Love for the Hopleaf is easy to generate, despite it being one of those Yogi Berra joints - so crowded, no one goes there. This is especially true in this post-smoking ban era, now that people can actually (gasp) eat in the front section without getting choked out by massive clouds of carcinogens. It's been years since we started going to Hopleaf for Kwak and mussels, but only recently discovered the massive amounts of awesome......

Dear Kraft Foods, We just wanted to offer you congratulations on the momentous occasion of seeing instant macaroni and cheese turn 70. That's a long time to be on top of your game. We're slightly more than half your age and can't remember the last time we made mac and cheese directly out of the box. It's safe to say that we can't remember the last time we partook of the orange goblin mélange that......

So if Thursday is the (not-so) new Friday, that got us to thinking; most of you are in our spot, sitting at your desk, with the mildest of hangovers, kind of wishing you were nursing a mimosa instead of yet another stale cup of office coffee. In the Chicagoist offices we used to yodel Kelly Clarkson songs to blow off steam in the early a.m., but we stopped doing that after Margaret shoved a balled-up......

New Hampshire resident Ken Burns, who gained so much notoriety for using original prints and photographs in film documentaries that Apple named an effect in its iPhoto and iMovie software after him, announced yesterday that he is endorsing Barack Obama for president. Burns stated that "recent events" and the negative tone of the Democratic campaign have compelled him to come forward. "I'm really just disappointed in the tone this campaign has taken on their part,"......

No, it isn't us; we'll get there soon enough, thank you. The Big Mac, one of Oak Brook-based McDonald's signature hamburgers, debuted forty years ago this week. The sandwich was created by Jim Delligatti in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Even though the Big Mac today is a part of American food and popular culture, Delligatti had to convince executives at Hamburger U that the concept of "two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on......

Chicagoist knows one shouldn't get Ditka angry. A former player, especially, should know better. But then, we know Dave Duerson isn't exactly one of the classiest guys. To be honest, we don't even know how he is one of six trustees overseeing retiree benefits as part of the NFLPA benefits committee. Duerson's role on the NFLPA retiree board currently pits him against Mike Ditka, who has been working lately to help disabled retirees to get......

Chicago native Jason Kanakis is one of those rare dudes who can honestly call himself a "career musician." He's has toured the world playing with the likes of KT Tunstall, Butch Walker, Rachael Yamagata, Aqualung, and an impressive heap of others. Now based in Los Angeles, Jason has an interesting perspective on how the Chicago music scene shapes up in comparison to the rest of the country, not to mention some pretty weird stories about......

Remember "Cheers," with Sam hanging out behind the bar, often leaving his post to do some classic, cheesy sitcom activity with Cliff and Norm? Paddy Mac's offers its own take on Sam with Brian at the bar. Walk in this old-school Chicago corner establishment, and within three beers you'll be treated as if you've been holding the bar down forever. Paddy Mac's has the requisite flat screen HDTVs (usually tuned to sports or the Game......

Being as nerdy as we are, we tend to buy a lot of tech stuff, usually online. But sometimes, we want something now. Maybe we figure out we could reconfigure our comp to churn homemade ice cream right at our desk if we only had that one cord, so we just pick it up on the way home. No fuss, no muss, no waiting, no shipping charges. Kind of like how even though we use......

It feels a bit like Alaska outside, but there probably isn’t enough snow on the streets to go dog sledding (it won’t stop us from trying). Luckily, for those who really want to scream “MUSH!” at a couple of dogs or friends, there is the Chiditarod. On March 3, over 100 participants will go tearing through the streets of Chicago in shopping carts pulled by a four of their best friends, or worst enemies depending......

And speaking of cool widgets, Chicagoist reader Liz B. emailled us with this cool widget that lists free events in Chicago. We're not sure why VW is offering it, but it's great. The widget is available as a Mac Dashboard Widget or as a Yahoo! Widget, so whatever your platform, you can get it. Liz says, "If I'd have known about it earlier (and if it were warmer outside) I might have attended the......

Walking in Sylvie’s Lounge from the brisk and breezy night was like arriving home after a long day at work. Greeted with smiles by the few faces in the front room, we wondered for whom the three bands we came to see would be playing. Most notably, the Passerines, a band hailing from Hyde Park who will take the stage at Chicagoist’s own Ctrl-Alt-Rock v. 2.0 on Thursday, February 8. Passing the half dozen or......

If watching Homaro Cantu make maki made you want to eat a Big Mac on Sunday night, you aren't alone. The Food Network's "Iron Chef America" and Oakbrook-based McDonald's are catching some heat after a McDonald's logo and the phrase "I'm Lovin' It" appeared for a split second during the show. What's the story? Is The Food Network going all "Saved By the Bell" on viewers? Not so fast, says Food Network spokesman Mark O'Connor,......

Chicagoist admits that we're salivating over the announcement of the Apple iPhone as much as anyone, but as we discussed last week, we have some doubts about it too. After playing that guessing game once, however, we've decided to reserve further judgment until it's released to the public in June, when people not named Jobs have actually held an iPhone in their hands and put it through its paces. This hasn't stopped the hype machine......

That sound you heard yesterday was the collective orgasm of gadget freaks, Mac nerds, and tech investors all over the world when Apple announced the new iPhone, the long-awaited convergence of the iPod with a cell phone and PDA. We'll spare you the technical details--chances are you heard one of the IT guys whooping it up at work yesterday, but let's just say that Steve Jobs has managed to package sex into a 3x5 piece......

