Sepia noodles at Trenchermen
Tender skeins of cuttlefish (sepia) mimicking pasta noodles are tossed with tangy lime-pickled compressed watermelon and crispy garlic chips. This dish is elegant, haunting, complex, refreshing and satisfying. It’s also one of the more original dishes served anywhere.
Trenchermen, 2039 West North, (773)661-1540, trenchermen.com
Best of Chicago 2012
Antique Taco
Pixy Stix aficionados will love the paper straw served in this Mexican cinnamon-spiced rice-infused milkshake. Horchata aficionados may just swear off the watery version altogether.
Antique Taco, 1360 North Milwaukee, (773)687-8697, antiquetaco.com
Best of Chicago 2012
Beauty Bar
Beauty Bar Chicago, part saloon, part salon, established its Chicago home in 2010 as part of a nationally franchised chain. Its décor is out of a 1960s hairdressing manual. One wall is lined with old-fashioned seated hair dryers. Another wall has how-to diagrams for hairdos. There’s a large dance floor, great for the many scheduled events like readings, karaoke and musical performances (even once host to an indoor skateboard competition). And since their special is a $10 manicure and martini, women need not waste time doing their nails before heading out.
Beauty Bar, 1444 West Chicago, (312)226-8828, thebeautybar.com/chicago
Best of Chicago 2012
Collaboraction
Ever since Collaboraction relocated there in 2010, the third floor of the Flat Iron Arts Building in Wicker Park has seen a ton of hipster traffic. It’s sort of like an adult corn maze. Okay, so an adult corn maze is just a regular corn maze with booze, but bear with us. Go up three flights of stairs, pray you’ve entered the correct elliptical hallway, wander down the winding path, and voila! Comfy couches, PBR, art-gallery flooring, and two sweet performance venues. One, Room 300, is ultra malleable—for Collaboraction’s annual Sketchbook festival, they put up colorful childlike blocks in asymmetrical towers for seating. And another, the Pentagon, is just that: a pentagonal black box. The cool gallery setting is perfection for the media-centric company’s fantastical integration of design. Oh, and those couches are pretty kickass during intermission.
Collaboraction, 1579 North Milwaukee, (312)226-9633, collaboraction.org
Best of Chicago 2012
Sable Kitchen & Bar
It’s tempting to go with Aviary, the liquid outpost from the Alinea team, but with the changing of guard to Charles Joly from Craig Schoettler, it’s still too early to tell what change will bring. At Sable though, head bartender Mike Ryan (Violet Hour, Otom vet) has been steadfast. He trained as a chef and handcrafts bitters, tinctures and infusions with balance and nuance. While he can improvise anything behind the stick, the long and well-curated cocktail list ensures you’ll never be stumped or left wanting when you’re thirsty.
505 North State, (312)755-9704, sablechicago.com
Audience choice: Violet Hour, 1520 North Damen, (773)252-1500, theviolethour.com
Best of Chicago 2012
Falafill
Classic, curry and seasonal fried chickpea balls here rate among the best, but it’s the rotating chef selection of falafel like the ones from Jason Hammel of Lula—Sun Gold tomato relish, pickled pistachio, crispy fried kale and honey topped version—or Paul Virant of Vie’s black bean falafel smothered in spicy mayo, pickled peppers, pea shoots, cilantro and lemon garlic vinaigrette that sets this burgeoning franchise apart. The self-service condiment bar here is so good, those skeevy pepper bar-pimping Quizno’s hamsters would love it.
Falafill, 3202 North Broadway, (773)525-0052, eatfalafill.com
Audience choice: Sultan’s Market, 2057 West North, (773)235-3072, 2521 North Clark, (312)638-9151, chicagofalafel.com
Best of Chicago 2012
Tracy Letts as Irek Obsidian in “The Iron Stag King: Part One” at the House Theatre
Looking at the program for the House Theatre’s first entry in the “Iron Stag King” trilogy, some may have wondered how Tracy Letts could possibly be in this Chicago show while also starring in the highly acclaimed “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” remount on Broadway. As it turns out, Letts’ character, Irek Obsidian, is a gigantic animatronic dragon. And when his booming voice fills the theatre with pre-recorded dialogue, this fantasy stage show becomes truly epic.
House Theatre, thehousetheatre.com
Best of Chicago 2012
On the corner of Milwaukee and Honore
Logan Square is definitely coming close, but Wicker Park is still where you’ll find a higher concentration of fashionable people. Lots of extremely stylish out-of-towners as well since that’s where their tour guide tells them to go.
Best of Chicago 2012
“Sharks, Dicks, and Drugs” at Gold Star Bar
Artists Geoffrey Todd Smith and Mike Rea are largely responsible for Gold Star Bar’s newfound reputation as the shark-dick bar. Their napkin-doodlesque drawing series “Sharks, Dicks and Drugs” depict exactly that, and more. And while it’s hard to top the quasi-masochistic appeal of nursing a beer next to an image of a shark snorting blow off an overturned hooker’s splayed asscheeks, asking the bartender for a shot of “Grandpa’s Mouth” (concocted by one of the artists) just might do the trick.
Gold Star Bar, 1755 West Division, (773)227-8700, facebook.com/pages/Gold-Star-Bar
Best of Chicago 2012
Dusty Groove
Dusty Groove’s records are classified by categories such as jazz, soul, funk and rock—except for one musical session baptized by the name of a country. Brazil, the land of bossa nova, samba and many other unique rhythms, has produced so many individual artists that they do not fit into any conventional label. The selection includes records, CDs and DVDs of Brazil’s world-famous names such as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto and Vinicius de Moraes along with some rare collector’s items in good condition and fair prices. They also have a nice sample of the new generation such as Ceu, Curumin and Seu Jorge.
Dusty Groove, 1120 North Ashland, (773)342-5800, dustygroove.com
Best of Chicago 2012
