We were initially trying to believe Drew Peterson could somehow be innocent of any wrongdoing in his wife's disappearance, yet it's becoming increasingly difficult to think anything good about the Bolingbrook policeman. At best, he's a chronic philanderer, a domestic abuser, and a bad cop. At worst... the man's been married four times, and wife #3, Kathleen Savio, turned up dead, wife #4, Stacy Peterson, is missing, and wife #2, Vicki Connolly, has finally spoken......

For this week's exploration of the (hopefully not dirty or seedy) underbelly of Chicago's restaurant scene we thought we would look into a few of the establishments that LTHForum recently named as 2007's great neighborhood restaurants. Sun Wah Restaurant on Argyle always looks so tempting, what with the whole cooked ducks hanging in its windows and the pungent aroma of something tasty being whipped up in the kitchen wafting out the restaurant's doors. And,......

With all the tomatoes coming out of our backyard, the only thing we've done to preserve them was cook them down into a sauce, then freeze what we're not immediately using. We made some homemade grilled pizza last week and bought sun-dried tomatoes for use as a topping. After we finished we sat back and found that insanely ironic; given the yields of tomatoes that we've been getting from the garden there was no reason......

A federal judged refused today to grant Planned Parenthood's injunction against Aurora, which means the clinic won't be open any time soon. Take it away, Zorn! The staff at the Reader put together a list of their favorite things, which does not include wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings, but does include dance parties. This just in: Hockey is super dangerous. Two Blackhawks were injured in last night's preseason game:......

This one is an easy one to celebrate. Step away from your computer, grab some grub, and head into the sunny outdoors, because today is National Eat Outside Day — a holiday we're pretty sure everyone can take part in. This holiday couldn't come at better time because today looks to be gorgeous, as does the rest of the Labor Day weekend. With the temperatures being warm but not unreasonably so, this weekend is......

Take a walk down 18th Street in Pilsen and you won’t go far without passing a carnitas shop, pizza joint, hot dog stand or Mexican grill. It’s a varied mix of cheap (read: affordable) and cheap (read: not very good). For tablecloth dining options in the neighborhood, diners are often limited to May Street Café or Picante Grill, two places both given the Chicagoist review treatment. The former closes down when convenient (e.g the previous......

If we are weighing "want to know" vs. "don't want to know" when it comes to where and how McDonald's food is prepared, Chicagoist definitely falls on the "don't want to know" side. Ignorance is bliss, people, ignorance is bliss. Yet McDonald's doesn't think most people are like us. The Oak Brook-based fast food behemoth will introduce six blogs next week from a team of "Moms' Quality Correspondents," six corresponding mothers who will get behind-the-scenes......

Seriously, guys, Burton Natarus is not on Chicago's City Council anymore, but it's not like he's dead. Eugene Schulter and Walter Burnett must have banked on his promise to spend the summer kayaking, however, because it didn't take them a hot minute to go after one of the cornerstones of his legacy: dogs, their shit and people who eat around it. Schulter re-introduced a stalled ordinance ("Seriously, guys, I haven't even walked out of the......

What Made Milwaukee Famous is the quirky kid with the dorky name in the back of the class whom no one notices until he gets his braces off, gets into MIT, and scores a summer internship with NASA. Kicking around the Austin scene since 2004, WMMF has put together a kind of indie-rock dream team: management through Fourth Floor, a division of powerhouse promoters Capitol Sports & Entertainment (Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits), booking through Monterey......

The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) is holding its annual Cookbook Expo this weekend in Chicago. And, for the first time, they're opening it up to the public. This is your chance to hobnob with some of your favorite cookbook authors and chefs, who will be on hand to sell and sign their latest books. The event runs from 5-6 p.m. tomorrow at the Hilton Chicago. Even though it's free, reservations are required; e-mail......

When you have a six-month-old, your restaurant expectations change dramatically. You’d give a place four stars if it has clean high chairs, a place to stow your car seat, attentive service, and food good enough to spend the 30 minutes it takes to get your kid ready and load him into the car. Mrs. Murphy and Son’s Irish Bistro on Lincoln just about fits the bill. The first thing we noticed as our eyes adjusted......

Doesn't it seem like last year we were getting used to writing "4704" in the dateline of our checks? Chinese New Year is Sunday. 4705 is the year of William Beavers the boar. This means that thousands of people will flock down to Wentworth to watch the pomp and circumstance of dragon processions, fireworks, marching bands, and — since every year is an election year in Chicago — politicians kissing babies, shaking hands, and buying......

"Your Friday Food Buffet" is a new feature where we combine business-related news concerning food and drink with tastings and fixed-price dinners happening around town this weekend. Pretty cut-and-dried, don'cha think? Anyway, we hope you like it. Starbucks finally drops act, admits inspiration for business model: After test-marketing in Chicago and other markets throughout the country, Starbucks rolled out their breakfast sandwiches and drive-thru service in Boston and select Los Angeles locations. No information......

