We broke the story of the first "Diner en Blanc" in Chicago, and we followed the controversy over the rights to the name - frankly, we were worried whether something would stop the inaugural event. Nothing did, and the white pop-up dinner came off without a hitch last Saturday evening. The secret location? Daley plaza. With the spectacular backdrop of the famous Picasso, diners assembled, dined, twirled napkins and generally had a wonderful, stylish time. If you didn't get to go, take a look at some of the photos - and don't worry. Organizers are already planning next year's event. Follow on Facebook for more information. more ›

At the Daley Plaza Farmer's market, an event is taking place today that will make any Iron Chef fan happy. Three great Chicago chefs, Chris Pandel (The Bristol), Luca Corazzina (312 Chicago) and Iliana Regan (One Sister) will be competing to become the "Master of the Market." Starting at 11:30, they will have one hour to shop and prepare a dish, made entirely out of ingredients from the market. The event is sponsored by Country Financial and the City of Chicago. more ›

Today, a sample of some of the vendors at this year's Taste of Chicago will be setting up in Daley Plaza. A selection of the new vendors, including Texas de Brazil, Lao Sze Chuan, Beggars Pizza and Chicago Sweet Connection Bakery, will be on hand, according to the Sun-Times, which recommends Lao Sze Chuan's Dry Chili Chicken (we'd have to agree). Though, if it actually gets to 98 degrees, going outside to hunt down inferno-chicken might not be quite as popular. more ›

Calling all locavores, market shoppers, friends of farmers and lovers of fine food! Green City Market, the city's premier organic farmer's market, opens for the season on Wednesday. We've enjoyed Green City's fall and winter offerings at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, but there's nothing like getting into the park again. We'll be attending the opening day and taking pictures, so if you can't get down there, you can be worked up for the Saturday market. From here on out, Green City is every Wednesday and Saturday from 7 AM to 1PM. Green City isn't the only market that's about to start up - a schedule of May openings is after the jump. more ›

Earth Day is Friday, April 22nd and this year the Earth Day Network is striving to generate a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy before Rio+20, a United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. To contribute, attend a local event: more ›

In the wake of yesterday's decision by a U.S. District judge to overturn California's controversial Proposition 8 banning gay marriage, yesterday's rally at Daley Plaza took on something of a celebratory air. Heavy rains earlier in the afternoon kept some away but a spirited crowd estimated at over 100 people - including our own Joe Erbentraut - made it out. After the rally, the crowd marched down to Grant Park at Michigan and Van Buren. Joe reports: "The mood was, besides tired from the work day, very excited, but with a "What's next?" message. Folks obviously want to see the decision upheld through the inevitable appeal process, and also were left asking: Why don't we have marriage, or even civil unions, here in Illinois? We all recognize a lot of work has yet to be done, but for now, we celebrated." more ›

We've been lazy - the bad weather and lack of sleep kept us from the opening day of the farmers markets we frequent. But we managed to drag ourselves out of bed for yesterday's Daley Plaza market, and it was definitely worth the struggle. The fountain in Daley Plaza looks like something out of Dante's Inferno, unlike last week, and we were a bit scared of it, but it wasn't enough to keep us away. We met up with some old friends, saw some new faces and bought plenty of great local fare. more ›

Speaking of anniversaries, last week marked our sixth anniversary blogging all there is to write to about this amazing city we call "home" (no matter where we originated from). We celebrated quietly in the Chicagoist office (if you call four kegs and a petting zoo "quiet") but plan on bringing the anniversary fun to you soon (so keep your eyes peeled). Thanks for making us part of your routine for the last six years and we look forward to tons more fun in the future. more ›

It was a busy weekend while you were hopefully outside enjoying the fresh air. Here's what you might have missed. more ›

