Sometimes bitter, sometimes hilarious; read the play-by-play from Chicago's food experts. more ›

Now there is only one three-Michelin-star restaurant left in Chicago, after L20 dropped two stars. more ›

The Michelin Guide releases its first rankings for Chicago on Wednesday. We've already expressed a bit of cynicism about the rankings, and others have criticized the guide for using out of date standards, pandering to Yelp and including some mysterious choices on their existing lists. Last week, the Bib Gourmand, the Michelin awards for best value, were released to a flurry of attention, and it's only going to get more intense as the week progresses. more ›

Day 1: Lady Gaga, Mavis Staples, The Black Keys and more more ›

Arizona's controversial immigration law (SB 1070) has angered many around the nation in recent days, with everyone from Canadian dream-pop outfit Stars to San Francisco and Los Angeles city employees mulling boycotts of the state. Here in Chicago, activists, who demonstrated this week in Broadview, are preparing to rally against the law as part of the annual May Day event. The rally, set for Saturday at 1 p.m., will begin from Union Park, followed by a march downtown. more ›

The Blackhawks cruised to a 5-2 victory over Dallas and with the victory set a franchise record for most wins in a season (50) and tied the team record for most points in a season (107). Marian Hossa scored in the opening minute of the first period and Colin Fraser scored in the last minute of the first to give the 'Hawks a 2-0 lead. Jonathan Toews extended the lead to 3-0 with a short-handed goal in the second. Fraser scored again early in the third followed by Patrick Kane's goal at the halfway point. Antti Niemi was sharp in goal, stopping 26 of the 28 shots he faced. The 'Hawks still trail San Jose for first place in the Western Conference by two points with three games to play over the next five days. If the playoffs started today, the 'Hawks' opponent would be...the Red Wings. The 'Hawks take the ice again tonight against St. Louis (7:30 p.m., CSN). more ›

It took extra hockey, but the Blackhawks manage to wrangle a 4-3 shoot-out win over the Dallas Stars. The entire game was a back-and-forth affair. Dallas opened the scoring about midway through the first period with a power-play goal only to have Patrick Kane answer with his 23rd goal of the season. A few minutes later, Dallas scored again and, again, Patrick Kane answered as his 24th goal of the season tied the game at 2-2 after the first. A scoreless second period gave way to a Troy Brouwer goal early in the third period but Dallas would respond with a late goal to force overtime with the score tied at 3-3. Kris Versteeg scored the winning (and only) goal in the shoot-out, which went five rounds. Antti Niemi got 24 saves in goal for the 'Hawks, including five in OT and two in the shoot-out. The 'Hawks now take their two-game win streak into the final two games before the Olympic break, starting at home Saturday night against Atlanta (7:30 p.m., WGN). more ›

Bulls Hold On To Clip Pacers more ›

The Dallas Stars came to town and did something that other teams are having a hard time doing this year: beat the Blackhawks. Dallas edged the 'Hawks 4-3 last night at the United Center. After a scoreless first period, the dam broke in the second as the teams combined for five goals in that period alone. Dallas took a 2-0 lead before Troy Brouwer got Chicago on the board. After another Dallas goal, Jonathon Toews scored to cut the lead to 3-2. After a fluke bounce off the boards got past Huet for another Dallas goal in the third period, Niklas Hjalmarsson scored to cut the lead again, this time to 4-3 but Dallas held and came out with the win. Cristobal Huet jad 21 saves besides allowing the four goals. The 'Hawks get a few days off now until Vancouver skates into town on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., CSN). more ›

While the Bulls have floundered thus far on their Circus Trip, things are going much better for the Guys on Ice. The Blackhawks moved to 2-0 on the trip as they beat Dallas last night, 6-3. Nikolai Khabibulin had 31 saves on 34 shots in goal for the 'Hawks, including 13 in the first period as a fast Dallas start gave them a 10-1 edge in shots early on. Still, led by Patrick Kane's pair of goals, the 'Hawks fought back. The game had a back-and-forth nature with the teams exchanging goals for most of the first two periods. With the score tied 3-3, Kris Versteeg scored with 30 seconds left in the second period to give the 'Hawks a 4-3 lead and Chicago would add two more goals in the third to clinch the victory. Besides Kane and Versteeg, Ben Eager, Brian Campbell, and Martin Havlat all scored. Next up on the road trip is a Saturday night date north of the border with the Maple Leafs. more ›

Blackhawks Whip Stars more ›

In case you haven't booked your Halloween night or you pre-Election weekend with plans, consider taking in some local professional sports action. First up are the Blackhawks, who take the ice tonight at the United Center against the Dallas Stars. Both teams have struggled to open the year and the winner will climb above .500 for the season. But if hockey isn't your thing, come out to the UC Saturday night to see the Bulls take to the hardwood against Spanish national team star (and brother of Pau) Marc Gasol and the Memphis Grizzlies. The Bulls are in Boston tonight for a big game against the Celtics, but they'll be back to feel the home crowd love tomorrow night. And if you still haven't fed your appetite for pro sports, the Bears return from their bye week to take on their hapless division rivals, the Detroit Lions. The Bears thumped the Lions 34-7 in week 5 and Kyle Orton has emerged as one of this year's surprise offensive stars. Believe it or not, there are still some (mostly expensive) tickets left for this game, but Stubhub is always a good bet, too. more ›

Exhibits more ›

The NBA finalized the All-Star game rosters, announcing the reserves on Thursday. It should come as no surprise that the Bulls will not represented. Again. more ›

