We always eagerly await the Chicago Reader's Best of Chicago issue - especially the food and drink section, of course - for two reasons. First, it allows us to vehemently disagree with the results of the public polls (Paulina Meat Market beats Butcher and Larder? Margie's Candies beats Black Dog Gelato?) and because of the great categories the critics come up with so they can include the restaurants they want to include. more ›

• Cook County Circuit Court clerk Dorothy Brown had no problem accepting gifts from employees until the Tribune came calling.
• What began as a simple break-in at a house in Matteson led to that town's biggest pot bust ever.
• Students rallied at Northwestern yesterday in support of classmates who say they were the victims of racial profiling.

The smoke rising from Honey 1 BBQ Friday was no joke. TOC broke the news and Mike Sula went to report from the scene. A spiral fire broke out in the venerable Bucktown barbecue joint's chimney and worked it's way down. Owner Robert Adams, Sr. told Sula that it's uncertain when Honey 1 will reopen, depending on the damage to the pit and whether insurance puts up a fight. Adams remains optimistic. "People ain't gonna be able to do without my barbecue for that long, so I'll be back open in a hurry." more ›

Last night we attended the sold out mulefoot pig dinner at Blackbird sponsored by the Chicago Reader. Reader food critic Mike Sula has been chronicling the progress Dee Dee since he persuaded the paper to buy her last year, bringing attention to this rare endangered breed of swine in the process. more ›

After nearly two years, the Reader is ready to serve up some of that mulefoot pig it adopted to some hungry folks. And they're doing it in style, with a six-course dinner starting 6 p.m. October 19 at Blackbird to benefit Slow Food Chicago. more ›

Hearts all across Chicago were broken last January when Zephyr closed its doors. We walked past its former space a few days ago and wouldn't you know, construction workers were busy building what looked to be another restaurant. Alas, it won't be Zephyr 2.0 but rather an Irish-style bar and restaurant (pictured), opening in March 2008 (to their best estimate). The workers didn't know what it was going to be called. New York Times writer... more ›

The Reader is officially a one-section tabloid--but that's not the only change. It's also coming out a day earlier (out on Wednesday, listings start Thursday), Deanna Isaacs’s column is now in the front, Mike Sula has a weekly column, and the layout is a lot more open and colorful, with more call-out text and larger graphic elements. Upon cursory inspection, the content seems about the same. It's a change, but we're liking it.... more ›

In last week's Chicago Reader, Mike Sula journeyed up to southern Wisconsin to visit Hillspring Farm, where the rare and endangered mulefoot pig is being bred. Stop reading now if you have vegetarian tendencies, because these pigs aren't being bred for a petting zoo. “If you treat them just like precious zoo animals that’s how they get extinct,” said Linda Derrickson, who runs the farm with her husband, Mark Kessenich. At print time, Crystal, one of their sows, was just about to give birth to her first litter. more ›

Your theme this week, in honor of Earth Day/Week/Month: "Being Green." This is the song that Kermit the Frog made famous, but Ray Charles did a knockout version of it, and our favorite take on the song has to be Van Morrison's version from 1973's Hard Nose the Highway. It's so good, we insist on this song being played while our casket's being lowered to the ground. Let's dive in, shall we? Moo Moo, I... more ›

If variety is the spice of life, then fans of online food writing just entered their own little spice house. It may seem as though these new entries are playing catch-up with the well-established, familiar bastions of food porn, but they do have different things to offer and influence established food coverage in Chicago. Gapers Block just launched their food blog, Drive-Thru. If you're familiar with the GB style, you know what to expect. You... more ›

Last Saturday the Green Mill was packed with family, friends, and fans of Evan Garfinkel, who passed away November 3rd, 2006. Blues fans will know Garfinkel as the drummer for Vini and the Demons and a friend of Bo Diddley. Foodies, members and voyeurs of LTHForum knew him by the name "hungryrabbi", where he wrote laugh-out-loud funny, insightful, and never boring accounts of restaurants and food. A friend of Chicagoist attended Garfinkel's memorial and shared... more ›

Chicagoist picks up the Reader every week out of habit, more than anything. It's not that we don't have our gripes with the paper; we do. We also have more important things happening than to indulge in infrequent sophomoric commentary about Michael Miner, Liz Armstrong, and the music section - although Monica Kendrick always gets love from us for being a Motörhead fan. That said, if you consider yourself a gourmand, pick up this week's... more ›