The folks at New York Magazine think they have tracked down the identity of the woman who starred in Michigan Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra's controversial Super Bowl advertisement more ›

We haven't heard this much grunting on a record since Screaming Jay Hawkins cut "Constipation Blues." more ›

The Gothamist network wasn't the only ones who released a new iPhone app yesterday. New York Media (publishers of the Grub Street blogs and MenuPages.com) also launched a new iPhone app that allows users to browse restaurant menus in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, South Florida, and Washington DC, along with rankings and reviews, filter options allowing you to narrow searches by cuisine, location and price, and the ability to post menus to Facebook or e-mail to a friend. more ›

Update your bookmarks: Menupages Chicago (and all the MP blogs) was re-branded this morning as Grub Street Chicago in a very beautiful redesign. The (re)launch allows parent company New York magazine to extend the Grub Street brand into other cities through corporate synergy while losing none of the knack for hard news, aggregation and criticism that made the MP blogs must-reads. MP Chicago editor Helen Rosner is still at the conn, still obsessing over Grant Achatz, and still keeping tabs for a Pat Bruno slip-up. more ›

Those of us who've done the "make a reservation at Schwa" dance already know this scenario: you dial the number and are greeted with a stock message saying they're booking through a certain month and to leave a request after the beep, then you wait and wonder if they checked the message (or if you dialed wrong), then they — most likely Michael Carlson himself — calls to confirm your reservation. "We'll see you cats Thursday," is a favorite. The reservations are coveted even more, since Schwa only seats 26, is closed Sunday and Monday and that long-awaited reservation confirmation can sometimes take weeks. more ›

Oh, New York media. We've gone over this before: Chicago is a pretty happenin' town. Just because we've been in the spotlight in recent weeks (for reasons both good and bad) doesn't mean you have to get all riled up. Letting the inferiority complex shine through once more, New York Magazine has released its Reasons To Love New York 2008 issue and their number one reason is a doozy: "Because Obama Is One of Us, Despite All That Business About Chicago." more ›

Police officially identified the body of Eric Kaminski today, announcing that the remains they uncovered in a Pilsen basement on Saturday belong the Oak Park Lawn man who had been missing since 2004. A tip led police to 2248 W. Coulter St, where cadaver dogs helped locate the body under six feet of concrete and limestone. The cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, and police already have a suspect in custody (he was being held on unrelated charges), but motive is still not clear. [Trib, CBS 2, S-T] more ›