The Blackhawks are just minutes away from opening their Western Conference Final series against the San Jose Sharks. But someone's face is red right now after an oops at Daley Plaza left a tribute to the team just a bit off-color. The fountain was supposed to be dyed red but wound up hot pink instead. After a few attempts to get the water the right hue, the city just gave up Friday evening and promised to give it another go tomorrow or Tuesday. On the bright side, some visitors to the plaza said they thought it was pink for another worthy reason: breast cancer awareness. [CBS 2] more ›

We never intend to be all gloom and doom but when we have to be, we try to provide a little tonic for the soul to bring things back into balance. Take for example, a video of a frolicking baby otter to save you from being a complete pessimist after reading yesterday's Extra Extra (see last bullet). And, here's something else: just when it seemed like a lot of things that make Chicago the unique place it is were ending up on the cutting room floor - like the Outdoor Film Festival in Grant Park, Chicago Jazz Fest, and Looptopia - we're happy to hear the CTA Holiday Train is alive and well. more ›

Normally when you think of the phrase "trimming the tree," the image that comes to mind is decorating it with lights and ornaments. But this year, Chicago is also trimming the physical size of the Christmas tree that goes up in Daley Plaza each November. more ›

Every year, we look forward to the Christkindlmarket. This is because, despite all appearances to the contrary, pops is part German - hence the last name. The same last name that caused my blond haired college roommate's startled look when we met for the first time, clearly not expected the Korean looking girl in front of her. But,...we digress. more ›

So the day is almost upon us. In fact, a long day of Olympic activities will kick off not only in Copenhagen, but also Chicago not long after midnight Chicago time. That's when - at around 1:45 a.m. our time - all four cities will have a chance to present their case to the IOC one last time. Every major network in town will carry it live both on television and stream it on their website. The IOC will also stream all the fun via their website. For the three of you still awake and on this site at that hour, I'll be covering it as well right here. Once that's all wrapped up, the voting begins. So how will the voting go down? The Tribune's James Janega is all over that question and breaks it down for us. more ›

As promised, we got up very very early to hit the Daley Plaza Farmer's Market as soon as it opened on Thursday morning. In future entries, we'll be visiting a varieties of farmer's markets around the city, but for the first day of the season, we returned to our old standby. more ›

If you've noticed an abundance of men and women in uniform around town, it's because it is the first ever Marine Week here in Chicago. It kicked off Monday morning and continues through Sunday night. The Marines will be showcasing their talents around town all week. You can see the full list of events here, but here is a list of events that are free and open to the public. more ›

It turns out that lovely Christmas tree that adorns Daley Plaza comes at quite a price. CBS2 calculated that the city spends over $300,000 to buy the tree and to pay the workers to create the frame and assemble the tree. The tree is actually made up of 113 small trees combined, unlike the single (privately-funded) tree that adorns Rockefeller Center in New York City, and it took workers six weeks to hoist the trees into position. more ›

Now that the holiday season has descended, and since we had an hour to kill downtown, we thought we'd wander around the State Street corridor and document some of the insanity. Even in a shit economy, thousands were in the heart of the Loop for bargain hunting and tree-gazing. Stores like Macy's (Yes, Fields Fans, we've ventured inside) and Sears were packed with throngs of shoppers, and Daley Plaza was nearly impenetrable with curious residents, suburbanites and tourists looking to complete their stein collection or overdose on sugar-coated nuts. We didn't have the balls or the patience to venture north into the lion's den of North Michigan Avenue; any reports from survivors would be appreciated. more ›

One of our annual traditions the day after Thanksgiving is to try and burn off some calories by walking around the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza, then hanging around for the lighting of the Christmas Tree (trivia: it's actually about 130 smaller trees lashed together). So we were a bit surprised when we heard that the lighting ceremony has been moved this year to Tuesday, December 2 at noon. Whaaa? How can you have an event featuring a bazillion lights and fireworks (and boy won't those wake up the downtown cubicle dwellers) in the middle of a weekday? Is anyone even going to be able to tell when the Mayor flips the switch? more ›

