SHOCK OF THE NEW: From music to architecture to literature and beyond, Chicago has often defied the placid Midwestern stereotypes. We pick the city’s top 40 artistic breakthroughs Read more
The Properties: Three suburban houses have each sold for exactly $1 million in the month since I reported what $1 million buys in the city. Let’s take a look at what suburban homebuyers are getting for that benchmark price right now... Read more
FROM NOVEMBER 1991: After 33 years in Congress and facing his toughest race in decades, Dan Rostenkowski may be feeling his political mortality at last. But he’s the same fierce, engaging, conflicted man who rose from the streets of the Northwest Side to the peaks of Capitol Hill Read more
Arun Sampanthavivat, the chef at the renowned upscale-Thai restaurant Arun’s, is teaming up with two business partners, the city of Chicago, and Thai investors to build Thai Town Center (4461 N. Pulaski Rd.), a kind of Thai community center that will feature a restaurant with Arun’s cuisine... Read more
I’m kinda-sorta looking for a new sofa, so stopped by Urbanest to check out its new(ish) space, a few storefronts south of the original location on Clark Street, to see if inspiration would hit... Read more
A FRIENDSHIP IN WINTER: How a 34-year-old high-school dropout and recovering alcoholic found inspiration and a buddy in the irascible, imperious Dan Rostenkowski, the fallen political giant Read more
By Penny Pollack and Graham Meyer with Margaret Rhodes
Bienvenue, Maude
Into the restaurant-rich Randolph Street area, the owner of Gilt Bar, Brendan Sodikoff, is bringing Maude’s Liquor Bar (840 W. Randolph St.; no phone yet), which we first heard about from the 312 Dining Diva... Read more
By Penny Pollack and Graham Meyer with Denise Peñacerrada
So Is It Actually “Ocho”?
A former auto-body shop in far west West Town will soon house 8 (2501 W. Chicago Ave.; no phone yet), the latest project from Hubie Greenwald (Motel). “[It’s] street food inspired by what you find in and around Buenos Aires,”... Read more
