Chicago

Author Aleksandar Hemon Is Better Than You At Soccer

In 1992, literary badass Aleksandar Hemon left his native Sarajevo for a cultural exchange program in Chicago. He expected to stay abroad for only a few months. And, well, plans changed. The siege on Sarajevo, which lasted 43 months and produced the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II, beg ... More >>

Riff Raff vs. Spring Breakers and Other Music Stories We <3

Here's a round-up of the music stories Voice writers have been reading recently. Take a spin through the links below and tip us off if there's something you like that we may have missed.

Nearly All the Big Acts Playing Lollapalooza 2013 Have Played Lollapalooza Before

Thanks to Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune, Lollapalooza's headliners have been revealed, and it appears that Perry Farrell & Co. are dipping into the past few years of the Chicago-based festival's lineup history for a little inspiration. Mumford & Sons, Vampire Weekend, Phoenix, and the Killers have ... More >>

What Do Chefs Eat at Work? From Pig-Head Pozole to Cheese Steaks, Notes on Restaurant Staff Meals

This week's review is of Cocina Economica Mexico on the Upper West Side, where Pedro Hernandez Perez was put in charge of a Mexican kitchen after winning over David Bank and the Land Thai team with the family meals he prepared, inspired by his hometown of Puebla. To celebrate good family meals (the ... More >>

James Falzone's Klang

Joe DiStefano Launches Chopsticks and Marrow

Veteran food writer Joe DiStefano, whose beat is often Queens and the ethnic culinary glories thereof, launched a new website yesterday called Chopsticks and Marrow. Early articles put up in a flurry of activity cover hot dogs and pizza in Chicago, an excellent cevicheria in Jackson Heights, and the ... More >>

Q&A: Master Chef Contestant Suzy Singh on Being An Asian-American Female Chef, Part 1

Suzy Singh has an unlikely culinary background. The Punjabi-Sikh chef was a neural engineer before she traded her lab coat for a chef's apron and enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu, Chicago. Before she completed her studies, Fox TV's Master Chef picked her up for its second season. Shortly after the nation ... More >>

Chick-fil-A Will Stop Being Jerks And "Treat Every Person Equally, Regardless of Sexual Orientation"

Chick-fil-A has finally caved. The company said that it will "treat every person equally, regardless of sexual orientation." The comments came via The Civil Rights Agenda in Chicago. The lobby group also reported that Chick-fil-A has pledged to stop giving money to antigay groups and to refrain fro ... More >>

Q&A: Bettina Richards of Thrill Jockey Records On The 20th Anniversary Of Her Label

The iconic and staunchly independent label Thrill Jockey Records may be Chicago-based since the mid '90s, but its roots lie here in New York and along the grimy Path train tunnel where Hoboken stands. Two decades ago, L.E.S. resident Bettina Richards founded Thrill Jockey while working the rounds at ... More >>

Q&A: XADDAX On Married Couple Band Life And Bushwick's Zombie People

Gloriously wretched, hoarse-throated bloody rasp bawls and fractured clusterfucked guitar squalor careen head on with drums and synth-triggering pedal demolition in XADDAX, a Bushwickian noise-rock monster whose members—ax grinder Nick Sakes and traps basher Chrissy Rossettie—happen to b ... More >>

Eataly Wants to Expand to Chicago, Los Angeles, and Brazil

Eataly turned two this past Friday, and it's already looking westward. The 58,000-square-foot store has plans for expansion in Chicago, Los Angeles, and São Paulo, Brazil. "We are narrowing our search for a 60,000- or 70,000-square-foot space in the retail heart of Chicago," co-owner Joe Bastiani ... More >>

Starkey+Chrissy Murderbot

The BIG BANG

Riot Fest storm Brooklyn

'Body High' w/ Samo Sound Boy+Jim-E Stack+DJ Funeral

Are New York's Eleven Madison and Chicago's Alinea Collaborating?

