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Dining Out: Head of the Brass

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It’s all hustle and bustle at Brasserie Ruhlmann. Twenty-first-century brasseries bear little resemblance to the original breweries they started out to be or, more recently, to restaurants where beer is served, and Chicago’s newest bids to the title are no exception. Old Town Brasserie and Brasserie Ruhlmann emphasize fairly classic food and wine by acclaimed … Read more

Bright Pink is the New Pink

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Bright Pink founder Lindsay Avner was all smiles at a fundraiser for her year-old organization Friday night at Le Passage. “It’s amazing to be 25 and know what your purpose is—why you were put on this planet,” Avner told me in between hugging guests and doling out thanks for helping spread Bright Pink’s mission (the group provides resources for young women at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer). “This is definitely our biggest event yet,” she said. “But more than that, we had more than 50 high-risk young women reach out and…

Bye-Bye, Kevin

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Kevin (9 W. Hubbard St.; 312-595-0055), after six years in River North, is closing. “There are too many Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, too many Januarys and Julys and Augusts,” said Kevin and Alan Shikami, the owners, in an e-mail. “You wait for the business to come back, but the years pass and the sales decline. We have put the restaurant on the market and at the end of February we will close the doors.” This is sad news, especially…

Dish Deux: Sky-High Breakfast

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Breakfast for Two at Sixteen
For the first 15 minutes or so, it was just the two of us, which meant that we were the most fascinating people in the room. The staff kind of hovered. Even though construction of the 92-floor building won’t be finished until summer of 2009, things looked pretty swanky from where we were sitting. Which just happened to be in the River Room, in cerulean blue chairs next to one of the 30-foot-high windows, with a very nice view of the Wrigley Building’s clock tower. It’s a striking space, full of beautiful swirly-grained African wood.

As soon as we sat down, our waiter asked if we wanted freshly squeezed orange juice. Sure. Skinny shooter glasses filled with yummy berry juice came as…

The Concierge Is In: Weekend Update; Bowl Bars

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I’ve often fantasized about starting my own concierge business. I know that sort of thing flies in cities like Vegas—maybe not so much in Chicago—so instead it’s a service I offer free to friends, friends of friends, and, of course, friends of Last Girl Standing. Want to know what’s going on today, tomorrow, and this weekend, dear nightlife enthusiasts? Keep reading and post your comments below. This is your forum, too.

Last week a loyal LGS reader and newly single friend who’s been out of the nightlife loop for a while charged me with planning a night out for her and another friend, both in their 30s. She sent me this e-mail…

More Red Meat in River North

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Age Enlightenment

Fred Ramos, a veteran chef who most recently ran the show at Room 21 (and Gioco, Printer’s Row, and Pili.Pili), has signed on with a large-scale steak house in the heart of River North. “It’s going to be a modern steak house—the new hip scene,” says Ramos, who will be competing with nearby beef palaces Keefer’s, Ruth’s Chris, Sullivan’s, and Harry Caray’s. The still-unnamed restaurant, owned by Chicago investors, will have homemade pastas, an ambitious rooftop deck, and its own dry-aging room. (Ramos has been hanging out in a couple of local restaurants to learn dry aging.) Expect a…

Bada Bing, Bada Burlesque

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Burlesque is nothing new to Chicago; the peekaboo-performance revival has been working its way through local venues for the last several years. What is new to town, though, is Ivan Kane’s Forty Deuce, a troupe with home bases in Hollywood and Vegas that claims boldface names such as George Clooney among its patrons.

This past weekend marked the troupe’s début Chicago run, Thursday through Saturday at the recently reopened Le Passage—an ideal venue, since the subterranean club boasts its own speakeasy vibe…

Deal of the Week—Carlos Zambrano’s New Home

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List Price: $2.8 million
Sale Price: $2.66 million
The Property: Come spring’s return of the Cubs to Wrigley Field, pitcher Carlos Zambrano will be calling this 13-room, vaguely Prairie-style house his seasonal home. On January 18th, Zambrano closed on his purchase of the three-year-old house, which has six bedrooms, four full and three partial baths, and two fireplaces. Set in Chicago’s Lake View neighborhood on a block that was, until six years ago, industrial property, the 6,700-square-foot house stands on an extra-wide lot: 37.5 feet (the standard city lot is 25 feet wide). The house was designed by…