There’s a lot of debate about the best pizza in Chicago. Choosing deep dish, pan or thin crust can be just as taxing as choosing between Gino’s, Lou Malnati's and Uno’s. But sometimes you just need a pizza without all that fuss. We’d much rather skip the hassle of waiting in line to sit in a crowded room of tourists and head to our local pizza joint: Marie’s Pizza & Liquors. There’s rarely a long wait for a table thanks to their spacious dining room that captures all the glitz and glamour of a hotspot in the '60s. Red booths line the walls along the bar and the main carpeted dining room. Mirrors etched with scenes, such as the Chicago skyline, fill in the walls above the booths. Tables of varying sizes fill in the rest of the space underneath several massive crystal chandeliers. But don’t get your boogie nights on just yet; Marie’s is a family place. more ›

We at Chicagoist are suspending our policy of trying not to add more momentum to Rachael Ray's unstoppable takeover of the United States. (About the only thing that would kill it at this point would be a leaked Internet video involving sheep, salad tongs and some damn good reasons for that insidious grin.) Ms. Ray is hooking up with Delta Airlines in order to promote seven new daily flights between Midway Airport and LaGuardia, raising... more ›

As with the previous two playoff games, Mayor Daley will make a food-related wager with his counterpart in Indianapolis on the upcoming Super Bowl that'll see our Bears and their Colts face off in Miami. Chicago, with our great gastronomic traditions, always offers up a smorgasbord of culinary delights — deep dish pizza, Eli's cheesecake, Vienna hot dogs, Ann Sather cinnamon rolls, Italian beef, Mexican foods, etc. But typically Chicago gets the short end of... more ›

Chicagoist can never help but recall the Brown's Chicken Murders of '93 every single time we hear about a brutal robbery in the suburbs. So when some employees at the Lou Malnati's in Buffalo Grove were beaten late Sunday night, we were once again reminded why working in the service industry can be a rough gig. more ›

Chicagoist admits we might have been a little over-confident going into Game 1 of the ALCS. We thought that the Angels' three games in three cities in three nights with 5000 miles of travel in between would give the Sox a decided advantage. And then there were thoughts of facing a tired Paul Byrd and an overworked bullpen. But in spite of all those factors working against the Angels, they came up on the winning... more ›

Admittedly, Chicagoist tends to be on the jaded side when it comes to ... more ›

The oft-repeated anecdote about the Illinois film industry in the early 21st Century was that we were so unattractive to filmmakers that the musical Chicago was filmed in Toronto. Well apparently things have improved due to the spate of films lensing in the City of Big Shoulders because the Illinois Film Office is throwing a big ass party to celebrate…itself. more ›

Saturday was a beautiful day and Chicagoist had a few friends in from out of town so we all headed down to Grant Park for Taste of Chicago, which claims to be the world's largest food and free music festival. Wow, what a bunch of gluttons we were!!! Tickets were $7 for 11 tickets and the three of us each bought $21 worth of tickets. .. what's that? 99 tickets? At each of the festival's 70 restaurant booths there were several food items to choose from that ranged in price from 2 - 9 tickets. Pooling our tickets together and sharing everything we bought we were able to consume all of the following: more ›

Say what you like about them, yesterday Citysearch announced the winners of their 5th annual "Best of Citysearch" restaurant winners in more than 55 categories. Either Portillo's employees were skewing the votes or else Portillo's has good everything.. this year's winners include: more ›