Our friends at Gapers Block will present a screening of Kristian Day's documentary "Capone's Whiskey: The Story of Templeton Rye" 8 p.m. tonight at Mayne Stage. more ›

Our friends over at Gapers Block have put together a nice lineup of contestants for their inaugural BBQ Bowl at Club Lucky Feb. 4. Chuck will be one of the judges for this competition. more ›

Foodies all over town have been recapping their favorite eats of 2011. Here are the highlights - and some of our favorites, too. more ›

2nd Annual Sweet Tooth- Charity Bake Sale Carnival, Chicago Urban Art Society, 2229 South Halsted Street, June 17, 6 p.m., $25 at the door more ›

It's only taken three years, but we're ready to defend out alt-media slam title. more ›

We've been proud to see small, neighborhood-based farmers markets spreading rapidly throughout the city over the past several years. But this is Chicago, and eventually a market would run into the harsh reality of city politics. We've discussed the bureaucratic obstacles to creative foodspaces before, but Gaper's Block reports a new twist - Logan Square Alderman Rey Colon is trying to pull the permit for the Logan Square Farmer's Market. Allegedly, Colon is angry about political campaigning (for his opponent in the last election) at the market, by an employee of the managing organization, the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce. reports a new twist - Logan Square Alderman Rey Colon is trying to pull the permit for the Logan Square Farmers Market. Allegedly, Colon is angry about political campaigning (for his opponent in the last election) at the market, by an employee of the managing organization, the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce. reports a new twist - Logan Square Alderman Rey Colon is trying to pull the permit for the Logan Square Farmer's Market. Allegedly, Colon is angry about political campaigning (for his opponent) at the market, done by an employee of the managing organization, the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce. more ›

As the sit-in at Whittier Elementary School in Pilsen continues, Gapers Block's Cinnamon Cooper got the chance to sit down with some of the children involved in the protest, students of Whittier directly affected by the plans and the protest. It's a different angle in the ongoing, developing story that hasn't been addressed until now. Check it out here. more ›

It's an ingenious idea for a reading series: get 20 people together, ask them a question, but only give them two minutes to respond. You're going to get some interesting answers. And what brave souls would dare to take the stage at Martyr's and sweat under the lights while trying to answer the question "Who knew?" in such limited time? more ›

• (Retiring) Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has given federal prosecutors a week to respond to the Team Blago request to delay the start of the former governor's trial (which also includes his brother Rob).
• Update to the shooting death of Chicago Police officer Thomas Wortham IV: it might have all been over a dare.
• While it looks like Thomson Correctional Center is still being sold to the feds, it's looking less likely that Guantanamo prisoners will wind up there.

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 ›

We've long been fans of the Rock Island-based Daytrotter, bringing us some great musical performances each week. Today, our pals at Gapers Block take a closer look at the folks behind Daytrotter and how they pull it all together. And Robert Loerzel has a great piece on Daytrotter's barn shows in this week's Chicago Reader. more ›

Gapers Block has recently an excellent series of features funded by a grant from the Community News Matters fund. The latest is a story on sex trafficking in the city, along with accounts of girls who have been entered in to prostitution at ages as young as 14. It's a heavy read, but a compelling one. more ›

Our pals over at Gapers Block have a birthday coming up, so that must mean it's time for them to throw a party! They've put a little celebration together at Metro on September 4 including musical entertainment from Nikki Lynette, The Hood Internet (who, we are proud to point out, made their live debut at one of the legendary Chicagoist CTRL-ALT-ROCK parties), Blane Fonda, and Panda Riot. That is literally a line-up with a little something for everyone. more ›

Our pals over at Gapers Block uncovered a site called Wooxie (and also win for "best headline"), a locally-based Twitter competitor that takes the concept a few characters longer. It looks...exactly like Twitter. While we're all for local businesses making good, we're guessing the striking similarities between the two interfaces could eventually lead to a cease & desist order. more ›

• Sen. Burris' explanation for that phone call with Rob Blagojevich? It was all a ruse.
• President Obama has nominated retired Chicago investment banker Louis Susman to be ambassador to Britain.
• As if the City Council didn't have enough to worry about today, aldermen are now complaining about fees to Noelle Brennan, the federal hiring monitor who has come down hard on City Hall's hiring abuses.