In news that is not news to anyone who actually lives in Chicago, the New York Times discovered this weekend that Chicago's West Loop is hip. Comparing the West Loop to New York's Meatpacking District, the story discovers that, like the Meatpacking District, the West Loop transitions from a meat processing area to one where food and drink abound after the sun goes down. Interestingly enough, Chicagoist was in the West Loop last night, dining......

This is not what we would call a vegetarian-friendly meal. Matter-of-fact, this is comfort food at its most basic. Chicagoist woke up Sunday morning with a hankerin' for some of that old-fashioned Southern cooking our mother makes (and a hunk of cheese), namely biscuits and gravy. Lucky for us, in addition to knowing where to find a good meal around town for cheap, we also know a little bit about cooking in the kitchen,......

After last week's disaster, Chicagoist was worried that we were in the beginning stages of a cooking rut. We had visions of overcooking pasta, undercooking chicken, burning peanut butter sandwiches and generally sucking at anything we did in the kitchen. These certainly weren't the good kind of the visions. Nope, no money made or world saved. These were more of the 'shit what are we gonna do with ourselves if every food item we......

Few things epitomize South Side fast food like the breaded steak sandwich. During our years living out south, we've had too many of them to mention. They range in quality from succu-fuccu-lent works of art rivaling any steakhouse entree, to gluttonous monstrosities that serve as Exhibits "A" through "LMNOP" that obesity isn't a "glandular" problem. Craving a breaded steak yesterday, but minding our renewed focus on eating smaller portions, we took a walk to......

Famed Chicago chefs Gale Gand, Rick Tramonto and Rick Bayless are among those cooking sample dishes for the 13th annual Bag Hunger Auction. Held on Nov. 15 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, the silent auction benefits the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Gand and Tramonto co-chair the event, which features more than 25 chefs from notable Chicago restaurants including Tru, Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, West Town Tavern, TIMO, 160 Blue, Ina's and Heaven on Seven. Food and......

Chicagoist was an English major and while we don’t really get science too much, we’re sure as hell glad it’s out there. And we’re guessing so is Claudia Mitchell, the world’s first “bionic woman” (not counting Jaime Sommers). Today, the Sun-Times reported Mitchell has been fitted with a “bionic arm” at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. She lost her left arm in a 2004 motorcycle accident. The device allows Mitchell to move her robotic arm......

Normally Chicagoist isn't big into reporting on every restaurant/bar/whatnot that has its door shuttered for health code violations. But this one we couldn't let pass by. This morning, a Chicagoist operative was on assignment out in North Center (read: drinking many beers at the Globe watching the World Cup) when he stumbled on over to Lincoln Restaurant only to find the doors locked and a big ol' neon-green sticker on the front, which means......

Chicagoist has an affinity for Charlie Trotter. The first meal where we really tried to impress a girl was made with recipes from Chef Trotter's arsenal. (We're married to her now) Love him or hate him, the guy is a badass in the kitchen and sets the bar for excellence in his art, and that’s why we’re so happy that he’s our haute cuisine hometown hero. We’re also food geek enough to admit that we......

We here at Chicagoist like to think we’re always learning, moving forward, and expanding who we are. For example, we’re getting pretty good at building a viable city on Sim City 4, we’re learning to actually run on the treadmill instead of falling, and we seem to have this internets thing pretty well figured out. And we felt alright about that until we checked out the website of Chicago-native, Adam Langer. As far as we......

In these dreary, gray days of bone chilling winds and slippery frozen sidewalks, we take great comfort in coming home and throwing together a hearty, hot meal without having to spend hours of prep work in the kitchen, before going out to shovel and salt and knock the two and a half foot long icicles off the gutters, so that they don't come crashing down on our heads. Here we bring to your attention......

Chicagoist came home the other night and got ready to make dinner, only to realize that the pork tenderloin that we pulled out of the freezer and put in the fridge to thaw, was still in the freezer. Famished, with a family to feed we did what anyone else would do, we improvised. (see you thought we were going to say ordered a pizza, but that would make for a short post, unless we wanted......

When Chicagoist heard that Moxie, the Wrigleyville restaurant previously noted more for its garage door facade and dark décor than its food, was re-opening, we shrugged. A friend of Chicagoist succintly worded it in an e-mail exchange last week, “Does Wrigleyville really need another tapas restaurant?” An argument could be made to that effect. Sometimes it seems that there are more places to dine along Clark Street than there are baseball fans. More to......

Two weeks ago, CNN ran a story that after almost 11 years as White House Chef Walter Scheib is hanging up his apron and "pursuing other opportunities." Since Chicagoist has somehow been overlooked when it comes to invites for state dinners, we've never sampled, nor heard much about, Scheib's mad skills in the kitchen. We're going to assume he's fantastic; after all, how many chefs stay in one kitchen for that long of time......