Yoshi’s Café

“To bring a little sweetness” to his Wagyu steak salad, Yoshi Katsumura, owner of Yoshi’s Café in Lakeview, marinates eight ounces of beef in sugar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and sesame oil “for a few hours.” The steak is grilled for one-and-a-half minutes on each side, until it is medium-rare. “It all depends on each person’s taste,” Katsumura says. The steak is sliced into eight pieces, length-wise, and spread atop field greens and thin slices of bright orange mango. For the dressing, Katsumura blends yuzu juice with Japanese vinegar, grapefruit juice and olive oil.

3257 North Halsted
(773)349-6160
yoshiscafe.com

Best of Chicago 2009

The Flower Flat

We love the idea of taking time to smell the flowers while we refuel at Betsy’s Flower Flat in Lakeview. Regulars rave about the banana and hazelnut sandwiches, sloppy Joes and that quintessential English dish, “Toad in the Hole.” This garden-level flower shop, with an interior as charming as the staff is friendly, triples as a spot to shop for gifts and art, all made by featured local artisans. CHIC-trained chef Betsy Mikelson bought the blooming business last summer, and it’s since acquired the nickname BFF, short for Betsy’s Flower Flat.

620 West Addison
(773)697-3682

Best of Chicago 2009

Macondo

You gotta dig a place named after the fictional city in the Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” Every bite of their “tradicional”-flavored hand-pinched pastry pockets stuffed with tender shards of beef and velvety slices of steamy potato dipped in a side of their limey green chili-infused hot sauce induces a magically realistic moment whereby butterflies of delight flutter in your brain.

2965 North Lincoln
(773)698-6867
macondochicago.com

Audience choice:
El Nandu
2731 West Fullerton
(773)278-0900

Best of Chicago 2009

House music parties at the Cubby Bear

It’s no secret that the city has been closing black clubs (owned, operated or catered to) left and right that either infiltrate the downtown area or that are in the 312 area code and are blasting Adonis classics at 3am. Which is why all of a sudden on the South Side the best house music and house music DJs were being found in lounges like the Tropical Den on Stony Island or The Club on Cicero. And just when you thought you could call the city “racist” for segregating-by-music, here comes the 118 bpm with Loleatta Holloway’s voice to the one area of the city that seemed exclusively reserved for Mellencamp, Springsteen and anything sung by Steve Perry. Not since the days of AKA’s on Sheridan has house music had such a surprising and universal impact of bringing people from all over the city to one destination to hear, feel and live the experience that Frankie birthed. House music in Wrigleyville is like watching Tiger invade golf or Barack invade the White House: it’s not a black thing, it’s a beautiful thing.

1059 West Addison
(773)327-1662
cubbybear.com

Best of Chicago 2009

Delilah’s

Whiskey drinking has always been an anonymous hang-your-head-and-drown-your-sorrows-in-a-dingy-back-alley-bar kind of business, and there’s no dingier spot to wallow in a moment of liquid suicide than Mike Miller’s old-punk rock cave in Lakeview. $3 Makers Mark on Fridays, DJ sets featuring The Smiths and a chance to sip bourbon from a deep selection of new and defunct distilleries is more than enough to push you over the edge if each great sip didn’t redeem your faith in existence.

2771 North Lincoln
(773)472-2771
delilahschicago.com

Audience choice:
Delilah’s

Best of Chicago 2009

Pastoral Artisan

The cheese selection here is so smart and deep, you’ll often see Chicago chefs stopping in to fill out their restaurant cheese lists with a wedge or two. Add in the fact that they carry some of Chicago’s finer charcuterie, condiments and made-to-order sandwiches and salads and there’s really no reason to cook at home again.

53 East Lake
(312)658-1250
2945 North Broadway
(773)472-4781
pastoralartisan.com

Audience choice:
The Goddess and the Grocer
1646 North Damen
(773)342-3200
goddessandgrocer.com

Best of Chicago 2009

Cornelia Arts Building Holiday Show

Resident artists of Cornelia Arts Building will once again open their otherwise private work spaces to the public December 4-6 when they host their annual holiday show. It’s a perennial opportunity to peek inside the studios these painters, silversmiths and fashion designers have transformed inside a reclaimed ice factory in Lakeview. More than forty Chicago-area artists join the residents each year, selling everything from handmade candles, soaps and furniture polish to photography, stained glass and pottery. We love the Friday night reception, which is a casually elegant night, and an especially festive holiday shopping experience.

1800 West Cornelia
www.CorneliaArts.com

Falafill

A Middle Eastern sandwich bar bowed in Lakeview last August. They’ve been making fresh falafel balls and sandwich toppings for them there every day since. “People like the variety of the more than twenty freshly prepared toppings available on our self-serve bar,” says manager Jessica Rodriguez. “It’s gourmet at a fact-paced price.” The all-vegetarian lineup includes such tasty toppings as beets, cauliflower and cabbage salads. Sauces range from mildly spicy, such as “toum,” a garlic sauce, to hot red harissa sauce. Fresh-squeezed orange, carrot and apple juice are also on the menu. 

3202 North Broadway
(773)525-0052
eatfalafill.com

Best of Chicago 2009

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

Cupid’s Treasures

In order to qualify as the Best Sex Shop in Chicago, a store must offer something to make everyone blush. Serving the GLBT community as well as heteros and all of the multitudinous others who lack acronyms, Cupid’s Treasures is filled with an overwhelming array of adult toys, videos, clothing and novelty items. Modest prices for immodest fun allow those with a tight budget to loosen up and experiment with something new. Delivering on their promise to launch us “into the future of pleasure” this trove of exotica also features unusual products such as “The Aliens are Cumming Area 51 Love Doll” with “three out-of-this-world holes” alongside the tragically solipsistic “Make Your Own Dildo” kit that produces an exact replica of your own penis. (“Just add water!”) Whether the future of pleasure lies far outside our own galaxy or deep inside our own pants, the Cupid’s Treasures staff members understand that sex is both serious (see the Spike Punisher: a 12.5” long and 2.25” thick wildly intimidating dildo) and playful (enjoy a selection of bachelor and bachelorette party favors that even your stepmother-in-law would find amusing). With hours to accommodate anyone’s schedule (8am-5am Thursday-Saturday, 10am-midnight Sunday-Wednesday) and a vastly diverse and affordable selection to accommodate everyone’s kinks, Cupid’s Treasures is a Chicago pleasure.

3519 N. Halsted
(773)348-3884

Audience choice:
Early to Bed
5232 N. Sheridan
(773)271-1219

Best of Chicago 2008