Did you enjoy our pics from this weekend's Frank Lloyd Wright tour? Well, now there may be a LEGO set just for you. Our pals at Gapers Block point out that LEGO plans on soon releasing a new line of sets featuring famous architectural wonders, such as the Sears Tower (right). GB also directs us to PrairieMod, who has a preview of a pair of Frank Lloyd Wright sets soon to be released. According to a press release posted on PrairieMod: more ›

While some of us at Chicagoist are more exhibitionist than a Kim Kardashian sex tape, we can all get behind the new public service campaign from non-profit social venture Open Books. more ›

• Mercat a la Planxa's Jose Garces flays Bobby Flay on Iron Chef [Philly City Paper]
• Applebee's "owns riblets." Wonderful; another reason not to go. [NYT]
• Joanna MIller delves into a vegetarian nicoise salad. [My Vegetable Blog]

We don't usually toot our own horn, but sometimes the opportunity is just too good to pass up. Last weekend we participated in Schadenfreude's 2nd Annual Alt-Media Slam contest along with Gapers Block, Time Out Chicago, and the Red Eye. The event had a wide-open feel as last year's champs, The Chicago Reader (and their trophy), failed to make an appearance. Tempers flared, slams were thrown, and only one team was left standing as champions: Us (holla!). We took home a nice fake plasma TV and a shiny red bow for our efforts. We'd go into a blow-by-blow account, but our friends over at Schadenfreude have been kind enough to provide a video of the event. For those of you already looking forward to next year's contest (cough-Scott Smith-cough), take note: after taking the upcoming holiday weekend off to celebrate, the Chicagoist team will reconvene next week to begin plotting our title defense. more ›

Tomorrow night at the Hideout, Chicagoist will be going up against Time Out Chicago, Gapers Block, and the Red Eye in Schadenfreude's second annual Alternative Media Slam. We're not sure how a Tribune company paper counts as "alternative," but last year's winner (cough bullshit cough) the Reader wouldn't participate this year. We'll be trading yo-mama–style rap-battle insults with the other esteemed publications...and the Red Eye. Hey-o! We're practicing already. more ›

Lauri Apple of Gapers Block asked me a while ago if I'd be interested in representing Chicagoist in a DJ battle against her / Gapers Block at The Burlington tonight. Naturally I accepted the challenge without a second thought. more ›

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. more ›

Behold, Outside the Loop Radio's year in review special, featuring yours truly, Steve Rhodes of The Beachwood Reporter and Dave Schalliol of Gapers Block. more ›

Watch us on WTTW's Chicago Tonight tonight at 7, or rebroadcast at 1:30 and 4:30 a.m. for you night owls. We'll be alongside esteemed colleagues Andrew from Gapers Block and Kevin from CTA Tattler. (Think of it as a reunion, except with me instead of Rachelle.) The blogger segment should go on around 7:30, and if at some point Phil Ponce notes that "blog" is short for "web log," everybody drink!... more ›

Clear your afternoon: Gapers Block's own Naz Hamid is facing off against Chris Glass in another round of Layer Tennis from our pals over at Coudal. Whew! That was a lot of internet in one sentence. The match starts at 2pm. Go Naz! Qué es Layer Tennis? It's immediate, competitive--but classy--design! Like the inside of Wes Anderson's brain, only less affected and without possible subtle racism. The artists swap a file back and forth; each... more ›

"One Mint Julep" seems to be a fitting theme for this week, in both photo and song (Last.fm doesn't lie). Let's move on, shall we? Today is "Charlie Trotter Day" in Chicago, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the opening of his eponymous restaurant. The Sun-Times had a couple of nice pieces this week in conjunction. We linked to Janet Fuller's story of Trotter's first two employees, who are still with him today, in... more ›

No repartee this week, all business. - We've received e-mails from concerned people and had to check it out for ourselves, and it looks as though Cereality at 110 South Wacker has closed down, only a couple years after Chicagoist (among other media) made a big fuss about its opening. There's even a "For Rent" sign in its front window. This kind of reaffirms our faith in the human race; if people won't pay $4.50... more ›

Schadenfreude put media professionals and bloggers on stage at their near-monthly Rent Party Friday night for an Alternative Media Slam/ Free For All / Put Down Insult Tournament. The Schad organized this inaugural competition out of respect for our work and because they wanted to see four local institutions sling muck at each other. And sling we did. Before we get into who called who what and who’s momma was being disrespected, let's be... more ›

Some of us are still recovering from last week's Four Questions, but our readers have an insatiable thirst for answers. One recently posed an interesting question to us concerning Chicago's Olympic bid and the city's flag. As all Chicagoans no doubt know, the city's flag includes three white bars, two blue bars and four six-sided stars. The three white bars signify the North, West and South sides of the city, while the blue bars... more ›

We are growing here at Chicagoist, recently adding some new faces to the group so that we can provide you with plenty of mind candy. That's why we are sad to report that one of our satellite offices is closing down. The Chicago Journal, via Gapers Block, reports that Filter, in Wicker Park, is closing. Swank Frank, our favorite place to get a fried twinkie at 2 a.m. will also be closing. Bank of America,... more ›