The Blackhawks are three games into their 2007-2008 NHL Campaign, and so far it looks like it could be another tough year for hockey fans here in Chicago. They've yet to find a way to sound the horn on power plays--hell, they've have had trouble scoring at all, with just four goals in three games, none while having the man advantage. No surprise though as the Hawks have been the worst in the NHL on... more ›

This is part of Chicagoist's continuing coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival. more ›

Marnie Stern may look like a bookstore clerk or a Starbucks barista, but this Brooklyn guitar virtuoso has little else to do with lit or lattes. She's a metalhead through and through, having mastered such thrash-god techniques as finger-tapping, shuddering time-signature shifts, and balls-to-the-wall shredding that would make Eddie Van Halen blush. So what's this obvious shred-head doing on venerable punk rock shock shop Kill Rock Stars Records? She's carefully bridging the gap between the colorful, technical, and often posturing world of metal, and the guttural vocals, minimalist production, and eff you attitude that "punk" has come to inspire. It's a tenuous position, given that punk set out to destroy all the egotistical excess and arrogance of the metal scene, but maybe the old adage is right -- it just takes a woman's touch. more ›

The big dilemma of the week is just which ironic T-shirt to wear to Pitchfork, but some Chicago bands have their dreams set on attending a different upcoming music festival. The voting for the third round of the Lollapalooza Last Band Standing Contest only lasts two weeks, and the Top 5 vote-getters will compete live at the Double Door on August 1. more ›

The Chicago Wolves hosted the Iowa Stars on Saturday night in Game 6 of the West Division Finals. The Wolves fell behind early, 1-0, just two minutes and eight seconds into the game. That goal would be Iowa's only score of the night while the Wolves scored five to win the series 4-2. more ›

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week! Chicagoist had an interview with Audrey Niffenegger, whose popular book, The Time Traveler's Wife, was based in their fine city. They also had a heated discussion about Rush Limbaugh's controversial Barack Obama parody, talked about whether Uncle Julio's Hacienda is a good place to get... more ›

The Chicago Wolves have a chance to advance to the 2007 Calder Cup semi-finals with a win tonight over the Iowa Stars. The winner of the series will face off against the North Division finalist, either the Manitoba Moose or the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Bulldogs lead that series 2-1. more ›

It’s that time again where we decide what to do with all this cash burning a hole in our pocket. Rufus Wainwright will be performing at Ravinia towards the end of the season. He’s been the darling of the critics for a long time now and it’s not just because of his musical pedigree. Release the Stars is due out May 15 – plenty of time to learn all the new songs to swoon to... more ›

The Blackhawks, whose season ended on Sunday with a 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars, won off the ice today. The NHL Draft Drawing took place in Columbus, Ohio, today, and the Blackhawks won the number-one draft pick for the 2007 NHL Draft. Amazing stuff, 'cause their chances of winning the top pick were about the same chance as them winning a game, 8.1%. The Blackhawks, who have missed the playoffs eight times in the... more ›

Some of us are still recovering from last week's Four Questions, but our readers have an insatiable thirst for answers. One recently posed an interesting question to us concerning Chicago's Olympic bid and the city's flag. As all Chicagoans no doubt know, the city's flag includes three white bars, two blue bars and four six-sided stars. The three white bars signify the North, West and South sides of the city, while the blue bars... more ›

The Long Winters play a sort of jouncy pop that is probably a really good defense against the overcast skies of their hometown, Seattle. On Putting The Days To Bed they sort of remind us of The Shins on a sugar kick. What would ordinarily be boilerplate indie guitar rock is suddenly blindsided by a phalanx of peppy horns, as on the oddly disco inflected "Teaspoon." more ›

Ah, SXSW. Yup, it's the time of year when industry flacks, up-and-coming bands, under-the-radar hopefuls, and drunken journalists all descend upon Austin, Texas, for a few days of shmoozing, boozing, and live-music grooving. Chicago bands are being well represented this year, and a few of them are even traveling in style after Hideout's fundraiser last weekend. (We were told that the event raised over $10,000 in donations to send the sixteen bands that participated down to Austin. That's a lot of Shiner Bock!) And of course there's the great day parties thrown by local venues down there like Metro, Schuba's and Bloodshot Records. more ›

Chicagoist loves television. Chicagoist loves all television. There are no prejudices here; we watch an episode of "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency" with the same reverence as we watch "24." We’re rooting for Rob and Ambah as much as we’re rooting for Chris Sligh. We’re looking forward to "America’s Next Top Model" as much as we’re looking forward to answers on "Lost." more ›

Discussions about Black History Month have become as complex as discussions about race. Debating the labels ‘black’ and ‘African-American’ lead to debates about biracial identity and, recently, whether Senator Obama, Joe Biden’s “first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” friend, is actually African-American. In the same vein, Black History Month has increasingly been relabeled African-American Heritage Month and African Heritage Month, terms emphasizing the present and future as... more ›

We were a little skeptical last night as we headed over to the Metro to see Vega4 and Augustana for an early show since both these bands have garnered their attention from having songs on television shows. Visions of The Fray were all we had to go on — tender songs that are good, but for the most part are innocuous background music. The stuff on our iPod that we don’t fast forward, but we don’t repeat either. more ›

Chicagoist knows good reality TV when we see it, and this past "Survivor" was the best season since Boston Rob and Ambah fell in love and won the All-Stars (they’ll be back for another go in the Amazing Race All-Stars in March). We do think Ozzy should have won the million, even if he did look a lot like Joey Lawrence on the reunion show. more ›