The Independent Spirits Expo, a gathering of American micro-distillers, importers and small, independent spirits brands, comes to town for the first time on Wednesday, September 28. For the past several years, organizer Dave Schmier has hosted installments of the Indy Spirits Expo in New York and San Francisco, drawing an average of 40 exhibitors. The debut event in Chicago, which will take place at the Bottom Lounge's Volcano Room, in the West Loop, has already attracted lots of craft producers, including local and regional distillers like Koval, Evanston's fledgling F.E.W. Spirits, Rehorst and North Shore Distillery. more ›

Whether you are moving into your first home, trying to jump into the craft cocktail craze or just looking to improve your home mixing, choosing bottles for your home bar can be confusing and expensive. To help you out, Chicagoist will sit down with some of Chicago's best booze experts and get their opinions about what to stock, what brands are worth trying, and how to make your home bar complete. For the first entry, we chose vodkas with The Boozehound, Kyle McHugh. more ›

Here's a story that seems lifted from a sitcom. A woman reacted to an accidental phone call from her husband and called Winnetka police, believing that he was being held hostage at the school district offices where he worked. Let's recap: Winnetka sent a SWAT team to a man's place of employment because the man's wife overreacted to a butt-dialing. more ›

Where Should I Shop for My Pregnant Belly? 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 ›

Artisanal booze geniuses at the North Shore Distillery have taken flavored gin to new and delicious heights: Rhuginger No. 6, a limited edition gin, is simply fantastic. more ›

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, it's morning in Chicago, but not for long. The storms that wreaked havoc throughout the area are a faint memory, and we're left to clean up the mess as we wait for more storms to come today. The north and northwest sides of the city felt the brunt of the storm, with reports of trees being split by the high winds. Over 300,000 businesses and residents were left without electricity... more ›

Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand are on the move, again. The Tru masterminds, flush with the overwhelming success of their multiple restaurant concepts in the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel in Wheeling, now have plans for restaurants in an Intercontinental Hotel being built in Rosemont and a Hyatt in Schaumburg currently undergoing a makeover. more ›

The Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation in Uptown was robbed late Friday of computers, audio-visual equipment and donated food on Friday. This is just one of several crimes committed at the synagogue in the last year. We're not sure how we feel about this ... Wendy's International will begin selling breakfast in Chicago, part of a national expansion into the breakfast market, the Dublin, Ohio-based hamburger chain said last week. Steve Irwin is helping... more ›

Last night, North Side/North Shore Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky sat down with Stephen Colbert to discuss her participation in the House Hunger Caucus' Food Stamp Challenge. After accidentally introducing her as Jane (and insisting on calling her such for the rest of the evening, not wanting to admit an error), Colbert dished out his usual satire, suggesting that the food stamp allotment be decreased to $2 to combat obesity. Although she had some difficulty getting... more ›

Chicagoist is a feminist. We make no bones about it and we've felt this way since we knew what one was. We're a staunch defender of women's issues and really aware of the subtle societal influences on women. However, we have never been a party-liner for anything and we may sound like we don't get where these women are coming from. We do. But the first amendment trumps nearly everything and at some point, there... more ›

The Ravinia Festival summer schedule has been released, a consolation prize for those of us who couldn’t score cheap Lollapalooza passes. Online ticket sales begin April 19 and won’t require multiple browser windows and copious amounts of prayer. True to form, the 2007 schedule offers much to satisfy the 45-55 year old demographic: the Beach Boys, Doobie Brothers, Steve Miller, and that ABBA tribute band return. Programmers share Perry Farrell’s fondness for the 90s, booking... more ›

Best Life magazine, a.k.a. Men’s Health for the thinking man, has anointed Evanston’s own Jeremy Piven as this month’s sophisticated man’s man. Growing up a theatrical rugrat in a theater-crazy town has paid off, as Piven’s string of supporting roles landed him the testosteroney lead in the HBO series "Entourage." After years of riffing with Ellen, the Cusacks, and the Justice League, Piven is coming into his own. Most of the piece treads well-worn territory.... more ›

Growing up in the big, bad northwest suburbs, Chicagoist had a bit of a rivalry with the North Shore high schoolers at New Trier. Not only did they have oodles of money and one of the most gorgeous public school campuses we've ever seen, they were just so damn smart. At least their Scholastic Bowl entrants were. Not that we were in Scholastic Bowl or anything like that. What kind of trivia nerds do you take us for? ... Don't answer that. more ›

