Best of Chicago

Won’t you please come to Chicago
For the help that we can bring.
We can change the World.
—Graham Nash

Last Tuesday night will be forever known as a new beginning in Chicago history, like the morning after the Great Conflagration, though this moment washed in triumph rather than burned in tragedy. The city will never be the same, having sent one of its own to the nation in a manner that will be marked as a turning point in American history. As the city basks in this glorious moment, it has the chance, one chance, to reach for new heights, to rebuild itself anew, on top of its already mighty foundation, and to create a vision of what a new city can be.

Don’t let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment that was known
As Camelot.
—Alan Jay Lerner

Our enthusiasm is inflamed not only by the new possibilities of the body politic, but also by our own current obsession, our annual Best of Chicago. Herein we celebrate much that is fine about this town of ours and, if not so fine, much that makes us what we are. Sixteen times now, we’ve journeyed thus, and still we find ourselves running out of time and space before we run out of words. And you participated as well, by casting votes in seventy-five or so categories. Your results follow our critic’s selection in each category, sometimes punctuating our choice, sometimes setting us straight. And if you still have more to say, starting this week, you’ll be able to comment directly, at our new Best of Chicago web site, found right here at best.Newcity.com. And here you are.

Election night, Grant Park, among the unticketed masses. The awe is palpable; most can’t find the words, even those who sling them for a living. Then the speech, on the monitor, clearly visible and audible for all. Cell-phone cameras light up the sky like candles. Nearby, a trio of burly men, in matching short locs and baggy Obama t-shirts with “YES WE DID!!” on the back, listen intently, like parishioners in a South Side church, calling back to the President-Elect, “One Nation!” A few yards away, the statue of Abraham Lincoln, almost unnoticed, silently whispers “amen.”

Audience choice:
Election night speech in Grant Park

Audience Comments: “Hello Chicago!”; “‘terrorist’ fist bump”;“Bowling and ending up with a worse score than I’d get”; “Dancing with Ellen Degeneres: Finally, a president who can dance!!”; “I met him in a parking lot at 47th street, in the late 1990s, when he was first running for office and I thought he was too skinny and civilized to get anywhere in Chicago politics”; “when he was on ‘Check, Please’: it never aired”;“January 20, 2009.”

Best of Chicago 2008

The Whistler

The easy-to-miss, brand-spankin’ new Logan Square exercise in swankery, the modestly sized Whistler features a commendably extensive cocktail and beer list, all reasonably priced (not all craft cocktails have to be $11) and, most importantly, strong. And, the owners understand one of the essential rules of bars constructed for hipsters—always have a two-dollar beer. So, amongst the craft brews and lovely gins, we find the classic $2 can of PBR. A stage at one end of the bar occasionally hosts live music, and when it goes dark, a DJ takes the reins. When we were there, we were privy to a mixture of Nirvana, Yo La Tengo and others, but we heard the bar’s got a kick-ass metal night and we plan to return for sure.

2421 N. Milwaukee
(773)227-3530

Audience choice:
Violet Hour
1520 N. Damen
(773)252-1500

Best of Chicago 2008

L20

L20 is probably what you’d get if you threw Napa Valley’s French Laundry, New York’s sushi dream theater Masa, TRU and Alinea into a blender and poured it out in the old Ambria space in the Belden-Stratford Hotel. Featuring the best fresh-bread service in Chicago, the most exciting sommelier in Chantelle Pabros and Chef Laurent Gras’ super-duper micro-managed attention to kitchen detail, this restaurant will be tough to surpass for some time.

2300 N. Lincoln Park West
(773)868-0002

Audience choice:
Urban Belly
3053 N. California
(773)583-0500

Best of Chicago 2008

Le Dress

Division is quickly becoming one of the hottest streets of Chicago style and adding to the appeal is Le Dress. The charming boutique, owned by sisters-in-law Eva and Robyn Anderson, stocks frocks from the likes of Shoshanna, Nina Austin and its own eponymous label. A girl could outfit both her work wardrobe and after-hour attire from one rack alone—and many have been known to do just that. The fashion following has only just begun.

1741 W. Division
(773)697-9899

Audience choice:
p+L boutique
2956 N. Clark

(773)248-3758

Best of Chicago 2008

Never, ever say, “This is the best team they’ve had in my lifetime”

We can’t count how many times we heard this fateful claim during the Cubs 2008 campaign, which, if you need us to remind you, ended in epic, pathetic, despicable failure. At the bar, at work, at family functions, at the Fourth of July BBQ—“this is the best they’ve ever been,” “the whole team is great,” “Fukudome is, like, Miyagi dude.” No no no. All it did was give Cubs fans a false sense of security, a dumb and misguided base of hope, that this year was the year. Problem is, Cubs fans are a weepy bunch who like the storybook. Cubs fans like “Field of Dreams.” Sox fans don’t have time for movies, they’re too busy recalling the ‘05 season. One-hundred years meant something to Cubs supporters, and now that they’re facing a hundred more, hopefully each passing season means less and less and we can avoid the uniquely inevitable disaster and disappointment.

Audience choice:
It’s never going to happen

Audience Comments: “be a Sox fan”;
“CUBS = Completely Useless By September”;“Maybe next year…”

Best of Chicago 2008

WNUR-FM, 89.3
The nation’s largest student-run radio station is also the city’s most respected, not only for its continual rock-solid programming but also its star-studded alumni, which includes members of Arcade Fire, Steve Albini, Derrick Carter and Ira Glass. In 2003 Spin magazine named the Northwestern University station as the top college station in the US, and the weekday “Rock Show,” which runs from 2pm-9:30pm, regularly offers the best of indie underground music traditionally ignored by the likes of, well, JACK FM.

Audience choice:
WNUR, Northwestern

Audience Comment: “89.3fm—one of the only stations on the dial that plays a healthy amount of electronic music, much needed in this indie-rock-centric town.”

Best of Chicago 2008

“Big Picture: A New View of Painting in Chicago” at Chicago History Museum

The Chicago History Museum was an unlikely venue for hosting the best art exhibit this year, but the museum’s context hammered home the show’s theme—paintings can tell the history of Chicago, from urban planning and political satire, in styles realist, Imagist and all points in between. Curators John Corbett and Jim Dempsey dug deep into the historical archive, exhibiting such rarely seen gems as a mural from the glory-hole days at Gold Coast—one of the city’s earliest gay leather bars—and gave privileged views to the backs of some paintings, revealing secret inscriptions.

Audience choice:
Jeff Koons at MCA

Best of Chicago 2008

Joy Yee’s Noodle Shop

Bubble tea joints are almost as ubiquitous these days as Obama bumper stickers. Still, none do the volume of this Chinatown mall stalwart. The massive blending operation means that the fruit in your smoothie and the big fat jelly tapiocas are always fresh.

2139 S. China Place
(312)328-0001

Audience choice:
Joy Yee’s Noodle Shop

Best of Chicago 2008

Gethsemane Garden Center

During the spring and summer months, Gethsemane is overflowing with every variety of plant and plant expert. They’ll not only teach you how to care for your fifty-pound fern impulse buy, they’ll also instill in you the responsibility to care for it as if it were your child. Gethsemane fills two city blocks in Andersonville, and at the very least, a walk through its sprawling greenhouse is the best respite from the winter blues.

5739 N. Clark
(773)878-5915
gethsemanegardens.com

Audience choice:
Gethsemane Garden Center

Best of Chicago 2008