This prohibition-era cocktail combines scotch and orange juice for a smoky-sweet treat. 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 ›

This is part of Chicagoist's continuing coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival. A major letdown from the director of Young Adam, this movie from Scotland centers around an odd young man named Hallam Foe (played by Jamie Bell from Billy Elliot), who's obsessed with two things: his dead mother and spying on people. When he's driven away from the family home in the Highlands, he heads to Edinburgh, where he promptly meets a young... more ›

There's a stretch of freight train track and pothole-marked road that runs parallel to 41st Street that makes a great shortcut to the southwest side via bicycle, particularly on days where we don't want to fight the congestion of Archer Avenue. A service road at 41st and Ashland allows freight rail employees easy access to the rails. It also dumps us off at the Ashland Avenue Swap-O-Rama. If you've never been to the Swap-O-Rama, you don't know what you're missing. What we were missing was Kiki D's Carnitas, located across the street. After the meal we had this weekend, we wished we'd kept missing it. The sign that once announced its presence is long gone, but the steady foot traffic from Swap-O-Rama customers keeps Kiki D's from totally fading in the background. Service is no-nonsense: walk in, take a number, give your order, follow the line to the check-out counter and avoid the kids hopped up on Mexican soda scurrying around your feet in the process. Meats and homemade pork rinds fill display booths, whetting an appetite that doesn't know what this place has in store. more ›

Chicagoist first learned about milk toast when we were in college and our diet consisted (generally speaking) of ramen, pizza, orange juice, spinach, cheese and tuna fish. Milk toast couldn't exactly be considered a nutritional improvement over the aforementioned regimen but we did find it strangely romantic and felt slightly turn-of-the-century every time we ate it. Sometimes we pretended that we had consumption and the only thing that would soothe our grieving lungs was a nice order of the stuff. Of course, in retrospect, how good would a lot of milk be for a consumptive? Probably not all that good but that's why pretending is so much better. This is the perfect morning food for children, people with few teeth or anybody who is looking for a little comfort to start out their day. more ›

Peanuts? Nah. Burgers? For wusses. Beer? Not a chance. more ›

Minute Maid successfully got us to believe that orange juice, no matter how much sugar it has, keeps us from getting sick and makes us stronger. We were at the grocery store recently and to our surprise a gallon was $5.99. At a glass a day, this can get pretty pricey and the future isn't looking so hot. more ›

Yesterday Chicagoist checked out the new kid on the organic grocery store block, Sunflower Markets. Located at 1910 N. Clybourn Avenue and festooned in orange and yellow, Sunflower Markets is looking to give everyone who cries at the Whole Foods checkout counter, or who finds the produce selection at Trader Joe's a little lacking, an alternative shopping experience. As we walked around the brightly lit, easily manageable aisles we found that some items (organic orange juice, eggs, young chickens) were, in fact, less pricey than at the aforementioned competition. Though some items like our beloved Amy's cheese enchiladas seemed to be selling at the same price. Because this was a "sneak peek" we helped ourselves to the myriad samples of cheese, wine, pizza (served to us by girls in bright green vinyl dresses), potato salad (especially tasty) and delectable chocolate peanut butter desserts.
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For this week's installment of "Cheap Eats", Chicagoist revisited the treasure trove of restaurants in and around Harper Court Shopping Center, in Hyde Park. This time around, we stayed along 53rd Street and visited a neighborhood favorite. more ›

Chicagoist's Bridgeport Correspondent earns his keep as a bartender. When we're on the clock we adopt the motto of "bizarro-world" Nick from "It's A Wonderful Life": "We serve hard drinks here for folks who wanna get drunk fast. And we ain't got room for 'characters' who give the joint 'atmosphere'." Actually, we've loosened up a bit over the years as we discovered the hard way that those same "characters" tend to tip very, very, very,... more ›

Another reason to vote: Free food, special drinks, discounted books and more. We've tried to summarize specials that are going on around town, but of course, feel free to add any we've missed! more ›