Best New Bars
A refined Japanese drinking den, an underground music venue that doubles as a beer mecca, a janitor’s closet serving killer martinis — these are just a few of our 20 favorites, ranked here.
Contributors: Ross Feighery
The New Do-Gooders
The innovators at these five upstart nonprofits are bringing out-of-the-box thinking to tough problems. And they’re getting results.
Watching the Detectives
You can run, but if John Frycek and his crew of private eyes are on your tail, good luck trying to hide.
A Prohibition-Era Tunnel
There’s more than spilled beer beneath your feet at this North Side bowling alley.
Caution! Weird Energy Ahead
Paranormal happenings in a West Loop alley
Paintings for the People
A one-of-a-kind art collection in a most unlikely place: a Chicago Park District field house on the South Side
A Basement Zoo
Peacocks, budgies, chickens, and a tortoise—it’s a real-life wild kingdom underneath this suburban home.
Slagel Family Farm
How a kid from rural Illinois transformed the tiny Slagel Family Farm into the hottest meat purveyor in Chicago