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On the Rocks ontherockschicago.com When friends first started gushing about the healing power of crystals, I brushed it off as New Agey nonsense. But after stepping into On the Rocks, I realized how easily the interest could snowball into obsession. The store stocks a large variety of sparkling, visually mesmerizing crystals; the pleasing sight of moldavite and tourmaline is enough reason to start a collection. If you care to explore the stones’ potential beyond their beauty, the staff is extremely knowledgeable about spiritual practices and the energies ascribed to each piece, and classes in tarot reading and Reiki are regularly offered....

In total, Kraszyk presented the beef tongue four different ways. She stewed some of the braised meat with arbol chiles, Tropea onion, and the braising liquid, and served it with toast brushed with fat she’d reserved from the braising process. She also pickled some small pieces of the braised tongue; fried tongue was the final touch (Kraszyk shaved thin slices off the braised tongue and dehydrated them before deep-frying). To balance out the meaty richness, she also added fresh components like shaved radish and foraged greens, dressed with pickling liquid, salt, lime juice, olive oil, and white soy—which Kraszyk says “adds a great umami quality and depth of flavor....

“We like the sea and the lake,” says Özkan Yilmaz, the owner of Turkitch, a new café in Lakeview just a half-mile from the second largest body of water in the Americas. That’s why he reckons so many Turks choose to live in the neighborhood, and why, consequently, there are so many Turkish restaurants there, from Pera Turkish Kitchen to Cafe Orchid to ZiZi’s and more. Anyone who’s ever stood in line for doner (or al pastor, or shawarma) understands what a grave disappointment it is to approach a glistening, sizzling, spinning monument of meat, only to be served old scraps that had been previously set aside for expediency, maybe even only minutes before....

Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest styles seen in Chicago. Amber manages to mix two very loud prints while still keeping her look minimal and well-assembled. She achieves that feat by sticking to a color scheme and by letting her solid-black top act as a “breather.” See her cool tasseled platform Oxfords right after the jump.

On Friday the 13th of February, a veritable holiday for horror fans, a lanky man whose face is plastered in black-and-white corpsepaint breezes through the downtown Hilton on Michigan Avenue wielding a chain saw. “Killer” Kyle Skogquist, the 33-year-old guitarist for long-running Twin Cities horror-metal band Impaler, is on the hunt for Gunnar Hansen, who played Leatherface, the psychopathic killer with a mask made of human skin, in the 1974 cult classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre....

Clocking in at 95 minutes, City Lit’s production of Voice of Good Hope (directed by Terry McCabe) isn’t long enough to capture the multitudes of its subject— the indomitable U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan, the first African American Congresswoman from the deep south. Jumping straight from her childhood as a wise dark-skinned Black child (a delightful MiKayla Boyd, alternating in the role with McKenzie Boyd) to her career as a savvy politician, playwright Kristine Thatcher employs only two key moments in Jordan’s professional life, casting her as a John McCain figure—occasionally willing to cross the aisle for unity, yet ultimately failing to act in a critical moment....

Publican Quality Bread 808 W. Lake 312-605-1618 publicanqualitymeats.com Runner-Up: Hewn

Cedille Records @CedilleRecords Founded in 1989 by James Ginsburg, Cedille Records is hardly a secret in the world of classical music, where it’s widely recognized as one of the most important independent imprints. Calling it the best classical label in Chicago, where it’s arguably the only established example, may feel like faint praise—but Cedille has blossomed over its history, and it’s as strong as it’s ever been these days, exercising an impressively catholic sensibility....

Katie Hovland katiehovland.com Runner-Up: Patrick Houdek

Zap Props and Antiques zapprops.com At first glance, Zap Props and Antiques might seem like nothing more than an enormous, highly disorganized pile of junk, but this three-story, 36,000-square-foot warehouse, tucked away in one of Bridgeport’s more nondescript enclaves, is a ramshackle museum of ephemera. Everything belongs to owner and proprietor Bill Rawski, who rents his wares to local film and theater productions. Most everything in his collection dates somewhere between the 1920s and the ’70s, and the website (much more orderly than the chaotic showroom) lists such varied categories as circus, kitchen and glassware, tiki and tribal, nautical, and taxidermy....

Eclipse Theatre Company presents Christopher Durang’s badly dated 1981 farce about a mismatched couple’s therapy-aided quest for love. When Prudence (Devi Reisenfeld) answers Bruce’s (Nick Freed) personals ad, they meet at a nondescript restaurant and have an awkward first date, highlighted by a volley of inappropriate comments back and forth. She storms out hoping never to see him again. But neither she, nor the audience, will be so lucky. Bruce’s amnesiac therapist, Charlotte (Lynne Baker), convinces him to place another ad....

Stage director Will Davis likens his experience growing up as a girl to A Christmas Carol‘s Ebenezer standing outside the window, looking in at the living. “I thought that intense isolation was just the human condition, that that’s what it means to be alive,” he says, then adds, laughing: “I didn’t know, I didn’t know! So every day for me now is like, ‘It’s another day! And I’m here! And I am alive!...

There are plenty of new shows this weekend, as well as last chances to attend events closing soon. Here’s some of what we recommend:

McFetridge Sports Center Chicago isn’t what anyone would call a tennis town—and that’s not totally our fault. How could we match sun-blessed cities like Atlanta, San Diego, and Charleston, South Carolina, which serve up leagues aplenty, multiple private and public courts, and, yes, year-round decent weather? Facilities-wise, Midtown Athletic Club talks a big game (billing itself as “More resort than club. More club than gym”), but despite being well equipped, it has the major disadvantage of cost-prohibitive membership and court fees....

Urban Oasis Twisted Roots Chicago Finalists: Allyu Spa, Laurie DeMeyer

Deluxe Tattoo Runner-Up: Great Lakes Tattoo

Q: Gay male in my late 20s. I recently ended things with a guy. Our relationship started as a strictly sexual one. We’re both involved in the kink scene in our city and have interests that align in a particularly great way. Quickly it became clear there was a real connection. The next two months were great! I had a toothbrush at his place within three weeks. But early on, I noticed that he was a much more extroverted person than I was....