Lately we've been pretty big on lists around these parts, and with good reason. We love coffeehouses, as well as people, places and things that get us going. Now it's al fresco season. For the next three months we Chicagoans will take advantage of that fleeting time frame known around here as "good weather." One of the best ways to do that is by lounging around in a beer garden or sidewalk café, nursing......

The Tribune today listed Seattle's Best (you know, those cafés you tend to forget are located inside Borders bookstores) as having the best iced coffee in the city. In making such a bold proclamation. In doing so, they prove that one can apply words and phrases used for wine or beer reviews such as "fragrance," "bold but mellow," "smooth," and "nutty" and still not know what one's talking about. Coming on the heels of our......

The Sun-Times, probably regretting that they're still on the hook for Conrad Black's attorney fees and Jay Mariotti's salary during a recession, has been on a frugal kick this week. Every day they've run a story on families saving money on groceries, usually involving shopping at Aldi's, cutting coupons, or selling the extra car and biking. Today in the Weekend Plus section, food critic Pat Bruno takes time off from visiting every Italian restaurant in......

All About Beer magazine (via) listed their "top 125 places to have a beer before you die" (a nice arbitrary number, by the way). Five local taverns made the cut: Hopleaf (#24), Clark Street Ale House (#43), Map Room (#47), Goose Island (#84) and John Barleycorn, which makes the cut ten spots from the bottom at #115. Our doppelganger in the Emerald City wholeheartedly agreed with the inclusion of Hopleaf and Map Room, although Map......

Foodandwine.com just announced their "Go To List 2008," where they list their top ten restaurant cities in the world, ten up and coming restaurant cities, and 300 dining destinations around the world. It should come as no surprise that our broad-shouldered city ranked #8. That's behind Tokyo, Paris and New York, but ahead of Stockholm and Vancouver. Credit where credit is due, Vancouver still has better skiing and gentlemens clubs. Food & Wine's "Go List"......

Esquire Magazine's "Best Sandwiches in America" article is a must-read, if only for us because it gives us a checklist of places to hunt down the next time we're on vacation (btw, Katz's pastrami on rye is really all that). Although we have to question the inclusion of the McRib sandwich, we have no qualms with seeing Chick-Fil-A make an appearance on the list. Two Chicago staples made the cut. Food lovers across the city......

So many movies, so little time. How true. Unless you're a professional cinephile, there's no hope of seeing even a fraction of what looks interesting in any given year. We actually tallied up the numbers and between theatrical releases, film festival screenings, and DVDs we've seen 175 movies this year — barely any at all. And with the industry's practice of backloading releases, a veritable midyear drought suddenly giving way to an avalanche of......

If you've ever wandered past the ever-under-construction mass of steel and concrete at the corner of State & Kinzie, that's the Museum of Broadcast History, the same group that put out the list of Top 125 American Political Broadcast Moments earlier this week. And, being as that lists are made to be pulled apart, dissected, shredded and argued over, who are we to get in the way of such rich tradition? There are some entries......

An 8-year-old boy was mauled by a pit bull on the far South Side today. Police say he's in very serious condition. The Stacy Peterson madness continues. Illinois state police served Drew Peterson with a new warrant so they can keep his cars and the eight guns they seized as part of the investigation for longer. And divers searched Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Romeoville and Lockport today for any clues to Stacy's disappearance.......