Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i Chicago magazine

BILL ZEHME, WHO DIED IN MARCH AT 64, was one of the great magazine writers of our time. He profiled Sinatra, Carson, Letterman, and so many other towering figures for the likes of Rolling Stone and Esquire. A Chicagoan, he also made his mark on this magazine. Ted Allen, a Chicago staffer before joining the original Queer Eye team, profiled him in 1996’s “Bill Zehme Feels Your Pain,” which you can now find on our website. More recently, Zehme came up with the concept for our monthly Backroom feature and handled the interviewing duties himself until cancer robbed him of that ability. And in 2017, with a mix of eloquence and brutal honesty, he wrote in our pages about coping with the disease that would ultimately take his life, in “What…

Its origins date back more than a hundred years, to the creation of a different flag. In 1892, the Chicago Daily Tribune held a contest to design a city flag. The winner was architect Alfred J. Roewad’s entry, with its Y-shaped emblem representing the confluence of the North and South Branches of the Chicago River at Wolf Point. Though the city eventually went with blue stripes and red stars, Roewad’s emblem became what’s known as the municipal device, one required by local code to be displayed on all city vehicles. So why isn’t that enforced today? According to the city’s website, “Hippies doomed the municipal device with their peace symbol,” which was a little too close in appearance for some. “It was hated by Chicago police in the 1960s.” The…

THOUGH HE WAS BORN more than 150 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, Martin Luther King Jr. should be considered a founding father of the United States, Chicago writer Jonathan Eig argues in his book King: A Life, out May 16. After all, King led a movement that forced the country to live up to its creed that all men are created equal. “If you believe that those documents really are committed to the life of all and freedom and rights of all citizens, then it was incomplete until Black people began to demand their own inclusion,” Eig says. His sweeping biography chronicles the civil rights activist’s journey, starting long before his birth and ending with his assassination on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. In this…

EVERY TIME I WALK out there, the world has changed.” That’s playwright and actor Heidi Schreck in a voice-over intro to a filmed version of What the Constitution Means to Me, her inventive theatrical exploration of how the country’s founding document and the courts have, and mostly haven’t, protected the rights of women and other marginalized groups. At the time that the Broadway production was shot for Amazon Prime Video in 2019, she notes, she had been performing versions of her near-solo show for a decade: “during presidential elections, Supreme Court hearings, marches, and protests.” Now, as TimeLine Theatre Company prepares to mount the first Chicago-based production, May 10 to July 2, the world has shifted again, in a way that couldn’t be more central to the play. In Schreck’s…

FLORAL CLOUD AT BAR MAR This vibrant number mixes Fords gin with lemon, maraschino liqueur, and crème de violette. It’s finished tableside with a smoky cloud of hibiscus, rose, and orange blossom poured over the top. $17. 120 N. Wacker Dr., Loop POMEGRANATE GAZOZ AT GALIT This refreshing, nonalcoholic soda is made with a pomegranate, hibiscus, cardamom, and rose syrup. A spritz of rose water over the top lends a bright floral scent. $9. 2429 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincoln Park R SPRITZ AT RPM ITALIAN This springy sip combines Cocchi Rosa, an apéritif wine, with Mancino Vermouth Sakura, which is made with Japanese cherry blossoms and Italian lavender. Lemon and sparkling rosé finish it off. $17. 52 W. Illinois St., River North LITTLE LIES AT CHEF’S SPECIAL COCKTAIL BAR Beverage…

LOOKING FOR A MOTHER’S DAY BRUNCH dish as special as the moms in your life? Bostock’s your move. Like a hybrid of French toast and an almond croissant, these baked slices of frangipane-topped brioche are essentially the Ina Garten of breakfast pastries — at once laid-back and classy. Best put your siblings on notice: According to Greg Wade, head baker at Publican Quality Bread, this berry-scattered, syrupy, and “crazy good” version is “favorite-child fuel for sure.” GREG WADE’S BOSTOCK Makes 8 slices Active time 25 minutes Total time 50 minutes 2 cups sugar, divided1 cup plus 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature2 eggs, at room temperature1 tsp. dark rum2¼ cups almond flour⅔ cup bread flour½ tsp. kosher salt8 thick slices of brioche2 cups sliced almonds1 cup fresh berries, for serving…

With my beer nerd boyfriend to guide me, we headed north to Traverse City, a Michigan tourist town best known for its wineries and fancy bed and breakfasts. But it’s not just a place to sip vino anymore. The brewery scene has exploded in recent years, along with distilleries and small-batch food producers, making it an artisanal sustenance paradise. Our first stop was an hour-out-of-the-way detour in Ludington, two hours southwest of Traverse City (just keep hugging the coast instead of turning northeast at Grand Rapids). Starving Artist Brewing (634 S. Stiles Rd.) is perhaps the most country of all country breweries, hiding in the back of a residential lot in a barn behind a house. It features a small porch, an outdoor seating area, and an inclusive vibe (tagline:…

