Best of Chicago 2011: Letter from the Editor

Illustration by Lilli Carré

All for the best

It’s less than a year since the farewell that changed the face of the city, the visage we’d shown the world for a generation, and it already feels like a different town, doesn’t it? After all, Rosie’s taken to her new Chicago-ness with the relish of an ecstatic newcomer, homesteading in Lakeview, popping up in all the right gay bars and generally reminding us that Oprah long ago transcended us, becoming a citizen of the planet even as she still blessed us with her presence. Oh, and that other game-changing retirement’s kicking up a fair bit of dust, as well, as Rahm redefines the mayor’s office. Here’s what we’ve noticed: while Richie was always one of them, an insular member of Chicago political royalty who seemed to operate with their own code, Rahm seems like one of us. He shows up at rock concerts, at theater openings, at triathlons. He takes the el. We even know a guy who says he bumped into him at a quiet little bar before the election. You didn’t bump into Richie. Read the rest of this entry »

Best refuge from drunken frat boys and other urban miseries

Photo: Kristine Sherred

Chicago Zen Buddhist Temple

Past Wrigley Field, past the crowds in red and blue, the sunburned faces, the men selling umbrella hats, the bars and bros and drunken hos, the noise and sweat and smoke. Down Addison past the taverns, tucked away on the corner of Cornelia and Paulina is the Zen Buddhist Temple. It seems such an odd little brick building, out of place on the loud streets. Brightly colored Korean paper lanterns strung outside the entrance sway in the warm wind. Stepping inside all sound is sucked away. A woman in the lobby bows her head in greeting and points to a shelf where others have set their shoes. The brown tiled floors are cool against bare feet. It feels like another universe. The temple is at the top of the stairs. More paper lanterns hang from the ceiling. The room is lit solely by natural light coming from the walls of windows, sweet-smelling jasmine incense fills the space and four stone statues of Buddha and his followers sit smiling from the altar. No one speaks. Everyone sits cross-legged on round pillows atop square cushions, adjusting their feet to point upward on their knees. The gathering is small, maybe twenty-five people, and is a mix of obvious newcomers and devoted Buddhists. In the back corner two tattooed skinheads begin to hum in low steady tones.  Read the rest of this entry »

Best art gallery

Firecat Projects

Formerly the studio of artist Tony Fitzpatrick, Firecat is now a gallery founded by Fitzpatrick and Stan Klein, and recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. In addition to giving one-person shows to deserving local and emerging artists, Firecat has a rare business model in that the gallery takes no commission from sales.

Firecat Projects
2124 North Damen
(773)342-5381
firecatprojects.com

Audience choice:
Western Exhibitions
119 North Peoria
(312)480-8390
westernexhibitions.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Best cheap Mexican food

Maxwell Street Market

Delicious, affordable Mexican food is easy to find in Chicago, especially along 18th Street in Pilsen and 26th Street in Little Village. But a great way to sample interesting Mexican street food with fresh ingredients is to join the crowds at this historic flea market. Stands sell items that you might not think to order in a restaurant, like quesadillas with thick, handmade tortillas and unusual fillings like flor de calabaza (squash blossom) or huitlacoche (corn fungus). Trucks offer churros and champurado (hot chocolate thickened with masa) and one stand sells nothing but steak tacos, but they’re the best in town.

Sundays 7am to 3pm
Desplaines from Roosevelt to Harrison

Best of Chicago 2011

Best cheap-chic chain in Chicago

Zara

More upscale than its fast-fashion peers, Zara’s higher price tags are worth it. There aren’t any frenetic fifteen-year-olds here, and they have a remarkably high ratio of “I’d totally wear that!” to “Oh my god, what were they thinking” pieces, while still managing to stay on-trend. Pick up their silk shirts and trousers, $40 ballet flats that won’t wear out any sooner than ones that cost twice as much, and whatever else you need this season—like sheer maxi skirts and color blocking accessories.

Zara
700 North Michigan
(312)255-8123
One West Randolph, Block 37
(312)368-6178
zara.com

Audience choice:
H&M
22 North State, (312)263-4436
840 North Michigan, (312)640-0060
hm.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Best yoga studio

Photo: Kristine Sherred

CorePower Yoga

Regardless of whatever misgivings you might have about supporting a corporate yoga company, there’s no denying the advantage of having seven—soon-to-be-eight—studios located throughout the city, each with almost a dozen classes each day. Regardless of where you plan to get your next drink, there’s somewhere nearby that gets you a yoga high and yoga bod beforehand—no excuses. But the CorePower mecca is the South Loop studio: As you search for a drishti (gazing point) in tree pose, you can choose to focus on an element of Chicago’s downtown skyline, which the fifth-floor studio showcases through its large windows.

