January 2024

Chicago magazine

Chicago Magazine - the Definitive Voice on Chicago!

Chicago magazine1 min read
Chicago Magazine
EDITOR IN CHIEF Terrance Noland DESIGN DIRECTOR David Syrek DEPUTY EDITOR Stanley Kay DINING EDITOR Amy Cavanaugh PHOTO DIRECTOR Michael Zajakowski ART DIRECTOR Elizabeth Carlisle CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Kelly Aiglon (Found) Edward Robert McClelland (T
Chicago magazine1 min read
Birthday Blade
AFTER HAVING A JAPANESE-STYLE kitchen knife made for him by hand, as detailed in “Taming the Fire” (page 60), writer Laurence Gonzales decided he wanted to give it to his son, Jonas, for his 21st birthday. There was only one problem: “In our family,
Chicago magazine1 min read
Physician, Heal Thyself
IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO LIVE HEALTHY, IT OUGHT TO BE a doctor, right? That was the notion behind having contributing writer Web Behrens interview four physicians about their own wellness routines for “Top Docs 2024” (page 72). One thing that struck Be
Chicago magazine1 min read
Pizza Showdown
A triangular slice on the cover? @gailog via X You guys are killin’ me. I’m trying to do intermittent fasting and just looking at this cover is making my stomach rumble. Not cool! @MarkNYC64 via X No Al’s of Warrenville? Fraud list. @bbculp via X Flo
Chicago magazine1 min read
City Of Big Questions
Q: What was the coldest day in Chicago history? On January 20, 1985, an air mass sweeping east from the Rocky Mountains hit Chicago at 6 a.m., coinciding with the predawn chill. That sent the temperature at O’Hare plummeting to minus 27 degrees — a r
Chicago magazine1 min read
Talking Points
1 Rapper G Herbo is due to be sentenced Jan. 11 for running up $140,000 on stolen credit cards to rent luxury cars, charter private jets, vacation in Jamaica, and even buy a $10,000 Yorkie. He faces up to 25 years. 2 Illinois’s minimum wage is moving
Chicago magazine4 min read
Cops vs. Counselors
THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS 2015, CHICAGO POLICE RESPONDED TO A CALL FROM the father of a 19-year-old college student, Quintonio LeGrier, who was at his Austin home wielding a baseball bat, apparently in mental distress. LeGrier himself had called 911 th
Chicago magazine4 min read
The Ultimate Bioresearch Lab
THIS MONTH, A TEAM OF top medical researchers, chemists, biologists, and bioengineers in Chicago will open the best bioresearch center money can buy. It’s part of a national network of such sites that, together, have a lofty goal: to cure, prevent, o
Chicago magazine1 min readChemistry
Tiny Tech
A key to studying inflammation is developing the necessary nanotechnology—instruments small enough and sensitive enough to measure the plethora of biochemical processes that may play a role in causing or exacerbating the inflammatory process. Shana K
Chicago magazine2 min read
The Polar Vortex
YOU’VE PROBABLY ALREADY REACHED FOR YOUR PARKA UPON READING “polar vortex.” But for the blissfully uninitiated: When Chicago gets hit with one, crippling snowstorms can occur and temperatures can plummet 30 to 40 degrees below normal. We experience l
Chicago magazine1 min read
My Neighborhood Avalon Park
“I started going to this takeout spot in 2019. They have really good gumbo wings. They pour the roux from gumbo, like the sauce, on top of fried chicken wings.” 8100 S. Stony Island Ave. “This used to be a Black-owned dance school that started in the
Chicago magazine3 min read
Flight of Fancy
JESS ROBBINS, THE SINGER-songwriter who fronts the local synth-pop outfit Course, wasn’t willing to settle for just any venue or opening act for a show marking the release of the group’s second LP, the dreamy, atmospheric Tight Feathers. Which explai
Chicago magazine2 min read
Agenda
The second annual Comedy Gazelle Awards sees the zine of the same name both celebrating and sending up the city’s standup scene, with performances by some local favorites. Jan. 4. thedentheatre.com In UIC’s new exhibition Contemporary Ex-Votos: Devot
Chicago magazine2 min read
Pie for All
MAYA-CAMILLE BROUSSARD MAY have named Justice of the Pies for her late father, Stephen J. Broussard, an attorney who baked on weekends to relieve stress, but it was the work of her mother, Camille Billingslea, a retired physician at Stroger Hospital,
Chicago magazine2 min read
Veggie Delight
Who’s behind it: North Shore Distillery What it is: A bok-choy-based amaro that’s the latest in the distillery’s line of out-there limited edition products. It includes bitter melon and sarsaparilla. How to use it: A white Negroni: 1 ounce Bokamaro,