In a video posted up last week, the chefs from Chicago's Alinea (which was named the second best restaurant in North America) and Eleven Madison Park seem to be packing up their stuff and heading to a train station. The cryptic teaser ends with "21st Century Ltd., Coming Soon."

Floating Points+Jacques Greene+Secret Circuit+Hieroglyphic Being

When Rightbloggers Tell You the Battle of Chick-fil-A Isn't About Gay Rights, It's About Gay Rights

In years to come, rightbloggers will tell their grandchildren many stories of the glorious summer of twenty-twelve. They'll tell 'em how they warned America about the socialist menace of the Olympics. They'll tell 'em how, in the wake of the Aurora shooting, they defended assault weapons against Dem ... More >>

Q&A: The Impressions' Fred Cash On Curtis Mayfield, Politics In The '60s, And The Venues His Band Played Back In The Day

The story of Tennessee music is a tale of two cities, really: Nashville and Memphis. But to count out Chattanooga is to ignore the origins of the Impressions, the long-running, socially conscious soul group that launched the careers of Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield. On the street corners of mid-t ... More >>

Supreme Cuts+The-Drum+Sich Mang+Haleek Maul

Richard Sen+Dennis 'Citizen' Kane

Muy Caliente Summer Edition

Winners of the James Beard Foundation's Restaurant and Chef Awards

Last night, the James Beard Foundation's winner's list was completed--the media awards were over the weekend and listed here yesterday. In addition to major excitement over the first ever Outstanding Bar Program award other highlights included a tie for Best Chef Southeast (a hot dining destination ... More >>

White Mystery

'Mr. Saturday Night' w/ Jacques Greene

Chicago Red Hot: Why Can't New Yorkers Get It Right? Custom American Wine Bar Almost Does

Custom's version comes close to the original, tastewise. One of the triumphs of the hot dog world is the Chicago-style frankfurter. But why can't anyone accurately reproduce it in New York? Certainly, we've had lots of attempts. The latest encountered by Fork in the Road is the "Mid West Custom-Ma ... More >>

Q&A: Chicago Underground Duo's Chad Taylor On Improvising, The New York And Chicago Jazz Scenes, And Leaving Thrill Jockey

Chicago Underground Duo's defection from their longtime label Thrill Jockey to the fledgling New York-based Northern Spy imprint—after fifteen years and some seven albums of visionary experimentalism gleaned from Windy City improv and post-jazz sonics—is actually a reunion of sorts. In ... More >>

Mae, Faye, Phyllis, And Joan, All Together And Looking Fierce

They all went to the same club--Chicago's Pump Room--at one time or another. And they've all ended up in the same amazing photo book, Icons At The Pump Room--a promotional item handed to certain lucky VIPs (like my friend Christian Freedom). If you like this quartet of diva divinity, just pick up ... More >>

My 5 Favorite NYC Hot Dogs

​At Shake Shack, our own approximation of the Chicago dog. Whether you call them frankfurters, wieners, tube steaks, or floaters, New York City is the hot dog capital of the world. And here are my five favorite local evocations of the silky sausage that came here from Frankfurt or Vienna, d ... More >>

'Talking Landscape: Early Media Work, 1974-1984'

Rise Against

Broadway Replacements: Your Favorite?

Darren Criss is attracting screaming Gleeks to How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and they're filling the seats once occupied by screaming Potterphiles. Which brings to mind the topic of Broadway replacements and how they fare in light of all the hoopla generated by the original star ... More >>

Coffee Cup Motifs in NYC's 59th Street Subway Station

​Don't fall in! In the last 10 years or so, lots of subway stations have been revamped, many with mosaics intended to reflect some associations with what's above the station on the street. Some of these motifs involve food and entertainment -- there are fish in the Delancey Street station, ... More >>

Ask the Critics: Where Can I Get Chicago-Style Hot Dogs?

