This year, Chef Graham Elliot will be bringing even more great food to Lollapalooza, continuing last year's efforts to improve the offerings at the festival. Elliot's Lolla work was well-received last year and promises to get even better. Eater Chicago reports that new restaurant participants include Saigon Sisters, Sola, The Gage, Henri, Jam and Wao Bow. We're particularly excited about Henri, which will be serving up a "Henri banh mi" and pork rinds with vadouvan curry. more ›

"Barbeque for us means smoke," says Smoke Daddy owner Derek Rettell. "A lot of barbeque places don't smoke, but our smoker is going 24/7." With the trendy BBQ craze in Chicago going full blast, we decided to learn how it was done from a classic spot. Smoke Daddy has been open in Wicker Park for 16 years, and Rettell and his crew know a few things about making great barbeque. We spent a morning surrounded by wood and meat, and came out happy, full and smelling like a campsite. more ›

Alright, Chicagoistas, we’ve got a bone to pick with you. We hemmed and hawed, we stayed up nights wrestling with it … but per your request, we resurrected a bigger better faster more version of our new-and-unheralded, interactive music column called You Tell Me. Next, we charged you guys with finding the cream amongst crap. We thought the first round went pretty well, but we didn’t get many workable suggestions last week. What gives, yo? more ›

Guess what’s back (and WAY better than ever)…? Yep, it’s You Tell Me, Chicagoist’s weekly, slightly-masochistic-yet-wildly-awesome column where we ask you the reader to give us the skinny on the under-the-radar shows that keep the people hopping around the city. We tried this a couple of weeks back and had a great suggestion, but realized YTM needed a bit of tune up to get into summer racing shape. Thanks to some seriously fine suggestions from readers, we’ve done some retooling and this baby is ready to purr. So, friends, start your band finding engines and give us the very best of what’s not getting the treatment in our fine town’s music journalism outlets, and we’ll check it out and report back weekly. more ›

Tickets are still available for one the year's best opportunities at some serious people-watching: The Green Tie Ball. more ›

The art world is getting a little more casual with the arrival of summer. This weekend we’re looking forward to seeing quality work and engaging in stimulating discussion in a more casual environment, and maybe laughing our ass off. more ›