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Features The Best of Chicago, Our annual review of the things that make Chicago great-the city’s best in drinking and dining, playing and primping, stopping and shopping, including restaurants for a romantic dinner or a power lunch; venues to find the date of your dreams; cool spots to get jacked on java or tranquil with … Read more

Guilty Pleasures

Keeping constantly to the straight and narrow can turn life into a dreary poison. To provide an escape, our confessional correspondents reveal their sinful secrets, forbidden fantasies, hedonistic hideaways, and diet-damning indulgences—everything from a luxurious lunchtime spa visit to a wild night of WhirlyBall to some sexy lingerie and eye-opening erotica. What’s your pleasure?

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Features On the Road, by Matthew Gilson, Geoffrey Johnson, Jeff Ruby, Cassie Walker, and Deborah Wilk Time to hit the highway for five fun summer road trips. Sample the cuisine of Indianapolis and Cincinnati; scour the antiques shops of Iowa and Wisconsin; catch a movie at one of the Midwest’s last drive-in theatres; visit Louis … Read more

Agent Zero

A streetwise kid who later became a Baptist prison minister, Mark Rizzo made a name for himself as a former FBI agent who could lecture authoritatively on crime. That is, until his recent arrest uncovered a web of deception.

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Features Best New Restaurants, by Dennis Ray Wheaton and Jeff Ruby This year’s roster features familiar names, gifted newcomers, and every possible use for the cocoa bean that you can imagine. What Does Junior Want?, by Steve Rhodes Before he rewrites the Constitution, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.-son of the famous Reverend-plans on revitalizing his district, … Read more

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Features Where to Get Stuff Fixed, by Magda Krance Things fall apart. Or stop working, come loose, get dinged, rip, or simply lose their luster. Luckily, scores of Chicago businesses specialize in making the old and the nicked-from apparel to appliances to watches and wood-seem new again. A guide to the best. The Church vs. … Read more

The Lincoln Crusade

For more than 20 years, a dedicated group of individuals struggled to make the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum a reality. When some observers suggested that Governor George Ryan wanted to turn the project into a patronage dump, the Sun-Times columnist Steve Neal fought one of his last battles.