Features

Pleasure Principals
by Dennis Ray Wheaton and Anne Spiselman
Our dining critics applaud their 60 favorites – from the sparkle and grace of the Gold Coast’s Pump Room to the unassuming neighborhood charm of Lake View’s Blue Stem.

Da Rules
by Jonathan Eig
How did Richard M. Daley – often inarticulate, sometimes obsessed with the minuscule – become such a highly effective mayor? By following these seven management habits

Love Trouble
by Penelope Mesic
After Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida bombed in Atlanta, Disney called in the Goodman Theatre’s Robert Falls for a makeover. The star power is there, but can he save it?

The Passion of Dr. Swing
by Mary Abowd
Chicago’s latest dance craze is retro: Swing is the thing, and lindy hoppers in vintage fashions are gyrating, stomping, spinning out. A doctor leads the locomotion.

Cold Comfort
by Stacy Wallace-Albert
Seeing red in chilly scenes of winter – it’s the show-stopping, risky business color of power, passion, and celebration.

Departments

Letters

Contributors

Frontlines
Be nice to Jane Alderman – she can make you famous; funky hostess gifts to replace that boring bottle of wine; folk music legend John Prine returns to town.
Style Sheet
by Stacy Wallace-Albert
Waggish note cards, the charms of King Kong, tot T-shirts, pillow talk

Stage & Screen
by Penelope Mesic
Producer and director James Stern scores with a Michael Jordan I-Max movie and more.

Real Lives
by Marcia Froelke Coburn
Cabaret jazz singer Spider Saloff knows how to swing, and now she’s looking forward to the fame of radio days.

Sullivan’s Travels
by Terry Sullivan
Paradise is a health club that features bathing, napping, and a satisfying after-workout puff on a cigar.

Politics
by Richard E. Cohen
Chicago’s congressional delegation delivers little these days for the folks back home. Blame a lack of unity and a loss of clout.

Reporter
by Rebecca Cutler
Last spring, when three Beach Park beauty queens got their crowns taken away, the resulting fracas wasn’t very pretty.

Media
by Steve Rhodes
The Tribune keeps battling for those rich suburban readers – and keeps squaring off against a highly successful upstart.

Travel
by Kevin Garrett
South Florida dangles the irresistible lure of Miami Beach and the Keys – and tourists take the bait.

Expert Witness
by Tara Croft
Author/lawyer Scott Turow’s three R’s: research, writing, and reality

Chicago Guides

Prime Time

In November
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus sports a carousel of live animals, and the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago opens the gift of a Nutcracker.

Restaurants
Outposts
Treats Loopers have long enjoyed – now at a location near you: Harry Caray’s Rosemont, Magnum’s in Rolling Meadows, and, in Northbrook, Bice