Yesterday we were walking around Daley Plaza, looking to get a little photo-artistic during our lunch break, when we came across this guy exercising his First Amendment right the old-fashioned, analog way. His name is Paul, and his Website, advertised on his placard, attempts to expose "the lies, manipulation and counterfeiting on Wall Street." Let's hope he's got enough bandwidth! ROMS features, among other things, links to bailout coverage, YouTubes of news interviews, and other stuff related to naked short selling and other financial things we don't understand (because we don't have any investments...or own any money, come to think of it). more ›

This is one of the more ridiculous things to come out of the mouth of a ridiculous governor (which is saying something): at the Cubs rally yesterday in Daley Plaza, Gov. Blagojevich said:

When you're the executive, you've gotta make decisions and you've got to go through the ups and the downs...Sometimes when I'm arguing with the Legislature, I feel like Lou Piniella arguing with the umpires. Some of the times I have to make decisions as governor, I ask myself, 'What would Lou do?' Then I make some decision.

Cubs officials, dignitaries, celebs, Blago and Daley, and, of course, Cubs Nation came out for a post-season rally in Daley Plaza over lunch today. more ›

When we headed off to Daley Plaza this morning, we didn’t expect to find much that we hadn’t seen the week before. But the market always manages to surprise us and this morning was no exception! Some new items had come into season, and we found some new varietals to try out in the coming week. more ›

Lots of festivals, tastings and food-related events this week, people. more ›

It was a bountiful morning at the farmer’s market! Spring and summer produce has begun to come out in full force – and there were some surprising things to be found. Fresh flowers were one of the stars this morning, with peonies and irises everywhere. Asparagus is still available, but has been replaced in the leading role by Strawberries, which are so plentiful they are overflowing off of the tables and stands. Nichols Farm stole the show with fresh Onions (red and white), green Garlic, all the greens you could ask for, Broccoli, baby Turnips and the first of the Sugar Snap peas of the year. more ›

Head to Daley Plaza this morning at 10:30 a.m. for a quick early voting rally for Mark Pera. Pera, the assistant Cook County State's Attorney who is running against Dan Lipinski for the 3rd Congressional District seat, is the first serious candidate to challenge Lipinski since he went to congress in 2004. Pera's campaign has attracted a lot of attention, both online and in the district. Online support has helped helped fund his campaign, but anger in the district at how the elder Lipinski handed his seat to his son has fueled the viability of his candidacy. Still, he's running against the full force and weight of Chicago's entrenched Democratic Machine. more ›

The sidewalks are covered in ice and the temps are sneaking down to the single digits. That's perfect weather for toting a toddler around, right? Here are three (free!) reasons to spend that extra hour bundling your kid up this weekend. Christkindlmarket is a candy-cane striped Bavarian winter village deposited into Daley Plaza. Come to gawk at the expensive, often hand-made gifts, and snack on traditional German fare. The children's lantern parade is today at... more ›

There has been a (baby) rash of Nativity crime in Chicagoland over the past few years, and this year’s organizers of the Nativity scene (known as the “God Squad”) in Daley Plaza have taken steps to help curb the thefts--the baby Jesus is chained down like a toddler on a leash. The God Squad has faith he’s not going anywhere this year. A Tribune expose has revealed the Baby Jesus has been stolen numerous times... more ›

October in Chicago makes us feel like kids again. This month, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events and the Park District have filled the calendar with Halloween-themed activities perfect for the toddler set and their kid-at-heart parents. Here are our favorites in the lead up to the big holiday. The park district (along with Walgreens) is sponsoring events to get you in the spirit at over forty different neighborhood parks from Bessemer to Oz throughout... more ›

Chicago won't be waiting until the Cubs win the World Series to celebrate. Given the Cubs' postseason track record over the past 99 seasons, that's probably a smart idea. A rally to celebrate the Cubs making the playoffs will be held at noon on Monday in Daley Plaza. While Cubs fans celebrate downtown, the Cubs themselves will head to Arizona. While baseball's regular season concluded on Sunday, the wild card won't be determined until a... more ›