V-Day Redo

By Rebecca Little

That whole line about love meaning you never have to say you’re sorry? Forget it. Guys who screwed up Valentine’s can make good by taking her to River North Chicago Dance Company’s passion-themed weekend engagement, featuring a world-première duet set to Etta James’s “At Last.” (FYI, dating illiterati: It doesn’t get much more romantic.) Shows run 8 p.m. Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th at Harris Theater (205 E. Randolph Dr.; 312-334-7777). Tickets are...

The Singles Bracket: The Championship Game

The guitar lessons were great, but did the crush on the teacher remain just that—a crush?

And what goes better with a pick-up line—a Black Cat espresso or a Miller Light on a doily?

We present the championship match-up...

Love Can’t Wait: Last-Minute Valentine’s Ideas

If you're as far behind on Valentine's as I am—sorry, Boyfriend—you're still looking for gift ideas. (Good thing he's more forward-thinking than I am; a bouquet of roses was waiting for me when I got home last night, and he's had reservations at a surprise restaurant for months. Go ahead: Insert gagging sounds here.) I know it's uncool to admit you like Valentine's—I'm with you. But let's be honest: You're secretly hoping for a romantic night out. It's OK. We won't tell anyone. But we will tell you where to get your last-minute V-Day on, with options for everyone from the haters to the hopelessly in love. As of this writing, the spots below were still taking limited reservations, but be sure to call ahead...

Celebrity Beat: Golden Grammys

This past Sunday, I attended the 50th annual Grammy Awards in L.A., where it was a balmy 80 degrees—but who's keeping track? This was my fourth time out (it's a pleasure trip, and I pay my own way), and it never gets old. I'll leave the debate over the Grammys' relevance to other folks. I'm a sucker for awards shows—writers' strike and all—but give me the Grammys over the Oscars any day; my concerts-to-movies ratio is around ten to one. Not to mention the fact that Chicago made an especially strong showing this year...

Hallmark Holiday

Brittney's pick: Valentine's Day can be too mushy sometimes. I love this shot by Flickr user Ankylosaur. The single heart and stark black-and-white trees are at once heartwarmingly cute and desolately chilling. They perfectly encapsulate the moods of both lovebirds and the lovelorn on this day.

Esther's pick: I can't imagine anyone would ever buy such a demonic-looking stuffed animal for his/her loved one. Myself? Chocolates in a heart-shaped suede box from a buddy who probably would have bought the scary bear below had he seen it first...

On The Market—A Hanging Stair in Logan Square

By Dennis Rodkin

List Price: $1.149 million
The Property: Behind the dignified 103-year-old façade of this Logan Square greystone stands a contemporary interior by the ultra-stylish Funke Architects. Its most dramatic element is a hanging staircase of steel, glass, and maple. It floats beneath a rooftop pop-up of clerestory windows that let daylight cascade all the way to the basement, creating a far lighter mood than the characteristically dark interior of a historical greystone.

That lightness carries through the three-story structure. The main floor is an airy layout of formal and informal spaces, including a sleek kitchen with...

Naan-Stop Excitement

By Penny Pollack and Jeff Ruby

The One Thing Randolph Ain’t Got

Angela Hepler-Lee, already a queen of Randolph Street as a partner in crowd-magnets Sushi Wabi and De Cero, adds another jewel to the crown in April: Veera Sway (844 W. Randolph St.; 312-491-0844), a 50-seat modern Indian spot next door to Sushi Wabi. “Indian for Americans is really untouched,” says Hepler-Lee, who named the restaurant for a chef in London who inspired the idea. The plan: “approachable Indian” in a rustic-yet-contemporary space designed by Amelia Briske, who masterminded a gut rehab of an old produce stand. The kitchen, run by Moto alum Tyler Williams, will be equipped with two tandoor ovens—one for bread, one for everything else; his menu will include coconut-seared scallops and lamb sausage with apricots and almonds, plus classics like chicken tikka masala. Williams, a self-described “mutt from Michigan,” is bolstering his knowledge of the cuisine in the home of Ranjana Bhargava, whom he identifies...

Grammy Gallery

Last Girl Standing spent last weekend in sunny L.A. (lucky Last Girl!), where she attended Sunday's 50th annual Grammy Awards. Look for a full report later this week; in the meantime, ooh and ah (or get smug and snarky) over the photos in her Grammy gallery...

The Singles Bracket: Final Four

Even though an anonymous commenter called it a place "full of dumb yupps," the soccer league at Sport & Social beat out the marathon running group.

But what will happen when kicking balls goes head-to-head with waiting for a cold one at the Friendly Confines?

The field has narrowed yet again. Here, the Final Four...

Housing Bulletin—U.S. Representative Melissa Bean on the Mortgage Crisis

By Dennis Rodkin

In the mid-1980s, when Melissa and Alan Bean bought their first home, in Elmhurst, they didn’t know until after they had signed all the papers that they had taken out a very risky mortgage, one that included a provision for “negative amortization”—the alluring possibility of paying less per month than the interest accrued. (A loan like that can quickly turn into an upside-down situation, where the homeowner owes more than the house is worth.) It was a mistake the couple corrected as soon as they understood what they had done.

Two decades later, Melissa Bean, now representing Illinois’ 8th District, (Chicago’s northwest and far north suburbs) in the U.S. House of Representatives, is trying to help correct the effects of high-risk...

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