Where to Get Your Car Fixed

Need a good mechanic? here are 44 of the best auto-repair shops in the Chicago area

Robert Krughoff

The World According to Chris Ware

On the eve of a major exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Oak Park cartoonist (along with some of his contemporaries) offers an introduction to a genre that is successfully blurring...

Cassie Walker

Home Fires

What do you do when your maid won't clean? In an acclaimed new comedy about class and gender, Wilmette native Sarah Ruhl brings her brand of postmodern magical realism to the Goodman

Rachel Shteir

Heavy Metal

Shine on in reflective shades of bronze, silver, and gold

Stacey Jones

Head of the Class

Chicago’s eight “selective enrollment” public high schools are fielding some of the city’s top graduates, giving parents an attractive alternative to fleeing for the suburbs. But are these...

Monica Ginsburg

Best New Restaurants 2006

26 great places to Eat Now

Dennis Ray Wheaton and Joanne Trestrail

Table of Contents

Got Soul?

After a DePaul student placed his eternal soul on eBay, The Closer searched the site for a few locally based items that might lift his spirits.

Graham Meyer

Let's Do Launch

Sarah Preston

Split Decision

The husband-and-wife team that ran Alberto-Culver announced their separation even as they were negotiating the breakup of the beauty products company. Has an ending been scripted for this colorful,...

Judith Crown

Pitch Man

At a meeting in L.A., the screenwriter Jay Lavender wanted to pitch Vince Vaughn on a new project, but the actor had another idea. The result: The Break-Up, Lavender's first movie, made in Chicago.

Noah Isackson

How We Spend - The Spruced Roost

Chicagoans remodel their homes; hybrid cars sell slowly; Mother's Day flowers

Clare La Plante

Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman - Peter Carey

The Short List

Self-help with Scarlett; a South Side soprano gets Bach; puppets, squid, and other items for May

Style Sheet

Stacey Wallace-Albert

Sky High

Chicago Sky forward Stacey Lovelace took a break to share eight things you don't know about professional women basketball players.

Karin Horgan Sullivan

Rap Sheet

Think hip-hop theatre is a novel concept? These Chicagoans have been doing it for years.

Emily L. Hauser

Prairie Home Companions

In May, eight private homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries are open to the public during the 32nd annual Wright Plus house walk. Chicago talked with two River Forest...

Lauren Murrow

Note Worthy

A few years ago, singer Jackie Allen retired her pipes. Then a leading jazz label called.

Kevin McKeough

New Art Examiners

Just in time for art season, four up-and-coming contemporary curators anoint a few rising stars.

Deborah Wilk

Kiddie Couture

Two designing women—one of them a mom—test their concept for a fun and funky children's store in thriving Glencoe.

Stacy Wallace-Albert

Home Staging DIY

HGTV's Monica Pedersen wants to boost your home's resale price.

Dennis Rodkin

Free Verse

Poet-professor John Keene riffs on abstraction, chaos, and getting bullied as a kid in St. Louis.

Tom Mullaney

Fevered Pitch

A century ago, Chicago was hot for the White Sox. Sound familiar?

Geoffrey Johnson

Dino Dilemma

What is Jane? Inspired by this mysterious find, a family creates a documentary with a Jurassic plot.

David Murray

Critical Mass

Noteworthy new book releases for May

Papa Bear Slept Here

A grand piano sits in the space once occupied by the bedroom of George Halas, whose lakefront apartment, now part of a larger home, is up for sale

Dennis Rodkin

Deal Estate Condos

Under Siege

With Legion Records, Rudy Acosta has created a successful local hip-hop kingdom. But his plan to build a humongous castlelike mansion has riled his Independence Park neighbors and incited them into...

Lee Scheier

Recipe File

Corner Cooks' Garlic Lamb Kebabs with Chimichurri

Pushing the Pastry Envelope

Tobacco meringues? Pliable chocolate pudding? Dessert menu designers are challenging our taste buds, and we asked four of the best what gets their creative juices flowing.

Deborah Wilk

Heat Wave

Spacca Napoli's special oven.

Dining Tidbits

Budget Beat, Morph