◼ Longtime stylist Janet Mandell knows that finding the perfect going-out outfit often means stepping outside of your own closet. So she opened her own for you to peruse—now in a bigger, flashier location. Work with a stylist to comb through designer pieces for rent, or go full-Cinderella-moment in the “glam room,” where you can prep and sip Champagne before your big night. 900 N. Michigan Ave., Magnificent Mile…

◼ I can teach you how to cut lemons for the bar or make purée for a dish. But the bigger question is, How can that translate to your everyday success? If I can teach you how to cut lemons uniformly as a garnish or for what we call speed lemons — ones you squeeze on food to give it a splash of acid — then I can start to create a process where your attention to detail becomes a little bit more acute. ◼ We wouldn’t have tribal patterns from Africa laced in our curtains if we didn’t want to pay homage to a place that’s informed our very existence in this country, alongside informing the food and the intentionality in the food that we cook. ◼ I understand…

1 Newly elected mayor Brandon Johnson will preside over his first City Council meeting this month. Restless alders have been plotting for greater independence from the incoming administration by establishing more committees and naming chairs themselves. 2 Ex–Edgewater resident Aleksandar Hemon, now a professor at Princeton University, returns for the Chicago Humanities Festival May 6 to discuss his latest novel, The World and All That It Holds. 3 Before he died last September, pianist Ramsey Lewis sat down with author Aaron Cohen to tell his life story, from a Chicago housing project to musical stardom. Gentleman of Jazz: A Life in Music is out May 9. 4 Given up on NFL dreams but not on pro football? The XFL, which relaunched this year, will scout a May 14 combine at North…

On his first night in Chicago, King held an open house, inviting neighbors to visit. He talked for a long time with six members of a local gang, the Vice Lords, about Gandhi and the concept of peaceful protest. Everyone, including King, sat on the floor. “We would say, ‘We respect what you’re saying, but if someone hits me, I’m going to hit him back,’ ” recalled Lawrence Johnson, one of the Vice Lords. King argued that the gang members would never win that way. The police would always have more power. “Hearing this, seeing him, being young, living in a depressive life in America, you couldn’t help but to fall in love with him,” Johnson said. Despite the admonishment, the Vice Lords believed there was at least one thing…

INSTAGRAM HANDLE @tobishinobi FOLLOWERS 170,000 ◼ Who’s behind it Tobi Shonibare, 40, a photographer from London now living in the West Loop ◼ How it started While working as a lawyer in the U.K., Shonibare felt unsatisfied. “I eased my frustrations by picking up a camera, teaching myself how to shoot,” he says. He posted images on Instagram as Tobi Shinobi. After building a following, he was hired in 2017 by ad agency Havas as a photographer and videographer in Chicago. He now works as a creative strategist for TikTok. ◼ His style Shonibare likes to shoot places that “look surreal but are real.” One photo he took of a staircase in Spain “reminds people of that painting by M.C. Escher that has steps going off in all different directions.” ◼…

THE SIZZLING SISIG IS A MUST-ORDER AT BOONIE’S FILIPINO RESTAURANT. Pork hash topped with an egg that the server mixes into the dish, it’s equal parts showstopper and comfort food. Chef Joe Fontelera didn’t eat it as a kid in Lincoln Square and Skokie in the 1980s and ’90s, but when he had it as an adult on his first trip to the Philippines, from which his family began emigrating in 1970, he “felt like a window opened,” he recalls. Fontelera’s take on Filipino cuisine draws on both his family and his chef roots (he most recently worked at sushi spot Arami). In 2020, he developed Boonie Foods, first as a pop-up, then at Revival Food Hall, where he served rice plates and tacos. But this BYOB brick-and-mortar spot, which opened…

1 DON BUCIO’S TAQUERIA What The latest restaurant from chef Rodolfo Cuadros (Amaru, Bloom Plant Based Kitchen), this colorful, casual spot highlights vegan Mexican fare, from guac to coconut arroz con leche. Why You’re probably here for the tacos and burritos, and Cuadros offers clever plant-based subs, like guajillo-braised jackfruit for barbacoa. Where 2763 N. Milwaukee Ave., Logan Square 2 GG’S CHICKEN SHOP What Lee Wolen (Boka, Alla Vita) lands a permanent space for his chicken concept. Why Winner, winner, rotisserie chicken dinner — a bird plus sides like smashed potatoes and mac and cheese is an easy family meal. Where 3325 N. Southport Ave., Lake View 3 ITOKO What Also joining the new Boka complex (see No. 2) is this Japanese spot from Gene Kato (Momotaro). Why The menu features maki,…

