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

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

Photo: Kristine Sherred

Fritz Pastry 

Fritz is a classic neighborhood bakery, named as an homage to head baker Nate Mead’s grandfather. Keeping it traditional, they produce signature baked goods from classic recipes with top-shelf results, from their macarons to their donuts. Cakes, muffins and vegan options are a must. They take themselves seriously, but allow for a bit of good humor—their outdoor announcements depict rock album covers altered with baking plays-on-words (like Metallica’s Bake ‘em All).

Fritz Pastry
1408 West Diversey
(773)857-2989
fritzpastry.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Native Foods Café

Sweet potato taquitos, portobello and sausage burger, peanut butter parfait… who said vegans can’t chow down? It’s all thanks to Native Foods. The California-based restaurant group set hungry eyes on the Chicago market this year, opening up Wicker Park, Lakeview and Loop locations with Evanston, River North and the Gold Coast on its agenda for next year. The fully vegan menu tastes even better given the charity efforts of Native; with its roots in our town, watch out for everyone to start vegging out soon.

Native Foods Café
1023 West Belmont
(773)549-4904
1484 North Milwaukee
(773)489-8480
218 South Clark
(312) 332-6332
nativefoods.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Pan Am at Cram Fashion

In the 1950s, Pan Am stewardesses sported white gloves and smart suits. The retro look has been recreated in the movie “Catch Me If You Can” and the new TV show “Pan Am.” Though the television show may soon be grounded, Pan Am luggage is ready for takeoff. So embark on a trip to Cram boutique. You’ll find official, reissued Pan Am flight bags, shoulder bags and suitcases. Spring for a stylish bag in blue or black, with Pan Am’s globe logo imprinted in white. Then fly off to new horizons.

Cram Fashion
3329 North Broadway
(773)477-1737
cramchicago.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Photo: Kristine Sherred

Bottle & Bottega

Drinking and drawing—a simple concept, and one that has proffered the gift of art to those who never thought their hand could hold a paintbrush better than their pet parrot. Think BYOB restaurant, but instead of surly servers and flank o’ filet, artists teach proper brushstrokes for a Van Gogh replica or perhaps a nude man’s belly button whilst students sip on their preferred Spanish Tempranillo. The public-event calendar offers a different theme seven days a week, and their private party option can make it personal. The only downside is it won’t be only-in-Chicago for long: they plan on franchising the concept in other states.

Bottle & Bottega
2900 North Lincoln
(773)313-9133
bottleandbottega.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Photo: Kristine Sherred

Jack’s Bar & Grill

Baseball means summer, summer means patios, and if Wrigley ain’t your scene but you still want to eat and drink and root with like-minded North Siders while the weather holds out for you and the Cubbies, the Southport Corridor answers that call. Basic pub food with a homey twist, decent beer list, flatscreens galore, plenty of outdoor seating—Jack’s is far enough from Wrigley that you can actually enjoy yourself but close enough that an influx of fans will stop for a celebratory beer after the game. It’s tough to separate Lakeview’s torrent of upscale pubs with pretty patios from one another (it doesn’t really matter—they’re all owned by the same conglomerates anyways), but, like the divier bars on the list, Jack’s has a loyal following of hoodsters, too. They’re just younger.

Jack’s Bar & Grill
2856 North Southport
(773)404-8400
jackschicago.com

Audience choice:
Harry Caray’s Tavern
700 East Grand on Navy Pier
(312)527-9700
harrycaraystavern.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Cesar’s

Cesar’s proclaims that they have killer margaritas, and boy is that an understatement. With sizes from large to jumbo to mega, these things are big as all-get-out. The best part of the strawberry margarita is fishing the real fruit halves out with your straw and eating them. And these margs are not weak. Killer, remember? So watch out, too many of these and you’ll be singing “one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.”

2924 North Broadway
(773)296-9097
3166 North Clark
(773)248-2835
killermargaritas.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Photo: Kristine Sherred

Bobtail 

It’s easy to make a decent milkshake: Add good ice cream to good milk and you have delicious, right? Well, Bobtail takes it to the next level, with perfectly thick milkshakes and ideal proportions of flavors, fruit and ice cream. In a chocolate banana shake, for example, you taste the banana and chocolate equally. But their real crowning glory is their malt. Bobtail’s tastes exactly like a malt ball. No grit, no powdery taste, just that amazing malt and ice cream.

Bobtail
2951 North Broadway
(773)880-7372
522 South Lake Shore at Buckingham Fountain
(312)786-1014
bobtailicecream.com

Audience choice:
Portillo’s
100 West Ontario
(312)587-8910
portillos.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Photo: Kristine Sherred

People Play Games

Walk through the door of this modest storefront and, faster than you can say, “Ocarina of Time,” be transported back to another time and place—namely, your best friend’s basement, fifth grade. You know the friend, the one whose parents bought him every cool game that came out? The only one you knew who had a Sega Saturn? Or maybe TurboGrafx-16 was more your thing? ColecoVision? No matter; with racks and racks of games and classic systems from Atari 2600 through present day, People Play Games could almost double as a Video Game History Museum. Just how old school are these guys? They don’t even have a website. Don’t ask questions, just check your backpack and Mountain Dew at the door and enjoy.

People Play Games
3268 North Clark
(773)883-8813
facebook.com/pages/People-Play-Games

Best of Chicago 2011