Whether you celebrate today as Valentine's Day, or Singles Awareness Day, we hope you'll keep in mind this One Truth about us here at Chicagoist: everything we do, we do it for you. more ›

If you need some last-minute treats for your sweetheart (or for yourself, let's be honest) try these two decadent chocolate recipes. more ›

(Legendary Chicago-based photographer Art Shay has taken photos of kings, queens, celebrities and the common man in a 60-year career. In this week's look at his archives, Art is in a romantic mood for Valentine's Day.) more ›

Pasta Puttana has created a 3-course gourmet meal that requires only a tiny bit of cooking but will blow your valentine away. more ›

The Willis Tower Skydeck is hosting a Valentine's Day Breakfast on "The Ledge," the thrilling (or scary) glass skyboxes installed in 2009. more ›

This Valentine's Day, ditch the expensive dinners and bouquets of roses. Instead, take a cooking class with your sweetie and have some fun together. more ›

The game-focused restaurant means it literally - they're running an all-heart Valentine's Day Menu. more ›

Affordable ideas and specials around Chicago for Valentine’s Day. more ›

In the coming weeks, we'll build up to Valentine's Day with true love recipes - romantic and sexy foods that you will want to make with (and for) your Valentine. First, Sparkling Vodka Cranberry Snacks. more ›

With this being Valentines Day and the mayoral campaign heading into its possible final week, we though we'd have some fun and make some Valentines Day cards for the respective primary challengers. more ›

Bring on more sexy Valentine's Day recipes! Valentine’s Day and chocolate go hand in hand. But instead of wantonly stuffing our faces with boxes of chocolates, let’s try to keep Chicago svelte, shall we? Pavlova is a lighter, less-fattening dessert that is sure to please your main squeeze. You don’t have to sacrifice the chocolate; instead of the traditional vanilla, this recipe uses cocoa powder and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. This Valentine’s day, try making our cocoa pavlova for your significant other and let us know if chocolate really is an aphrodisiac. more ›

Scrambling to find your valentine a sweet treat? Make a quick stop at Beard Papa in Block 37, where they are offering delicious and pretty French pastries and puffs to celebrate the season of love. For this weekend only, Beard Papa’s menu will feature a heart-shaped Paris-Brest, La Frais Paris-Brest and Chocolate Raspberry cream puffs. more ›

One surefire way to shower affection on your Valentine is to mix up a beautiful libation. Hand-crafting a cocktail, with love of course, has the thoughtful-romantic-gesture angle covered, with the added benefit of melting away any rough edges on the evening ahead. (Let's see flowers do that.) In putting together our trio, we stuck to the classic V-Day palette of pinks and reds while steering clear of the overly sweet or just plain silly. In other words, cocktails you'll actually want to drink. more ›

When we were single, we hated this time of year. All those damn couples with their candy hearts, mushing up the place - gag. On the other hand, what better way to celebrate Valentine's day than to stop being single? There are a few events out there for the single man or woman looking for love, so buy your tickets now. more ›

Rare is the person that will readily admit that he or she needs a little help in the bedroom. Yet if we were really such outstanding lovers all of the time, the adult novelties business would not be the multi-billion dollar industry it is. Let's face it, whether it is in the warm up or the execution, we can all use a little extra "somethin' somethin'" once in awhile. Making love, for what the cliches are worth, really is like building a fire. Having a little extra kindling on hand is never a bad idea. Enough with the tacky metaphors though. This is a food column. Let's talk aphrodisiacs, folks! more ›

Our loyal readers know how much we love flowcharts, especially when they have to do with food and booze. This chart from Foodzie will take you through all possible relationship scenarios to help you decide what to buy your man, starting with the length of the relationship and how good your last name sounds with his. Result? Bourbon, Bacon, Beer or nothing. What do you end up with? more ›

Valentine's Day is a contentious holiday. Some love it while others detest it, and these feelings are usually contingent on who accompanies us on any particular February 14th. I asked the Chicagoist foodies to tell me their favorite things about Valentine's Day, defined however they liked. Single, coupled, fine dining or home on the couch - these are our favorite. Caitlin prefers wine to chocolate, Minna is annoyed by American V-Day, John likes trashy heart-shaped candy. If you have a great story, add it in the comments. more ›