GROWING UP ON THE SOUTH and West Sides, Christian K. Lee got a firsthand look at responsible gun ownership: His father, a state police officer, kept a firearm at home. But that experience didn’t jibe with depictions on TV. “I never saw a positive image of African Americans around guns,” Lee says. “So I started to make those images that I knew existed.” While stationed with the army in Texas, Lee began photographing Black gun owners and listening to their stories. He continued the project after moving back to Chicago, where he’s pursuing a master’s in photography at the School of the Art Institute. Coinciding with a striking rise in Black gun ownership in the United States, his series, Armed Doesn’t Mean Dangerous, offers a novel perspective on a charged subject.…

LORI LIGHTFOOT DID NOT MAKE A LOT OF FRIENDS IN HER FOUR YEARS AS MAYOR. On election night in February, only two aldermen attended her party/wake at the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council headquarters in River North: Scott Waguespack, her handpicked finance committee chair, and Jason Ervin, who was accompanying his wife, city treasurer and outspoken Lightfoot surrogate Melissa Conyears-Ervin. “When I look back at the last four years, she has done things that upset the political apple cart, that upset a lot of people,” Waguespack said as returns rolled in showing that the mayor wouldn’t make the runoff. “She challenged the system in ways that had never been done before.” Lightfoot was elected as a political outsider but was defeated for a second term partly because she didn’t act like…

I’M ONE OF THOSE OBNOXIOUS, annoying people who genuinely loves coming to work,” proclaims Fox 32 entertainment anchor Jake Hamilton. A Texas native and huge film buff, he studied broadcast journalism at the University of Houston but afterward traded Lone Star sunshine for Windy City weather. Now 35, Hamilton has logged nearly a decade’s worth of interviews with A-list stars for the morning show Good Day Chicago (plus his podcast, Reel Blend) and has won three local Emmys. His job requires that he wake well before dawn, and he walks from his Streeterville home to the TV studio—it’s “almost a mile to the step,” he says. “Whenever I consider living anywhere else, I think, Well, if I do that, I’ll have to add two more miles to my steps every day.”…

YEARS AGO WE WERE ON vacation in Paris when my wife was called home for a family emergency. I found myself alone with our three tween girls and no agenda. Over the next few days, we became regulars at the boisterous brasserie around the corner from our hotel. Good move. The adventurous child tried her first foie gras, the carnivorous one ate steak frites, and the picky one ordered baguette cheese sandwiches. I ran through the classics, from warm herring and potatoes to choucroute garnie. Such are the pleasures of brasserie dining, where you can splurge, make do with a sandwich, or revisit an old fave. At a brasserie, there will be white table-cloths, porcelain plates, servers in long aprons lashing through the dining room with overburdened trays held aloft. A…

IF YOU LOOKED AT MY BANK ACCOUNT IN 2012, YOU WOULD HAVE questioned my life choices. Six years after graduating from college, I was still pursuing a career in music. I was earning $38 a month from streaming royalties—certainly not enough to cover the rent for my Roscoe Village apartment. I had started as a solo singer-songwriter before launching an indie folk-rock trio, Fort Frances, in 2010. We rode the highs — sold-out nights at Schubas felt like we were on the brink of hitting the big time — before bottoming out at the lows of indie rock obscurity: playing at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday in Columbia, Missouri, for four people. Touring was a game of working to break even, lugging massive gear down basement steps, cramming into a Quality…

Ken Eto left the meeting at Caesar DiVarco’s club on Wabash knowing they were going to kill him. It was midday. The plan was to get up with Johnny Gattuso and Jay Campise that evening, then they’d take him to Vince Solano and they’d all have dinner together. Eto walked back to his black ’76 Torino coupe, illegally parked, and saw he’d gotten a ticket. He drove around for a while. He had to figure out what to do, or what he could do. Around 3 p.m., he got back home to Bolingbrook. The thing was the life insurance. Mary Lou needed to know where the $100,000 policy was. He also had to give her the pawn slips—tell her to get everything out of hock by the end of next…

◼ I’ve always been willing to travel for retail therapy, and I knew I’d found a new fix when I stumbled upon the Instagram feed of Blue Pear Mercantile: a satisfying scroll of botanical posters, French soaps, handmade jewelry, geodes, and feathers of all varieties. GPS indicated that its location on the historic square of northwest Indiana’s Crown Point (106 W. Clark St.) was less than an hour from Chicago. Sold. When I moseyed in (and “mosey” aptly describes my slow saunter when entering a shopping wonderland), owner Robert Radzinski was testing perfumes. We got to chatting, and he enthusiastically told me about the elaborate Marie Antoinette–themed window display he was planning for the holidays. I made a mental note: Step it up, Macy’s. After leaving with four air plants…