Robert SietsemaShake Shack's Chicago-style hot dog ​Mark L. Asks: I've been craving a Chicago-style hot dog. Who makes the best one in New York? Dear Mark: Having spent several years living in Chicago, I can appreciate your love of the Chicago-style hot dog, which differs from the classic Ne ... More >>

'Verboten' w/ Hot Natured

Download "Enough," A Yowly Gem From Chicago's Mannequin Men (Playing Tonight And Tomorrow)

​Tonight at Shea Stadium and tomorrow night at Cake Shop the fine Chicago garage-rock outfit Mannequin Men will perform, and it would behoove you to attend one or both shows, should you not have plans for the weekend yet. But don't take my word for it. Below, download the chugging "Enough," wh ... More >>

Q&A: Chicago Artist Michael Tewz on His Work of Art Elimination, His Buddy Sucklord

BRAVOTewz on Work of Art One of the more intriguing aspects of Work of Art, the BRAVO reality show we've been following, is that the show's producers chose a handful of cast members who'd already had a presence in the world, whose self-propelled careers could exist apart from the reality-television ... More >>

The Sea and Cake

Deep Thoughts from a 'Pizza Douche': How a Slice Is Like Cleavage

brendan-c/flickrLife of pie.​Sure, he's from Chicago and he's been called a "pizza douche," but Patrick Bertoletti, who happens to be ranked second in the International Federation of Competitive Eating, says he's eaten at more than 200 different pizzerias around the world, including New York's ... More >>

'Oktave' w/ Jeff Derringer+Edit-Select+Raiz

Umphrey's McGee

Sex Is Comedy, Kind of, in Autoerotic

Casey Anthony Career Plans! Here's A Great Idea!

​So she got off. I guess that really was rotting pizza in her car trunk, not the decomposition stench of her murdered and duct taped daughter. So what's in Casey Anthony's glamorous future? I know!

What to Drink at Prune: The Chicago Matchbox (Like, Duh)

Each week in The Daily Shot, we have ourselves a drink that we think you should try, too. girluninterrupt/foodspottingGet lit.​The drink: Chicago Matchbox The bar: Prune (54 East 1st Street, East Village, 212-677-6221) The price: $10 Ingredients: Homemade lemon vodka, Sacramento tomato jui ... More >>

VillageVines Finally Gets a Food-Related Name, Now Called Savored

Savored​VillageVines, the online restaurant discount site that sounds vaguely like the bottle of $3 Chardonnay found in the back of grandma's cupboard, has undergone a makeover and now finally has a name that sounds like it's at least related to food. It'll now be called Savored. And with a ... More >>

Tony Awards Prove My Blind Items Right!

​This very week, my column has a blind item about an actor/director who broke up with a Wicked chorus boy, only to take up with the Pal Joey guy, who broke up with an ex Chicago cast member. I also said that the Chicago guy is now a pair with that Book of Mormon star. Well, at the Tonys toni ... More >>

My Grandmother's Horehound

​The candy has a rather dusty appearance. That's "horehound," not "whore hound" -- though the joke works if you say it out loud, rather than see the word written. While the former might suggest an overly promiscuous feral dog, the latter is an herb that was used long ago to make hard candy.

Backstreet Boy Makes Movie Debut

​My favorite Backstreet Boy, Kevin Richardson, got good reviews for stepping into Chicago on Broadway a few years ago, and now he's taken another career advance by going Indie-wood. He costars in the Steve Balderson-directed The Casserole Club, a Mad Men-era glimpse into the dark side of Cali ... More >>

TALK SOUP

Mark Bazer chats with Das Racist

Thieves Steal $80K Worth of Human Hair From Beauty Supply Store

​Thieves broke into a Chicago beauty supply store on Easter and made off with almost $80,000 worth of human hair. The Tribune reports that the robbers pried open a metal door at the shop's rear and targeted the most expensive brands of hair once inside. Jay Han, the owner of Beauty One, said t ... More >>