Today at 11 AM, the McDonald’s at 600 N. Clark (nee The Rock and Roll McDonald’s) will serve as the launch party for Nintendo’s Mario Kart DS and the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Mario himself will take time out of his busy ‘shroom-ingesting schedule to appear along with Ronald McDonald, as customers with a Nintendo DS system compete against Nintendo game programmers and others from around the world in a Mario Kart showdown. The Nintendo Wi-Fi... more ›

Fast-food lovers, architecture buffs and the morbidly obese are hotly anticipating this Friday's opening of downtown's soon-to-be-favorite McDonald's location. The new store, which occupies the site of the mysteriously popular "Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's," is a double-decker, glass-enclosed "flagship" store that will seat more than three times the capacity of a normal Mickey-D's location and, like its predecessor, stay open 24 hours a day. more ›

The Tribune most definitely does not want fries with that, Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's. We all remember that about a month ago, McDonald's unveiled plans for a redesigned location on 600 North Clark, plans the Trib described as a "super-sized version of a 1950s drive-in." It turns out that McDonald's rejected some more innovative, architecturally interesting designs that are actually pretty rad. Helmut Jahn, Dan Coffey, and Martin Wolf each submitted a contemporary and creative plan, and while Chicagoist doesn't exactly expect McDonald's to be the major sponsor of modern architecture, it would have been kind of cool. more ›

» The Chicago Roll, sure to be a new sushi trend, has all the ingredients of a chicago-style hotdog » Ikea is adding another Chicagoland store » Rock n' Roll McDonald's is closing » A rundown of Chicago's food websites » "Da Coach," Mike Ditka, may be running for senate » On how the El runs through Gotham in the new Spiderman movie » Debate over whether "Motel Row" should be destroyed » Dan McNeil... more ›

Rock 'N' Roll McDonald’s will be closing its doors later this month or early next month. Rock 'N' Roll McDonald’s isn’t doing badly or anything—it’s the most lucrative Chicago location and one of the top spots in the country. But the rock theme just isn’t what it used to be. According to a spokeswoman, McDonald’s isn’t selling the extremely desirable real estate; they’re going to open a “flagship” restaurant. Whatever that means. more ›