen Sichak and his mother were waiting for the schoolbus last week, when they left the stuff at the end of the driveway and went inside to escape from the cold. When the bus came shortly thereafter, the things were gone. Stephen's mother Erin thought the bus driver had already put them on the bus, but it turns out that they were stolen. more ›

Nominees for the 2005 Joseph Jefferson Awards for Equity Theaters, or Jeff Equities for short, have been announced. The nominees are selected from a pool of shows that impressed members of the Jeff Nominating Committee (a.k.a. “Jeff Recommended” productions). You can peruse the full list here. The Jeff Committee loves the big splashy musicals. Beauty and the Beast, a classic fairy tale, and Sweeney Todd, a classic cannibal tale, received 7 and 6 nominations, respectively,... more ›

Note: This is Part 2 of an occasional series. Part 1 can be found here. Theater companies have been working overtime lately, killing a forest to print their brochures and flooding inboxes with exciting emails—You Just Can’t Miss This Season!, We’ve Got Stuff You Can’t See Anywhere Else!, and Its’ Our Anniversary! Are You Going To Stand Me Up On Our Anniversary?!?! It’s a lot of clutter and noise, but it’s far more interesting than... more ›

‘Tis the season for all sizes and flavors of “Christmas Carol” offerings, plus variations on its time-honored (some might say “tired”) theme. Our favorite standby is ye olde Muppets version, costarring a surprisingly tuneful Michael Caine, but our job here is to send you out into the world, not to your sofa zones. Luckily, Chicagoland has plenty of theatrical Scrooges to please everyone, everywhere, over the holidays: For the Purists: “A Christmas Carol” The... more ›

Last time Chicagoist was strapped for cash we looked around us and tried to figure out what we could sell for cash.. and that's just what the city is doing. Facing a great big arts and culture budget deficit, Chicago is turning to eBay to auction off city-related events and emmorabilia. more ›