Features

The Road to Wellville
by Dennis Rodkin
In the land of bounty and all-you-can-eat buffets, lean living has finally taken hold. Even restaurants and grocery stores are making it easier to buy great food that’s also good for you.

Innocent Pleasures
by Jody Stern and Jill Rohde
A guide to 292 restaurants making it their mission to please your palate and help keep you trim

The Big Cheat
by Cynthia Hanson
An inside look at the ambition, resentments, and – most important – the teacher behind the Steinmetz High School cheating scandal

Is Chicago Suffering a Brain Drain?
by Bob Daily
Do the smart, the ambitious, and the talented always leave town to make their mark and their money on the coasts? Here’s our head count.

The Right Hand of Newt
by Greg Hinz
U.S. House Judiciary chairman Henry Hyde has become a force in Washington. Now will he tame his independent streak and step to the Gingrich beat?

Breakfast at Tiffany’s
photography by Stephen Orlick

“The lady” is back in fashion for fall, conjuring up the classic style and elegance of a Holly Golightly all dressed up for the ninties.

Departments

Letters

Frontlines
Charlton Heston recalls his North Shore days; biker poetry; suburban steeplechase; Caribbean sounds; and the perils of TV pilots

The Goods
by Jennifer Epstein
Hot rocks – from confections in bright colors to snaky diamond dazzle

Metro
by Greg Hinz
Could the Olympics play someday in Chicago? Plus, wooing suburbia at the Trib; political operative Paul Lis; and the looming battle for the bungalow belt

Modern Times
by Marcia Froelke Coburn
A group of U. of C. grads put out a high-powered maverick magazine.

Stage & Screen
by Penelope Mesic
Northlight opens its season with a hip, moving comedy by Terrence McNally.

Music
by Ted Shen
At Orchestra Hall, the musicians in Barenboim’s band are singing the blues.

Prime Time

Hot dates around town this month

Budget Beat
by Anne Spiselman

Too many Italian restaurants in Chicago? Apparently not. New places keep opening, and throngs of customers keep coming.

Dining
by Dennis Ray Wheaton
Several enterprising restaurateurs are scrambling to stay one chef ahead in the bistro game.

Sullivan’s Travels
by Terry Sullivan
you can still catch tasty shrimp along the Chicago River.