Amish Healthy Foods

When all the farmer’s markets are done for the season but you’re still looking to support local, sustainable food—that doesn’t break the bank—this Amish market really hits the spot. In addition to a fairly wide selection of meat, including grass-fed beef, the market also offers fresh butter, milk and eggs from an Amish farm in Indiana. Sometimes they’ve even got double-yolk duck eggs in stock. Seasonal selections like fresh vegetables and cider round out the selection. It’s not organic, but doesn’t have the pretension or price tags of some places that are.

Amish Healthy Foods
1023 North Western
(773)278-1717
amishhealthyfoods.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Hinge Gallery

Holly Sabin opened Hinge in February, and the gallery’s roster of artists and exhibitions promises to support some of Chicago’s most deserving emerging artists.

Hinge Gallery
1955 West Chicago
(312)291-9313
hingegallery.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Dusty Groove America

Walk into the door and you are trapped for two hours. Easily. Crate diggin’ at its finest. It’s a comic book store for beat fiends, vinyl junkies and urban music aficionados that #OCCUPYLADYGAGA.

Dusty Groove America
1120 North Ashland
(773)342-5800
dustygroove.com

Audience choice:
Reckless Records
26 East Madison, (312)795-0878
1532 North Milwaukee, (773)235-3727
3126 North Broadway, (773)404-5080
reckless.com

Best of Chicago 2011

The Empty Bottle

Normally we aren’t a fan of facelifts (Bruce Jenner, anyone?) but in the case of Empty Bottle, the veteran venue’s brand spankin’ new floors and bathrooms fared well from a spit shine earlier this year that made the physical appearance match up to the beauty of their booking. In 2011, Empty Bottle Presents brought us Jane Birkin for chrissakes, plus Tortoise, the HoZac Blackout Fest, the Neon Marshmallow Fest, trivia nights and a Handmade Market. Next year we might just bring our sleeping bag and start camping out.

The Empty Bottle
1035 North Western
(773)276-3600
emptybottle.com

Audience choice:
Empty Bottle

Best of Chicago 2011

Seek Vintage

Mostly vintage, these eclectic drinking glasses are decorated with silvery starbursts, frosted in faded pastel or rimmed with gold trim. The glasses have style and panache, and are displayed in singles or pairs, or sets of six to eight. Step back into the fifties, mix up a frozen can of Birdseye orange juice, pour it into a retro glass and drink up.

Seek Vintage
1432 West Chicago
(312)526-3164
seekvintagechicago.com

Best of Chicago 2011

JABB
Amid 6,000 square feet of heavy bags, boxing rings and pugilists jumping rope and firing off bicycle crunches, bespectacled men shadow box next to welterweight contenders. David Diaz talks about his title fight with Manny Pacquiao while Kendall Gill cracks jokes with the house pros. Then, at 6pm, the Training Camp class begins and twenty or so students are put through the most thorough hour workout in any Chicago gym, period. From bag work to individual training, cardiovascular to strength training, JABB’s boot camp will whip any man or woman into incredible shape in a matter of days. All the trainers are former dedicated boxers and the class is delightfully split between men and women.

410 North Oakley
(312)733-5222
jabbboxing.com

Best of Chicago 2010

Permanent Records/Photo: Kristine Sherred

Permanent Records

In a classic Chicago storefront space, the size of an average apartment, Permanent Records is the young version of what you’d expect from mom-and-pop joints. Ever-friendly and well-informed Lance Barresi and Liz Tooley are exemplars of the think globally, act locally ethos: the biz plan of the big bad bricks-’n'-mortar stores has fallen, but the possibility of sweet, unpretentious local enterprise lives on. Vinyl! CDs! Newsletters! Podcasts! In-store appearances of bands you’d likely see drop into joints in the owners’ old stomping ground of Columbia, Missouri! Plus, of course, a cool cat calls it home.

1914 West Chicago
(773)278-1744
permanentrecordschicago.com

Audience choice:

Reckless Records

26 East Madison
(312)795-0878

1532 North Milwaukee
(773)235-3727

3126 North Broadway
(773)404-5080
reckless.com

Best of Chicago 2010

Fritz Pastry

When they first opened, we were lukewarm on Fritz’s almond flour confections. After making tens of thousands of these bad boys, chef Nate Meads has finally achieved the perfect gooey butter cream center and the right pliant cookie chew, making these the closest we’ll get to Pierre Herme’s Paris standard anytime soon.

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

Audience choice:

Alliance Bakery and Café
1736 West Division
(773)278-0366
alliance-bakery.com

Best of Chicago 2010

Photo: Kristine Sherred

It’s hard to tell the junk from the “antique” from the “vintage” from the objets d’art. It’s all mixed together, it doesn’t really matter, and Celio is friendly and bizarre enough to justify the trip by himself. It is becoming less of a secret—dude has his own amazing Tumblr page now, so get in on the ground floor.

1305 North Western
stoplookoddments.tumblr.com

Best of Chicago 2010

Half Acre Brewing Company

Now you can pick up small-batch coffee at the same place you buy growlers of craft-brewed beer, Half Acre’s brewery and tap room in the North Center neighborhood. Fill up your jug with Daisy Cutter pale ale, Gossamer golden ale or a changing line-up of seasonal brews. Then pick up a bag of Dark Matter beans, roasted in eight-pound batches at Star Lounge Coffee Bar, 2521 West Chicago in Ukrainian Village. If you’re lucky, they’ll have Big Hugs imperial stout, brewed with the coffee, so you can enjoy both tastes at the same time. It’s one-stop shopping for all your gourmet drug needs.

4257 North Lincoln
(773)248-4038
halfacrebeer.com
darkmattercoffee.com

Audience choice:

Intelligentsia Coffee
3123 North Broadway
(773)348-8058

53 West Jackson
(312)253-0594

53 East Randolph
(312)920-9332
intelligentsiacoffee.com

Best of Chicago 2010