Features

Bargain Dining
by Dennis Ray Wheaton with Jeff Ruby and Joanne Trestrail
Chicago is full of restaurants that offer good food for not much money; you just have to know where to look. The best place to start in on page 104. We’ve gathered a definitive package of 90-plus great spots-ethnic, classic, nocturnal, and otherwise-where your dollar goes the distance.

Betting Her Life
by Bryan Smith
Barbara Hermansen and her husband, successful lawyers, lived happily with their two kids on the North Shore. But after a trip to Las Vegas she developed an unshakable gambling addiction. Was the terrible ordeal caused by a medication side effect?

Studio City
by Deborah Wilk
As the financial forecast of the art market grows ever brighter, so do the prospects for the many working artists who call Chicago their home. Here, we offer a cross section of the city’s broad range of artists, from those only recently emerged from art school to others creating the mature work of their mid-careers.

The Gay ’30s
by Lucinda Fleeson
For a short but wild time in the twenties and thirties, Chicago was home to an openly gay culture that thrived in nightclubs and cabarets-a period historians called the “Pansy Craze.” Among the voyeurs were local sociologists who dutifully recorded the proceedings.

Fashion: Night Moves
by Stacy Jones
For formal evenings on the town this holiday season, there are two ways to go-the latest gowns and wraps are simple and chic or sensational and ravishing. Those who are often out and about can suit their mood and have it all.

Departments

Letters

Contributors

Arena
Two South Siders hook up a funky new apparel line; Northwestern law professor Steve Calabresi tells why he helped found the Federalist Society; why Converse picked Chicagoan Dwyane Wade to anchor its new signature basketball shoe; Laurie Anderson dishes NASA; wine for the holidays; Ana Gasteyer’s style secrets; more. PLUS: The Shopper, Style Sheet, and Sales Check

How We Spend
by Clare La Plante
Chicago keeps making it onto lists of the fattest cities. Are Chicagoans also fiscally unfit? PLUS: Oral hygiene spending, and the power of prayer in mind-body therapy

Law | Loss’s Cause
by Lester Munson
Long after the state supreme court went out of its way to reject him, Edward Loss finally became a lawyer in Illinois-bringing closure to one of the court’s bitterest chapters.

Art | The Lost World
by Amber Holst
After his death, the Chicago janitor Henry Darger became an icon among outsider artists. Now, 30 years later, much of his legacy is at home-in New York.

Reporter | Help from Above
by Jeff Ruby
The medical transport helicopter team at the U. of C. Hospitals leads the nation in safety, but these pros will be the first to tell you: accidents do happen.

Deal Estate
by Dennis Rodkin
A battle over its landmark status could affect the sale of Michael Segal’s North Shore estate, which hit the market with a $22-million price tag.

Nightspotting
by Sarah Preston
The sprawling Lucky Strike Lanes is more than an upscale bowling alley; it’s also a sports bar, pool hall, and wine bar. PLUS: The skinny on Minibar

Classifieds

The Closer
by Jeff Ruby
Many of the streets in our fair city are appropriately named after great men of achievement and distinction. Or are they?

Events

Chicago Guide
During November: Just a bagful of popcorn makes this sing-along go down, in the most delightful way. The 1964 Hollywood version of the much-loved Mary Poppins series for children is screened at the Music Box so that fans of Julie Andrews can sing along with such songs as the tongue-twisitng “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and “A Spoonful of Sugar,” with an emcee who will tune up everyone’s tonsils.
Marquee: A preview of coming attractions

Food & Drink

The definitive guide to Chicago’s top restaurants
This month: Seven new and updated listings, including L’Anne and Japonais
Dish: Ten hottest restaurants right now; gossip; tapping the charcuterie trend; Q&A with Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz, who are opening the ambitious Landmark across from the Steppenwolf Theatre