As a follow up to our suggestion that you cook at home for Valentine’s Day this year, we want to offer you some titillating recipes. We hope they will get your engines running. Mussels are said to be a natural aphrodisiac - in mythology, Aphrodite comes from the sea, so shellfish are naturally sexy, right? It’s actually more than that. Mussels contain amino acids that trigger increased levels of sex hormones, which make you want to be more sexually active. Schwing! What are we waiting for? more ›

Planning on showering your love with an abundance of sweets? Give a gift that gives twice, with the delicious desserts from the Sweet Miss Giving’s bakery, a social enterprise operation where more than 50% of profits go directly to the Chicago House. Not ready to venture too far, given the remains of the recent snowpocalypse? Sweet Miss Giving’s launched a food truck last month, bringing those sweet treats to you! more ›

Geja's is such a great spot for Valentine's day, and they are running a whole series of amazing deals in the week leading up to the big love holiday. On February 7th, bring in proof of years married (defined by geja's as "wedding license, cocktail napkins or anything else that shows your names and the year married" so we don't think you have much to worry about) and each year gets you 2% off your food. So, if you've been married for 10 years, 20% off. more ›

Looking for romance and ambiance for valentine day that won’t break the bank? Lincoln Park’s neighborhood favorite, Simply It, is offering a Valentines weekend specials of flavorful, Vietnamese inspired seafood aphrodisiacs in addition to their stellar regular menu. more ›

Almost everyone loves to get candy for Valentine's Day. Some people may object, complaining that your gift will ruin their diet. They are lying. Buy them candy anyway. This year, buy candy from two of Chicago's best local candy makers - truffle truffle and Katherine Anne Confections. We're well acquainted with the decadent products from both companies, and their offerings are sure to get you a Valentine's kiss. more ›

Yesterday, we brought you a modest, casual Valentine's day affair. We know that some of you want to be swept off your collective feet, and others want to do the sweeping. If your valentine is into fine dining in the finest of surroundings, consider booking at Tru for your V-day dinner. True, it may not be as trendy as Alinea or as challenging as Moto, but that might not be what you want on a romantic night out. Rather, relax back into subdued perfection. more ›

For the first in our series of Valentine's Day dinners, we wanted to start with something a little informal. Some of us want to do something interesting and fun, but don't want to drop $200 a person. This year, Valentine's Day is on a Monday. After a full Monday of work, many couples might not be interested in celebrating - we always make a point of doing our valentine's celebration during the preceding weekend. Enter redFLAME more ›

Yes, Pumpkin Head is back and he's looking for love. more ›

Whether you're happily coupled or bitterly single on this February 14, we all know what the dating trenches are like. We've all lived out our fair share of rejection, drunken regrets and yes, even sometimes, poopy pants. The storytelling gurus at 2nd Story decided to compile some stories of failed happily ever afters, and tonight you can hear them at Mismatched: Horror Stories from Chicago's Dating Front. more ›

Anthony wrote eloquently a couple weeks back about how he doesn't like to dine out for Valentine's Day. We agree with his sentiments, but we also recognize why most folks do scramble for reservations every February. more ›

SWF ISO a man into the great outdoors. You like the feel of grass, snow, mud and pavement under your feet and aren't afraid to make the world your restroom, when nature calls. You don't own a car, because let's face it, that's just silly. You enjoy the company of others, but sometimes you just need your space (and a 6-hour daytime nap on the couch). You're outdoorsy, but the finer things in life excite you equally; a well-worn fur coat, the taste of designer shoes, a steak you didn't order, but dined on anyways. You're a good-looking, silver-haired fellow with a beard who lives a life of leisure and is ready for his playmate and partner. All you need to know about me is that I'm tall and thin with curly-blond hair, a great smile and totally down with doggie style. Let's make this Valentine's Day one to remember. more ›

We're putting the finishing touches to a BIG HONKIN' Valentine's weekend dinner roundup, but wanted to share this for our more frugal readers. You know who you are. more ›

As we approach that pinkest, sweetest, most-chocolate-flavored of all days, I have a confession to make: I hate dining out on Valentine’s Day. There. I said it. I know there are thousands of restaurant PR professional out there who just collapsed to the ground clutching their once-beating hearts, but I hate dining out on Valentine’s Day. more ›