CorePower Yoga
12 West Maple, (312)266-9642
1704 North Milwaukee, (773)227-9642
945 West George, (773)862-9642
corepoweryoga.com

 Audience choice: (tie)
Bikram Yoga Chicago
47 West Polk, (312)922-9642
1344 North Milwaukee, (773)395-9150
2736A North Clark, (773)348-9642
105f.com
and
CorePower Yoga

Best of Chicago 2011

Best local radio station

WFMT

This week is the 60th anniversary of what many consider not only the most unique radio station in Chicago, but in the country, if not the world. When Bernard and Rita Jacobs went on the air at 3pm on December 13, 1951 for an eight-hour shift of classical music and fine arts programming until 11pm with Bernard as the engineer and Rita as the announcer, few could have predicted what a force this then-small station would become. Two years later, the programming had expanded to eighteen hours a day—24/7 by 1968—and in 1954, the station considerably broadened its broadcast range by moving down the dial from its original 105.9 to its current 98.7 FM setting. Generating its own unique programming was a signature element of WFMT from early on: early live programs included concerts by Pete Seeger and Big Bill Broonzy and a conversation between Carl Sandburg and Frank Lloyd Wright. WFMT was also an early innovator in broadcasting live concert and opera performances, including regular series broadcasts from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera that are still running. Other legendary WFMT programs include then University of Chicago student Mike Nichols creating the Saturday night folk music program “Midnight Special” in 1953, which is still on the air, before going on to his career as legendary stage and film director. Writer Studs Terkel began his WFMT show in 1953, which became a stalwart of the station until Terkel’s retirement over half a century later. WFMT has always made the highest possible audio broadcast standards a top priority, including some of the earliest stereo signal broadcasts and, in the early 1960s, the first regular broadcast series of stereo concerts by the Fine Arts Quartet. Voted in 1964 by Hi-Fi/Stereo Review readers as the highest-fidelity station in the nation, other innovations included broadcasting with Dolby Noise Reduction as early as 1969 and in quadraphonic sound in 1972. By 1979, WFMT became the first international “superstation,” not only broadcasting by satellite and across cable systems across the country but also becoming the first American station to become part of the European Broadcast Union as well as to have its prerecorded programs broadcast behind the Iron Curtain in the Soviet Union and China. In 1981, WFMT was chosen to be the first radio station in the world to broadcast music from a Compact Disc and the first programming of DAT (Digital Audio Tape) in the mid-1980s. For all of its cutting-edge technology and industry broadcast standards established by WFMT over the years, it remains in many ways the same “ma and pa” station that it was some sixty years ago in that then, as now, no prerecorded commercials are broadcast on the station. Instead, program and broadcast hosts continue to read advertiser copy with the same precise enunciation and alliteration that they give to carefully articulated foreign phrases and composer opus titles, which is just the way its devoted listeners want it.

98.7 FM

Audience choice:
WBEZ 91.5FM

Best of Chicago 2011

Best dance club

Smart Bar

Established in 1982, it may be older than most of its patrons and even house music itself, but Smart Bar puts the lie to the idea that club goers want flavor-of-the-minute nightspots with velvet ropes and bottle service. What they want is great music and a dance floor where people actually dance. This DJ-driven dance club will certainly give your ears a much needed rest from top-forty remixes since you’ll hear music—techno, dubstep and house—spun by Chicago’s, and the world’s, top DJs. The delightfully diverse crowd is always there to dance, not just to sway back and forth or, heaven help us, fist-pump, and at Smart Bar you actually have the room to do it. And, hopefully the funds too. If not, on Sundays, you can time travel for Dollar Disco with resident DJs Michael Serafini, Adulture and Kid Color. Featuring excellent house, nu disco and electronica, as well as old disco hits that never really get old, Smart Bar’s Dollar Disco is worth the lag in your Monday morning.

Smart Bar
3730 North Clark
(773)549-0203
smartbarchicago.com

Audience choice:
The Mid
306 North Halsted
(312)265-3990
themidchicago.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Best tiny birthday cakes sold at a Thai restaurant

Thai Pastry & Restaurant

Sweet and sugary describe the homemade cakes at Thai Pastry. They’re crowned with frosting and flowers, and they’re fabulous. Each miniature birthday cake serves two hungry people, and is decorated with piped-on pastel details. So finish your spring rolls and chicken satay, then indulge in a tiny round cake, in vanilla or coffee flavor. And don’t forget the birthday candles.

Thai Pastry & Restaurant
4925 North Broadway
(773)784-5399
thaipastry.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Best artisan design shop in Andersonville

The Haymaker Shop

While most of the home décor shops on Andersonville’s Clark Street hawk high-end salvage, Haymaker, which opened in June, features a curated selection of objects from local designers and artists. Proprietor Arrin Williams pairs contemporary, handcrafted furniture with dazzling posters designed by Sonnenzimmer and Legendre & Rutter.

The Haymaker Shop
5507 North Clark
(773)681-0798
haymakershop.com

Best of Chicago 2011