Aja

Put away the sorbet! Josh Linton, executive chef at Aja, the Asian restaurant on the ground level of River North’s Dana Hotel and Spa, brings an exciting alternative to the traditional palate refresher. Linton’s lime or lemongrass-flavored granitas can be eaten as a delightful dessert. The lime works especially well with ginger-snap cookies. But we think his icy concoctions are best enjoyed before dinner, as a flavorful prelude to signature dishes such as crispy chili rock shrimp, sesame chicken or short ribs with mashed potatoes. Linton makes a yuzu granita to accompany Aja’s daily oyster selection. To make the chilly treats, which Linton serves in chilled bowls, he blends shaved ice and his own handmade syrup.

660 North State
(312)202-6050

Best of Chicago 2009

Big Black

Quick. Raise your hand if you think it’ll still be Willis Tower in thirty years. Didn’t think so. In this age of naming rights being sold with little regard to public consciousness, the public needs to retake the vernacular by nicknaming such buildings. We like “Big Black” for its powerful directness, a nickname that seems to match the building’s gritty posture in our sky. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s also the name of a seminal eighties rock band from Chicago, but we’ll keep that our little secret.

Audience choice:
Big Willy

Best of Chicago 2009

Desire Under the Elms, Goodman Theatre

Goodman artistic director Robert Falls made his case for the primacy of Eugene O’Neill as America’s most important playwright by “curating” and producing a three-month festival of work entitled “A Global Exploration: Eugene O’Neill in the 21st Century” and at the epicenter he placed his own supercharged take on “Desire Under the Elms.” Falls stripped away the script’s maternalized majestic elm tree and replaced it with pure masculine commotion, all rocks and carcasses and visceral energy. Against that backdrop, further personified by the gritty performances of Brian Dennehy and Pablo Schreiber, Carla Gugino should not have had a chance, but instead stole the show in a portrayal both tragic and sensual all at once. Folks either loved or hated Falls’ rendering, with Broadway falling into the latter camp, but it demanded to be reckoned with and, even better, set off a long conversation that carried us through equally powerful and extraordinarily risky renditions, from other creative minds, of “The Emperor Jones,” “Mourning Becomes Electra,” “The Sea Plays,” “The Hairy Ape” and “Strange Interlude,” each of which had camps of fans and detractors, and each of which fueled enough argument to warm an especially cold Chicago winter.

Audience choice:
The History Boys, Timeline

Best of Chicago 2009

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

An organized, free-cigarette tracker

Don’t get us wrong. The Tamale guy at 1am at Innertown is a godsend. But we could (basically) just as easily grab a bite on our way home. What would be REALLY beneficial—given these unjust economic times—is if everyone knew where and when the free-smoke-suppliers were dishing out cigs for nothin’. Those people who do that job are more popular than Zack Morris. While it might not exactly help our initiative to quit (we really do have that initiative, really), we would feel much more comfortable being unhealthy for free. Honestly, who wouldn’t?

Best of Chicago 2009

Takashi

Chef Takashi Yagihashi wrote the book (literally—“Takashi’s Noodles”) on silky soba and ridiculously rich ramen. But, why make it at home when you can score sweet somen and the ultimate udon at Yagihashi’s Sunday brunch.

1952 North Damen
(773)772-6170
takashichicago.com

Audience choice:
Urban Belly
3053 North California
(773)583-0500
urbanbellychicago.com

Best of Chicago 2009

Holstein Park

The city sports an array of indoor and outdoor swimming facilities, but nothing compares to Holstein Park’s commodious pool. The deep end hits twelve feet, there’s a separate pool for the kids and the pool is wide and long enough for everyone to keep to themselves. It seriously puts East Bank Club’s members-only rooftop pool to shame. Conveniently located in Bucktown’s residential quarters, Holstein’s pool attracts young professionals and families, and eschews some of the riffraff of other pools. If only diving boards were allowed.

2200 North Oakley
(312)742-7554

Best of Chicago 2009

Jam

The tang of lime whip cream mingles with the berry-like heat of a pink peppercorn garnish, brightening up a rich French toast featuring crispy caramelized crust and a malted-custard-flavored gossamer-cotton-candy-cloud-like interior.

937 North Damen
(773)489-0302
jamrestaurant.com

Best of Chicago 2009

Crabcake from Gemini Bistro

Sweet ring-molded lump crab splashed with a peppery Tabasco aioli, crunchy, freshly toasted house-made croutons and a smart petite salad renews one’s faith in the dish that launched and sunk a thousand gourmet restaurants.

2075 North Lincoln
(773)525-2522
geminibistrochicago.com

Best of Chicago 2009

Twitter is not the most corrupt social network. It’s the most theatrically corrupt.

Best audience choices:
“How do you change the ribbon on this thing?”; “Ran into Algren on Division, grabbed a whiskey and some tapas”; “And then when the former Mayor Daley, he was a corker wasn’t he?, was in office the folks there on the west side voted for him because he co (What? You thought he’d get it done in 140?)”; “Milk steak, and jelly beans.”

Best of Chicago 2009