Chicago magazine1 min read
Ask the Dining Editor
Where’s a good place to dine solo? When I eat at a restaurant by myself, my preferred spot is at the bar, and I love the one at Elske in the West Loop. There you can order the tasting menu or go à la carte with the cheese plate, anchovies, and martin
Chicago magazine1 min read
Swipe Right
DENUCCI’S 503 W. Dickens Ave., Lincoln Park ■ Perfect order Grilled calamari ($21), chopped Italian salad ($17) ■ Eating at a new restaurant is like going on a first date. If your expectations aren’t met, the match is doomed. But if you keep coming b
Chicago magazine4 min read
Persian Soul
IF YOU’VE EVER SAT DOWN to a sumptuous Persian meal, then you’ll likely picture this: a table laden with stews, grilled meats, and a grand sabzi khordan, a platter piled high with fresh herbs like tarragon and cilantro, cubes of feta, crunchy raw veg
Chicago magazine2 min read
Wintry Mix
JANUARY IN CHICAGO BRINGS COMPETING IMPULSES. OUR HOLIDAY indulgences are over, our pants a little tight, our bodies starved for wholesome things. And yet the long, bitter nights call for comfort. At Pizza Matta, Jason Vincent offers a compromise of
Chicago magazine2 min read
The Hot List
1 ANELYA What A modern Ukrainian restaurant from chefs Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim (the couple behind Parachute) that speaks to Clark’s heritage Why Located in the chefs’ old Wherewithall space, Anelya offers fresh takes on Ukrainian cuisine, like a
Chicago magazine9 min read
“Accelerate Hard as You Can”
IT WAS THE LATE SPRING OF 1979, AND I’D RECENTLY LEFT MY JOB selling high-line cars at Loeber Motors on Clark Street, a couple of blocks from Rush Street’s corridor of nightclubs. The dealership was still sponsoring my Alfa Romeo racecar (we were win
Chicago magazine24 min readConstruction
Taming the Fire
Sam brought out what looked like a deck of tarot cards with nothing on them. No Hermit. No Hanged Man. No Fool. They were gray, thicker than ordinary cards, and clearly heavy in his hands. Inside of them a message waited. He had a long ritual to perf
Chicago magazine1 min read
Mila Felder
“I used to be a rhythmic gymnast, many years ago in Ukraine. I have made music and movement part of any exercise I do, because that makes it more likely to be successful and lasting. Over the last 10 years, my husband and I started doing ballroom dan
Chicago magazine18 min read
Looking For mr. Mr. Fungi
The videos I’ve been pouring over are dark and grainy, with quick cuts of light, the fast wheeze of paint followed by the clanging of the metal ball against the can. It’s also how I feel as I try to write this story — in the dark, with brief glimpses
Chicago magazine1 min read
John Pandolfino
“Every morning I have a cup of coffee with a bit of cream. At work, I have another. I maintain that until about 1, 2 o’clock, when I feel like I’ve got to eat something—usually a peanut butter sandwich, my healthy go-to. I guess I’m hip, because I’m
Chicago magazine1 min read
Pauline Camacho
“I try to limit carbs for me and my husband. Dinner will be protein and greens. We are from the Philippines, so rice was a big part of our diet growing up. We experimented with cauliflower rice, quinoa, lentils — just something different — and after
Chicago magazine2 min readDiet & Nutrition
Valluvan Jeevanandam
“I don’t like the treadmill because it’s high impact. My favorite is the elliptical, because it does upper and lower body and I can watch a TV show and not really think about it. Doing cardio comes out of necessity for me. I’ve done more than 1,500 h
Chicago magazine1 min read
Glass Act
A year of hosting Zoom parties during the pandemic left Chicago sisters Renee and Nicole Pettiford ready to raise a glass to a new endeavor: designing drinkware. “We’ve always enjoyed bringing people together,” says Renee. What started with rhineston
Chicago magazine3 min read
Theaster Gates
■ I’m not self-made. I’m the manifestation of something that was generationally in the making. I’m the realization of my mom’s and dad’s and grandmom’s dreams. I had eight sisters who loved me and a childhood where there was no disconnect between my
Chicago magazine2 min read
Spin Doctors
2843 N. CLARK ST., LAKE VIEW A North Side EDM destination for DJs from all over Origin story The bustling strip of Clark Street where this store sits was known as a “record store alley” when Gramaphone opened in 1969. Starting in the early ’80s, its

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