The Greater North Michigan Avenue Association wants us all to “Feel Magnificent,” and this month apparently that means knocking back the bubbly. Throughout February, businesses on the Magnificent Mile and its surrounding area have been serving champagne to diners and shoppers all along the Avenue, which means we have T minus 7 days to score some free (or reduced) sparkling goodness. The Mag Mile web site can fill you in on everywhere that’s filling flutes,......

Well, the hits just kept on coming for one Mr. Christopher T. Turner of South Carolina. Last February, he checked into the Drake, where he was staying while on a business trip. He decided to have a little whiskey from the minibar, but when he drank the mini bottle of Dewar's White Label Scotch Whiskey, he says it tasted like urine. Turner contacted the director of sales about the tainted whiskey, and a fight ensued......

The green revolution is truly upon us. But until you can buy a car that's powered by your own sense of self-satisfaction, you might have to settle for a Tesla. Whether you've heard of them or not, you'll get your chance to check them out up close and personal: the Silicon Valley-based electric car company Tesla Motors is coming to Chicago early next year. Tesla's been blowing the accepted notion of the electric car out......

The Zagat Survey’s listings are as vast as the city’s dining options, and that’s why we love it. Today, the company announced the top restaurants in the 2006/07 edition. With more than 4,800 local diners reviewing 1,000-plus eateries, the book features the best of the best in every category. This morning at the Park Hyatt, co-publisher Tim Zagat presented the awards to the top-ranked restaurants. He noted several industry and Chicago-specific trends. Compared to other......

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......

Chicagoist has been preparing for the introductory sommelier course and exam in the fall. In addition to being daunting, we've found our studies to be a little, um ... let's be generous and say "haughty" 'cause we don't know who may be reading, okay? So we took a break from taking notes on "other wines of Mediterranean basin" - that really is part of the course syllabus - to read Janet Rausa Fuller's article in......

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,......

When New York got went and got itself a Mandarin Oriental hotel last year, even the city renowned for indulgence and frivolous luxury took a step back and gasped: this hotel was da bomb. Featuring a killer location just steps from Central Park, as well as Asian-influenced design, prerequisite marble bathrooms and luxury sheets and the city's best spa, the Man-Or (as we just nicknamed it) redefined the superior hotel experience for the New......

The venerable old Drake Hotel, nestled in all its glory upon the northernmost reaches of Michigan Avenue, has long been the Chicago hotel equivalent of your loveable, old, slightly intimidating rich great aunt… you know, she used to be the belle of the ball and has hung out with royalty a few times, but is looking kinda haggard and just hasn’t been herself lately. Well, in a move that is essentially akin to giving that......