Posts

Binny’s Beverage Depot binnys.com Runner-Up: Independent Spirits

Red scare Records redscare.net Runner-Up: Bloodshot Records

One day, when Uptown resident and freelance photographer Paul Octavious was shooting in his apartment, he saw young Black children walk by his window and stare at him while he worked. As a self-taught photographer who wasn’t exposed to the art form as a child, seeing these children watch him lit a light bulb: How could he help open the door of photography to Black folks wanting an outlet to be creative and document their communities?...

In December 1997, Eric Williams opened the Silver Room at 1410 N. Milwaukee in Wicker Park, selling jewelry and hosting intimate music and art events. As the store evolved into a commercial and cultural hub, Williams became an important voice in the community—and while serving on the board for the neighborhood’s chamber of commerce, he voiced his frustration about its street festivals largely ignoring musicians of color. Silver Room Block Party Dozens of mostly local acts from a wide variety of genres perform on outdoor stages and in indoor venues in Hyde Park, including the parking lot of Harper Court (5235 S....

Akeelah and the Bee In Cheryl L. West’s adaptation of the 2006 inspirational film of the same name, Akeelah Anderson (La Shone T. Kelly) needs the help of her entire community if she’s going to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. West transports the action from Los Angeles to Chicago and cuts down the size of Akeelah’s family, but otherwise the story is the same. Brandon Rivera’s gleefully over-the-top performance as Akeelah’s preppy friend Javier delights the children in the audience, and Aaron Quick’s projections add excitement to the spelling sequences as words form around the set....

Simon’s Cole’s Finalists: Reed’s Local, Liberty Lounge

Best use of food waste Best food writer (of “your mama” jokes) Best new cookbook from Chicago Best comeback(s) from disaster Best Hot Doug’s stand-in Best migration to the south side Best cheap fancy lunch Best $3 lunch Best burger no one’s talking about Best peanut butter and jelly sandwich Best sausage that brings the funk Best combination of pizza and liquors and jazz Best vegan deep-dish Best Polish food in a Korean restaurant Best Italian-Japanese fusion Best soup dumplings Best postconfessional tacos Best coffee roaster to include a cassingle with your caffeine boost Best new brewery to launch with only one beer Best IPA that doesn’t taste like another goddamn IPA Best frozen water Best classic cocktails Best local vodka for whiskey drinkers Best place to try whiskey before you buy Best pizza Best overall restaurant Best local brewery Best burger Best coffee shop Best breakfast/​brunch Best hot dog Best Mexican restaurant Best doughnuts Best BYOB Best farmers’ market or gourmet market Best brewpub Best barbecue Best cocktail list Best ice cream Best sushi Best bakery Best Thai restaurant Best liquor store Best local brew Best Italian restaurant Best chef Best late-night eats Best falafel Best sandwich Best vegetarian restaurant Best new food trend Best butcher shop Best waitstaff Best bagels Best local distillery Best local grocer Best Chinese restaurant Best vegan restaurant Best pub grub Best wine shop Best Indian restaurant Best alfresco dining Best desserts Best-looking waitstaff Best food truck Best steak house Best local spirit Best Middle Eastern restaurant Best seafood restaurant Best gay bar Best bartender/​mixologist Best Vietnamese restaurant Best barista Best sports bar Best up-​and-​coming chef Best food festival Best local food product Best wine list Best Korean restaurant Best new bar Best local farm

Rivet Radio has won a national Edward R. Murrow Award for achievement in electronic media, a sweet honor for an innovative operation that was a gleam in Charlie Meyerson’s eye just two and a half years ago. Rivet was singled out for top investigative reporting in the Small Online News Organization division for “Our Glass Desk Exploded. Yours Could, Too.” If ever a title tells the story, that one does. The office manager’s desk blew up one night, sending Rivet off in pursuit of the story behind “spontaneously exploding desks”—which if not a national menace turned out to be something that happens more than you’d think....

About three and a half years ago I inventoried the many crimes against makimono, sashimi, and nigiri committed at River North’s Union Sushi + Barbeque Bar, an ostentatious River North restaurant that confuses disrespect for inventiveness when it comes to raw fish and other familiar Japanese foods. Now the principals behind that operation have returned with the Franklin Room, a whiskey-focused subterranean den trafficking in relatively American, pub-style food with an occasional Asian touch....

Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo thrives in darkness. On a creative level, he starts each new project in the dark, abandoning what he discovered with his previous work to move down a fresh path. “When you try to reinvent yourself, when you try to push each work to be different, that creates a thrill, but it can be scary as well,” says Cerrudo. “You find each work with nothing in front of you because you start from zero....

Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest styles seen in Chicago. “I was making a smoothie, and the banana I used was sooo yellow,” says Nadha Vikitsreth, who was spotted on a recent Sunday strolling the Logan Square Farmers Market. “So I wanted to dress like a banana, but with a twist. I added my favorite Judith Leiber belt, from Store B in Wicker Park, to jazz it up, and slipped on my fluffy sneakers from Felt in Logan Square....

Montalbano Farms Runner-Up: Slagel Family Farm

By Erica Nicole Clark, stand-up comic and author Nervously, I texted, “Hey Dave, you should meet me and Debbie.” Side note: My dad is Mr. T. Yes, that Mr. T. “No . . . ” If he was worried I was selling my body for cash, he didn’t linger on the subject.

Empty Bottle The Hideout Finalists: Metro, Reggies’

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, November 29, 2016. The housing crisis in East Chicago Pacific Standard magazine has a fascinating follow-up on the housing crisis at the West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago, Indiana. Residents of the complex are being exposed to toxic metals in the ground, but they might be forced to leave their homes before they are able to find new ones. [Pacific Standard]

Things it would be good to inherit from a famous playwright father: deep industry connections, flawless technique, a broad handle on what being an artist is about. Things it would be less good to inherit from a famous (belligerent, out of touch) playwright father, but which Ella (Amanda Caryl Fink), his actress daughter, is irremediably saddled with in Halley Feiffer’s astonishing play: everything else. Love has strings in this taut, searing two-hander, directed by Cole von Glahn for First Floor Theater....

Urban Pooch 4501 N. Ravenswood 773-942-6445 urbanpooch.com Runner-Up: Kriser’s

My Malayalam is no better than my Polish. But whether you speak the language of the southwestern state of India or not, much like Polish sausages there are some obstacles in Chicago to exploring the vastly diverse food of the subcontinent’s Malabar Coast. For one thing, despite some 50,000 Keralites (or Malayalis) residing in the Chicago region (largely around Glenview, Mount Prospect, Morton Grove, and Des Plaines), there are few places to eat it....