We finally saw the Heavy Metal in Baghdad documentary last night and walked away rather stunned. It follows the one and only metal band in Iraq, Acrassicauda, from just after Saddam's defeat through 2006 when they are seeking refugee status in Syria. (Currently the band is in Turkey.) In the beginning we see a band that is hopeful yet apolitical, and that plays its music for the sheer joy of doing so. The single......

In our experience, most people who eat at Costello's Sandwich and Sides get the same thing every time. It's their Costello's Match. Former Chicagoist editors Scott Smith and Erin Shea love the Heartland and Smokin' Turk, respectively. Our boyfriend's favorite is the Italian Grinder. For us, our Costello's Match is the Turkey Focaccia. Generally speaking, the Turkey Focaccia is a basic turkey sandwich — turkey, provolone, lettuce, tomato, vinaigrette. But what makes this sandwich......

Last year, perhaps a little earlier, we gave you a quick run-down of where you could buy yourself a turkey and at what cost. We felt that it would be nice of us to do that again for you ... not to mention the fact that we haven't had time to get a turkey for ourselves. So, without further ado, a decidedly skewed to the north side turkey roundup. Dominick's located at 6009 N Broadway......

In what's become an annual feature here at Chicagoist and a personal favorite, we canvassed the staff for some of their best recipes and put together a potluck of amazing proportions to fascinate your taste buds, amaze your family (even the ones entranced by the football games), and bring about peace on earth - or at least in your family - for a few hours through the miracle of tryptophan, simple starches, and sugar......

OK, you got us here: Ricci & Company really isn’t a market per se. Unless you’re a squirrel and this small River North spot specializing in hand-roasted nuts has everything you need for your daily intake and then some. But just because Ricci doesn’t stock edibles from all the food groups — who can keep up with that ever-changing list anyways? — that doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of a mention here. First off, there’s......

Red Hen Bread lacks highchairs, changing tables, a kid menu and a door big enough to comfortably squeeze a stroller through. We wouldn’t recommend going there with a large group and eating in, but with a long list of appetizing baked goods, a menu of innovative sandwiches, a friendly staff and an actual stroll-though window, this bread cafe should not be overlooked as a place to grab a bite with your kid. We recently tried......

We hope you're reading this weekend's blotter on a laptop outside somewhere. A homeless woman is being questioned concerning a fatal fire in Wrigleyville Saturday morning. Around 7 a.m. a fire broke out in a three-story apartment building at 3553 N. Fremont in a stairwell, quickly spreading throughout the structure. Three unidentified men and one woman, 24-year-old Jennifer Carlson, were found dead. Witnesses saw an unkempt woman hovering around three smaller fires the previous night......

Our appetite has been out of control lately, you'd think we were pregnant or something. But, no Chicagoist Jr's in the picture just yet. We blame the abnormal appetite on the hibernating we have doing because of the cold. Well, we are helping you join us this weekend as we bring you some delicious events. Head over the Ann Sather, 929 W. Belmont, for the annual Winter-Warm up. This tradition marks our coldest day on......

Alaska? Iceland? Actually, this is The Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentine Patagonia. And Lisa Lubin used to be there, but not any more. Let us back up to the beginning, though.. Lisa Lubin is a former TV producer at ABC7 who helped start the show "190 North." In her 9 years in Chicago she completely immersed herself in the city. She played in a summer tennis program, owned real estate, taught a TV production......

The political season is over for most of the country. Hell, it's over for most of the media, and all the other people that sit around and watch it like "Monday Night Football." For the next month and a half, most of us will be thinking about eggnog, latkes, Wild Turkey with grandma, and how to pick up that cashier at Jewel with the intriguing accent. But if there's one group of people that are......

Good news out of Fort Myers, Fla. this morning: the town’s annual Turkey Testicle Festival will be allowed to keep its name. And they just may have an Illinois town to thank for it. The Fort Myers town council voted 4-1 to keep the word “testicle” in the town’s annual ode to Tom Turkey’s twins, which raises money for a local food bank. When asked to comment, a representative for the local food bank said......

Admit it, you’re a little naughty, aren’t you? It’s OK. We’re fine with that. In fact, Chicagoist supports your right to be as nasty as you want to be. As long as you’re smart about it, and it doesn’t result in any deaths or break any laws. Well, at least not any of the important laws. Larry Filliung is suing an Elgin mental health facility for the right to see movies that include violence, suicide......

