In 1997 I was living in the Ukrainian Village exactly two blocks away from Tuman's, back when it was known - rightly so - as the "alcohol abuse center." $2 Guinness and $3 martinis meant that you could walk in with $10 and leave three sheets to the wind, with change in your pocket for tacos. That year, Tuman's made Chicago magazine's Best Bars issue. My then-roommate and I had moved out of the neighborhood by then, but we went back to visit a year or so after the issue hit the stands. By then, Tuman's was on the road to becoming what it is today - a shadow of its former self. Gold Coast types mingled with bike messengers, neighborhood regulars still clinging to cheap rents, and future drug casualties. The biggest change back then wasn't the variety of red and white wine, but the floor. Instead of rehabbing the old wood, they laid it out in brick. One of the bartenders half-jokingly told me that Bill Tuman did that because it was easier to hose down the vomit at the end of the night instead of mopping it up. more ›

Like many Chicagoans, we cried a little in 2006 when the Berghoff restaurant closed its doors after 108 years in the loop. While the Berghoff was never known for its “gourmet” cuisine, it did serve up hearty portions of German cooking and nostalgia for old Chicago. We were delighted to see that part of the Berghoff legacy would carry on “17/West at the Berghoff.” more ›