Best of Chicago - 2006

For this year’s Best of Chicago feature, we ate, shopped, visited, interviewed, imbibed, and otherwise sampled our way through the city and suburbs looking for treasures and treats. Somebody had...

Smarter Than the Smartest Guys in the Room?

A conversation with Enron prosecutor Sean Berkowitz

David Bernstein

Heartbreak Hotel

Only a few years after J. W. Stevens opened his grand Michigan Avenue hotel, the Depression devastated his family, inducing a series of calamities that included suicide, bankruptcy, and criminal...

Charles Lane

Friendly Persuasion

As one of the city’s most successful agents of high-end house and condo sales, Janet Owen knows the art of the real-estate deal.

Jonathan Black

At Home - Open House

A loft turned out to be the perfect solution when two collectors of contemporary art began to long for larger paintings and photographs. PLUS: Resources

Christine Newman

Class Action

War, pestilence, inflation: these are perilous times. But before giving in to despair, consider enrolling in one of these eight courses, which offer lots of learning—and a little hope

Lauren Murrow

Table of Contents

Italicized

If the proliferation of pasta in this town is any indication, every restaurateur in Chicago thinks he can do Italian. Meet two smart newcomers who really can.

Dennis Ray Wheaton

Ban Wagon

No one’s quite sure what will happen when the sale of foie gras becomes illegal in August under the strictures of the city council’s ban. In search of clues, The Closer looks back at...

Jeff Ruby

Hell in Paradise Flat

Largely forgotten now, Myrtle Reed dazzled as a best-selling romance novelist and Chicago socialite 100 years ago. But in her personal life, a happy ending proved sadly elusive

Dan Carlinsky

College Cost 101

Moving vans, U-Hauls, and cars with futons sticking out of the trunk: telltale signs that the school year is here. And for many parents and students, it’s time to stress about the high costs of...

Alexander Russo

Feeling the Heat

Many scientists cite world-impacting weather phenomena—melting glaciers, vanishing snowcaps—as proof of a warming planet. But what does that mean for Chicago?

Stuart Luman

The Shootout

A former U. of C. colleague has sued Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of Freakonomics, for defamation in a case growing out of research on gun-control laws

James L. Meriner

Nightspotting - Take a Dive

Sarah Preston

The Short List - August 2006

Lollapalooza rocks kids—for free; kinky superfreaks find love; green roofs, rings, and more for August

The Idea Guy

Coming soon to an airport (or kitchen) near you: One of Kelly Dempski’s big inventions.

Stuart Luman

The Gold Standard

Gold is the metal of choice for five local jewelry lines that are worthy of national attention.

Stacy Wallace-Albert

Style Sheet - August 2006

Be they metal, wood, or covered in hide, the latest chairs make it ever more stylish to be seated.

Stacy Wallace-Albert

Shanghai Express

Shanghai is building fast. Now its leaders have given themselves a sharp deadline—the 2010 World Expo—to make a distinctive architectural mark to go along with a large concrete footprint. Among...

Jay Pridmore

Say Anything

Glencoe native Lili Taylor has made a career playing complicated women. Chicago spoke to Taylor, who lives in Manhattan, about her theatre roots, why she is drawn to damaged characters, and why...

Stephanie Emma Pfeffer

Real-life CSI

A Loyola University journalism professor and Wilmette mother of two explains how trace evidence can finger a killer at a crime scene.

In Living Color

A former contractor rolls out a high-end paint store that tips the scales of color brilliance. Colori is the place to go to paint your walls red—really red.

Stacy Wallace-Albert

Herald Angel

At Arlington, the race won’t start until Bonny Brown blows her horn.

Geoffrey Johnson

BYO Goes Upscale

In Chicago, “BYO” used to be synonymous with bare-bones ethnic storefronts. Now it’s a winning formula for a crop of ambitious chef-owners who offer an attractive combination of BYO and...

Cassie Walker

Beat Happening

Hip-hop poets Idris Goodwin and Kevin Coval are taking the mic at Yale and at Steppenwolf—and, along the way, attempting to change your definition of rap culture.

Emily L. Hauser

After the Rain

A UIC doctor offers insights into a persistent problem for new moms.

Marcia Froelke Coburn

Lessons from Dad

The son of a prominent First Amendment scholar is now fighting his own press-rights battle against the City of Chicago

David Bernstein

Deal Estate - Your Best Offer

Three sales agents provide Deal Estate with their assessments of a KaneCounty house.

Dennis Rodkin

Deal Estate - August 2006

Stone Gate preserves green space near revitalized suburb’s bustling downtown

Dennis Rodkin

Recipe File - August 2006

Dale Levitski’s Grilled Sirloin and Chicory Salad

Hot List - August 2006

10 places everyone’s talking about—and dining at—in AUGUST. In order of heat.

Dining Tidbits - August 2006

Budget Beat, New, and Latino

5 Questions - Kee Chan

Kee Chan, chef-owner of Mulan, Chinatown’s exciting (and expanding) new spot for innovative Asian cuisine