The Tribune caught up with local-boy-made-good Richard Marx and discovered that he’s -– wait for it -– just a regular guy living on the North Shore. And writing country music. more ›

These are days of rage for Tribune architecture critics and their readers. Today, Blair Kamen and Patrick T. Reardon released their list of candidates for Ugliest Building in Chicagoland (Outside the Loop) and have asked readers to vote for the region’s all-out fugliest. They admit the list is unscientific and there’s much more bad design to go around. Thanks to masses of commuters, the rickety Roosevelt Road Metra station seemed destined to be the reader... more ›

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. more ›

North Shore Train? more ›

Wow, you guys totally made our weekend. more ›

It seems Chicago is following in the footsteps of Las Vegas and New York when it comes to hotel dining. On Sunday, the Tribune reported Chefs Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand of Tru have plans to bring four new restaurant concepts to the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel, which will open in Wheeling this October. Dining options at the Westin will include Osteria Di Tramonto (serving breakfast lunch and dinner), Tramonto’s Steak & Seafood (a... more ›

Apparently, the widespread craze of tearing down old buildings and replacing them with cookie-cutter buildings that don't really fit the character and style of the neighborhood and surrounding structures is *not* limited to the city limits of Chicago. With all the hype about the ongoing socioeconomic wars between the condo developer and the struggling artist renter here in the city, we were fairly stunned to hear that the same thing is happening in the places where the condo owners' parents live. more ›

Friday's Critical Mass photo via wvallen. more ›

Growing up on the North Shore was tough. We weren’t the naturally pretty type and we always envied the ones who had it all. While the cool kids were drinking Boone's Farm behind the 7-11 we were in the basement playing “who can act out the best monologue”. more ›

Anton Chekhov famously advised aspiring playwrights: If there is a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, it must fire in the last. Craig Wright turns that rule on its head in Grace, his powerful meditation on faith, reason and time now playing at the Northlight Theater. Here, the gun fires during an opening scene staged in reverse. The rest of the show pieces together how protagonists Steve and Sara, a devout Christian couple undone by a sham business deal compromising their faith, and their neighbor Sam, a scientist who doubts God in the wake of tremendous loss, arrive at that violent moment. more ›

Now that grills across the city are sparking up with more frequency, Chicagoist has taken it upon itself to offer some helpful selections of beers and wines as well as some tasty cocktail recipes to complement your grilling experience and start you out on those baby steps to being a wonderful host- or an above average bartender.
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Chicagoist was saddened when Thillens Stadium closed due to insufficient funds, so we are elated to hear that the park will re-open thanks to the Chicago Park District. With its charitable foundation lacking the funds to cover its $200,000 annual operating expenses, the Thillens family announced the closing of the park in March. Under the new deal, the Park District will lease the stadium and invest approximately $2 million to fix up the park. Much... more ›

After a long-brewing federal investigation, three North Shore businessmen were convicted yesterday for forcing hospitals to provide them millions of dollars of kickbacks so they could build new facilities, and billing other medical facilities millions of dollars of fraudulent charges. Stuart Levine, a former member of the Illinois Hospital Facilities Planning Board (IHFPB) allegedly channelled business to contractor Jacob Kiferbaum and Bears Stearns investor Nicholas Hurtgen. After Kiferbaum and Hurtgen got the business, Levine would allegedly receive a kickback, and ensure the hospitals' plans would be approved on the IHFPB. (Indictment text here.) more ›

Bill Murray owns a what now? A restaurant? Wait. Restaurants? As in plural? So it seems that North Shore native Murray, as well as his brothers, own a small, fast-casual chain of golf-themed restaurants in Florida and South Carolina called, naturally, Murray Bros. Caddyshack Restaurants. And according to the Trib today, they're looking to bring one or two of them to Chicago. Let us state of the record that we at Chicagoist are huge Bill... more ›

Former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen was caught trying to negotiate down some strippers from their ususal fees at the Penthouse Executive Club recently. Apparently, the chose to move on to better paying customers. more ›

For the fourth straight presidential election Illinois went solidly blue in 2004, labeling our state "Solid Democratic". Since Democrats control the statehouse and the governor's office too, there's talk in Washington of taking advantage of that shading by redrawing Congressional district lines so more Democrats could take Republican districts. It's called "off-year redistricting", and North Shore Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-9) wants Illinois to take a page from Texas' Republican governor and legislature. In 2002, Texas... more ›