There are some ideas, good ideas, that are so simple in theory and execution; we wonder why no one has thought of them before. Ideas like: The yellow bikes in Finland. You grab one off the street, take it to where you need to go, leave it, then someone else can pick it up and use it; The program that has female inmates train dogs for the handicapped; Hybrid cars; The Roomba; Turkey Bacon; Salad......

As you travel to far-flung corners of the country for Turkey Tour 2005, a few Chicagoans are returning home to visit for the weekend. We’ve had a bit of fun at The Lovehammers’ expense here and there but they’ve got the last laugh with a sold out show tonight at Metro, an appearance at Q101’s sold-out Twisted show in December and a series of sold-out dates with INXS in the coming year. Start collecting those......

Chicagoist is only going to give this a modicum of space because just thinking about this gives us such incredible, mind-numbing, back-breaking cramps and there isn't enough Vicodin and Wild Turkey in the world to put us out of our misery. Look. This whole foie gras thing is getting way out of hand. Seriously, people, we cannot believe that there is a possibility that the city council will ban it. And all of you animal......

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,......

Chicagoist can normally give or take pesto, to be honest, but sometimes things made from your own garden taste better. So when our basil plant started to get out of hand, we had no choice but to blend it with olive oil, parmesan, pine nuts, and a little bit of garlic. Now like most of you, we can’t boast the acreage that Martha Stewart’s Turkey Hill home has. Or the ankle bracelet. But container......

Chicagoist can think of about umpteen million things they would rather do than go to the Taste of Chicago. At the top of this list is having someone take an Epilady and run it over every one of our hair folicles, dip us in a vat of nail polish remover, set us on fire, then douse our flaming, acetone-soaked, hairless bodies with gasoline. We're really that anti-Taste here at the Chicagoist offices. We wish......

It is tucked away, but once you find it you will know where to go when you need a break from shopping or a quick lunch if you work in the area. Café Nordstrom is hidden on the Fourth Floor of the Shopping Center between Kids and Juniors. You may have to wait in line for a few minutes, but the attentive staff and quality food will make it well worth it. The cafeteria style......

The Bears got the stuffing beat out of them once again, this time 21-7 by the lowly Dallas Cowboys. The offense played as imeptly as they have most of the season, again getting outscored by the Bears defense as the only Bears points came on a 45-yard R.W. McQuarters interception return for a TD. But at least the Bears looked cool this week, playing in some stylin' orange retro jerseys inspired by the ones the......

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time to reflect on people and things that have meaning in your life but for us it's another day off work and you know what that means: Par-tay! Tonight there are a ton of Thanksgiving-eve celebrations going on. Here's the rundown on a couple we think are a lot of bang for your buck - for more check Metromix! Thanksgiving Eve Pub Crawl A yearly tradition, the pub crawl......

Just when Chicagoist was beginning to think Craig Krenzel was the next Ben Roethlisberger (no, not really), the rookie QB and the rest of the Bears lost -- a 41-10 spanking by the Indianapolis Colts. While the Bears could rely on their defense and special teams to score when the offense couldn't the past few weeks, the Colts offense was just too much to compete against -- especially with Brian Urlacher out of the......

For the 3rd time in less than 10 years, more than one University of Chicago student has simultaneously won the Rhodes Scholarships. Andrew Kim and Ian Desai were among the 32 Americans selected as Rhodes Scholars for 2005. Chosen from 904 applicants, they will study at Oxford University on scholarship funds for 2 years. Here are the overachievers' bios: Ian Desai, 22, is from Brooklyn, NY and graduated in 2004 from the U of C,......

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Chicagoist is salivating at the thought of turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes. Can't hardly wait! To bide our time we've been surfing the interweb for all things related to preparing Thanksgiving dinner... and don't worry.. cooking Thanksgiving dinner from scratch can seem like a frightening task, but if Chicagoist can do it without making the entire family sick then anyone can! The Chopping Block is having classes on......

Today marks the halfway point of the Chicago International Film Festival. So now’s as good a time as any to catch up with what’s playing in the next week and how you can catch all the films you want to see. If you haven’t seen anything yet, consider this your wake-up call. First, start with the official site. Under Films and Events, you can search for films by category, date or even country. As you’re......

And then there are the photos that make us freak out. The ones we want to print out and get tattooed on ourselves, hang up in our houses, use as our wedding invitations, and just never stop looking at. Charles Weever Cushman snapped a ton of photos, and he left his 14,500 Kodachrome color slides to Indiana University. These slides span 1938-1969, and show Cushman�s travels to Austria, Canada, Belgium, France, Greece, Turkey, and the......