Best art gallery
Firecat Projects Formerly the studio of artist Tony Fitzpatrick, Firecat is now a gallery founded by Fitzpatrick and Stan Klein, and recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. In addition to giving...
View ArticleBest place to tip the barista by gratuitously exercising your First Amendment...
Ipsento Is there something about the ubiquitous American habit of lauding the right-to-one’s-opinion that compels us to relentlessly and outspokenly have one, all the time, about anything and...
View ArticleBest comic book shop
Challengers Comics + Conversation In four years Challengers has cemented its place in Chicago by emphasizing the comic shop as a social center for readers of all ages and interests. With art exhibits,...
View ArticleBest breakfast spot for late risers
CornerStone Café Nestled in the chaotic intersection of Western, Elston and Diversey is a modest little diner-like café. Unlike other establishments serving both breakfast and lunch at all times,...
View ArticleBest place for children of the nineties to reminisce
Milwaukee Avenue between Damen and Division Miss the good ol’ days of analog video games and boxy blazers? Fear not, everyone born in the mid-to-late eighties! Your fond childhood memories of pop...
View ArticleBest critical art project in Chicago this year
Chicago Torture Justice Memorials Project Bringing together a unique team of prison activists—like Tamms Year Ten and veterans of the movement against police brutality with lawyers from the People’s...
View ArticleBest houseplant garden in an art gallery
Roots & Culture Head south on the Milwaukee Avenue traffic jam toward the Kennedy Expressway and you’ll pass an atrium of oxygen-rich houseplants luring your lungs to clean, quiet air. This is the...
View ArticleBest new boutique or shop opened in the last year or so
Edith Hart Not since Sofia has chic been so… well, chic. Edith Hart stocks cutting-edge brands from foreign locales such as Australia (Bec & Bridge, One Teaspoon, Paper Crown, Wildfox) that you...
View ArticleBest independent bookstore
The Book Cellar If no such thing as a bookstore existed and you were left the charge to create it, you’d be hard-pressed to outdo tireless but always-cheerful owner Suzy Takacs’ beloved shop in Lincoln...
View ArticleBest Costa Rican restaurant
Irazu Travel northwest on Milwaukee Avenue to Oakley Street and find Irazu, the city’s predominant Costa Rican eatery. Settle in for signature menu items Palmito salad, yuca fries and fried plantains....
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