Although the unseasonably -- and slightly disconcerting -- warm weather has left us dashing around the city in skirts and dresses, it seems like someone was a bit worried the little trees dotting Briar Place, just off of Broadway, might be in need of a little extra warmth. While making our way from Chili Mac's to Cupcakes about ten days ago, we came across the adorable and befuddling "tree cozies" made of various colors......

Chicagoist loves the iTunes. When we purchased our first Mac back in 2002, iTunes was our favorite application for messing with our (then) ten gigs of MP3s. We previously used MusicMatch Jukebox, but iTunes simply beat the socks off of that and turned us into a die-hard Apple fan. Over the last week, we've been following the story about iTunes Music Store sales. One research firm released a report saying that sales dropped 65% this......

With the holiday season fast approaching we have noticed our organized and more responsible friends becoming busier and busier. We like to avoid the hubbub and we are guessing you do too. It is time to get out in that weather we love so much. As always, feel free to add more events in the comments section. Update: We originally mentioned Circus Cats at the Mars Gallery, thanks to a tip from one of our......

Women in technology are hard to find, and we don’t mean the White Town album. According to the 2001 Current Population Survey data, one out of 10 employed engineers was a woman, while two out of 10 employed engineering technologists and technicians were women. Women made up 17 percent of all industrial engineers, 12 percent of metallurgical/metal engineers and 11.5 percent of chemical engineers. Among all other engineering specialties, women represented fewer than 11......

Gather 'round the coffee pot, kids! It's storytime. Did you know that, in their ongoing quest to take McDonalds' "billions and billions served" philosophy to sickening new lows, Starbucks plans on opening another 250 stores in the greater Chicago area within the next five years? Did you know that a dozen of those stores are going to be downtown? That's nice for all those people commuting downtown to work, especially suburbanites, since two-thirds of Starbucks'......

Being the world’s largest village simply isn’t enough. Skokie wants to be trendy, too! And create economic growth. That’s why the village is developing a technology park. Ohio-based Forest City Enterprises is the developer behind Illinois Science + Technology Park. The park calls the 23.4-acre former Pfizer site home, and will eventually include more than 1 million square feet of laboratory and office space to conduct cutting-edge research. In addition to creating tens of thousands......

Decisions are hard. When its 11 a.m., Chicagoist doesn’t know whether its time to order an Egg McMuffin or a Big Mac. Fortunately, a new billboard at the corner of Clark and Addison is there to help us figure it out. The billboard, which went up last Friday, shows several McDonald’s menu options. From morning until noon, the signature arches’ shadow moves across the billboard indicating what item its time for. The sundial billboard was......

Want to score a pair of tickets to see Conan when he comes to Chicago May 9-12? Better act fast. To request tickets (2 per person allowed), send an email to ConanInChicago@nbcuni.com with your name, address, phone number and email address. If your email is chosen, you’ll have two tickets “reserved” for you. You’ll receive an email confirming that your request has been received and a second email if you’ve been selected. But this does......

In the words of a Chicagoist who is a Bradley alum: "WOO HOO Bradley! Go Braves! Yay P-town!" The Secret Service says that counterfitting is more common around here than in other regions and that street gangs are behind it. A bunch of IL lawmakers are arguing whether it was worth it to pay a half million dollars of tax-payer's money to Bernie Mac to promote a new state lottery game. El photo via......

Torontoist throws down the gauntlet and challenges all comers: pillow fight, bitch. They also stand up for a fellow blogger taking heat from the TTC and welcome city-wide WiFi. SFist can finally admit it: It's possible that Bary Bonds juiced. Is Bay Area artist (tempted to put quotes around that) Thomas Kinkaid "kinda crappy" or "explosively crappy" or does he just like marking territory? SFist wonders. Technology comes in the form of new Mac goodness......

CTA Tattler posted some fun pictures yesterday that a reader snapped at the revamped Jackson subway station. An information screen went rogue, revealing the software running beneath. From the looks of it, the monitor was just playing a PowerPoint presentation on Windows XP, but someone forgot to lock things down. Riders even got to see a helpful security popup letting them know that the computer wasn't running a firewall. Neat! This is red meat for......

Last Friday, Chicagoist's favorite Mac blogger, DrunkenBatman hosted a conference for Mac developers and enthusiasts deep in the bowels of Adler Planetarium. He brought together ten panelists and over a hundred audience members for an evening of talking about the types of things Mac developers and enthusiasts can't get enough of. (How do you tell the difference between writing software as a hobby and a job? Will the Objective-C programming language last another decade? And......

Chicagoist can't remember the last time we purchased a box of macaroni and cheese. We think it was around the same time we purchased ramen noodles, but don't quote us on it. Either way learning to cook allowed us to wean ourselves off the teat of processed, pre-packaged comfort food. In an article in yesterday's Crain's Chicago Business, Northfield-based Kraft Foods announced that it will introduce "Super Mac & Cheese" later this month. The......

As Pride Weekend gears up, gay news is spewing forth from Chicago faster than Jerry Falwell can yell "boycott!" A few gay briefs: · A recent poll commissioned by Equality Illinois found that while a majority of your neighbors would reject a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, most don't favor marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. Even though no amendment is likely to be introduced soon, 67% of those polled would vote no, only......

Alex Seropian, Founder, Wideload Games...