Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2024 i Chicago magazine

IF YOU’VE SEEN Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (and if you haven’t, please remedy that immediately), you’ll no doubt recall the scene where the three teenage truants frolic around the Art Institute. At one point, Ferris’s friend Cameron, donned in a hockey jersey, finds himself mesmerized by the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. It’s an iconic moment in an iconic Chicago institution in an iconic Chicago movie. And one that seemed fitting to re-create for the opening spread of our feature on the Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard (page 50) — with, naturally, Bedard in his own jersey subbing for Cameron in his Gordie Howe Red Wings one. But would the museum allow us, on a closed Wednesday morning, to set up shop in front of one of its most…

I WANT PEOPLE TO listen and understand, if it’s a relationship, if it’s a friendship, if it’s a career — whatever you’re dealing with or battling, you can make it through,” Tink declares of her latest album. This empowering sentiment fuels Winter’s Diary 5, released in July. Shedding what she calls the “adolescent point of view” of her past, the 29-year-old R&B singer and songwriter taps into her vulnerabilities to “tell real stories” of living as a young Black woman in Chicago. “I want women to feel so comfortable in this space that I’m creating.” It’s a testament to how much those stories have resonated — and to her fervent hometown following—that Tink is headlining a United Center show December 20 with rapper Sexyy Red and others. It marks her biggest nonfestival…

WHEN ALEXIS RICE AND EVE Studnicka started their delivery service Funeral Potatoes in 2020, establishing a brick-and-mortar location was the last thing on their minds. Their weekly menu of fun riffs on Midwest dishes like the namesake hash brown casserole that’s brought to weddings, potlucks, and funerals—“cheesy carbs for hard times,” quips Rice — was all about pandemic survival. But after four years of deliveries, it was time to change things up. In July, Funeral Potatoes took over the kitchen at the Portage Park bar Moonflower (4359 N. Milwaukee Ave.), owned by Zach Rivera, Christina Chae, and Marvin Boeving. “They were in a similar but opposite boat where they had no interest in running a restaurant and wanted someone who could take that off their plate,” says Rice. Since then, delivery…

MIGOS FINE FOODS 5044 W. Montrose Ave., Jefferson Park ■ Perfect order Fried chicken torta, mushroom pastor tacos, cinnamon sugar doughnuts ■ Brian Jupiter made his name cooking whole animals at Frontier and the New Orleans classics he grew up with at Ina Mae Tavern—the through line to his cuisine is soul. So it tracks that for the counter service joint Migos Fine Foods, which he opened in April with Frontier chef de cuisine Azazi Morsi, he created a new kind of soul-warming fare that melds Mexican and Southern flavors with halal ingredients. Tacos, fried chicken, and tortas make up the bulk of the menu, but start with the spicy potato empanadas ($9) before moving onto the mushroom tacos ($9), which come two to an order. Filled with pastor spiced…

FOR WAYNE DREHS, WHO PENNED OUR cover story on Connor Bedard (page 50), writing for Chicago has been a long time coming. Drehs, a native of the western suburbs, grew up reading the magazine—his parents always had issues around the house—and decided he wanted to be a sportswriter “as soon as I knew I was going to be a failed athlete,” as he puts it. He ended up spending more than 20 years at ESPN, writing about everything from Michael Phelps to his own decision to delay open-heart surgery so he could watch the Cubs in the World Series. When Drehs, a Naperville resident, left ESPN and started freelancing, Chicago was the first publication that came to mind. “The fact that it all worked out with an athlete with the incredible…

BRANDON JOHNSON’S PREDECESSORS COULD HAVE TOLD HIM THERE WOULD BE days like these. His approval rating has dipped to 25 percent. Much of the city is on him for running roughshod over Chicago Public Schools. Even some of his progressive allies have turned against him, the bulk of City Council members signing a letter criticizing him for his handling of the school board. And on top of all that, his biggest individual donor, rapper Lil Durk, has been arrested on murder-for-hire charges. If Johnson turns out to be a one-term-and-done, he’ll suffer the fate of most modern Chicago mayors — at least those not named Daley. The span from 1976, when Richard J. died, to 1989, when Richard M. was elected, has come to be known as the inter-Daley period. In…

■ A few sizes larger than your father’s suit and a few smaller than David Byrne’s, the archetypal Lori Lightfoot suit drooped over her diminutive frame and cascaded into a gray puddle. When she paired the pinstripe version with her signature fedora, it looked like Al Capone cosplay. Now it appears that the former mayor’s much-maligned look is all the rage. Who wore it best?…

1 SINCE HE BEEN GONE Shakespeare’s tragic teen ditches her suitor in the jukebox musical comedy & Juliet, which sets her post-Romeo potential to a slate of millennial pop hits written by Swedish chartbuster Max Martin. Dec. 3–15. broadwayinchicago.com 2 LEGENDS ONLY Wish a happy 85th birthday to the incomparable Mavis Staples at the Auditorium Theatre’s concert celebration, featuring sets by Jackson Browne, Margo Price, and Staples herself. Dec. 6. auditoriumtheatre.org 3 TAPPINGS OF GOOD CHEER The tap dance titans of the Chicago Human Rhythm Project put together a top-notch lineup of dancers and musicians for their annual holiday program at the South Loop’s Jazz Showcase. Dec. 9–16. jazzshowcase.com 4 BACH FROM AFAR As offerings from holiday visitors go, we’ll take the full set of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos (performed at…

AS YOU PLAN YOUR HOLIDAY gathering, take note: The snack spread is where parties are made. “Sharing dips and getting down and dirty with it, that’s what makes it fun,” says Chris Jung of Maxwells Trading, which has a whole menu section celebrating “dunks.” Prime example: his whipped ricotta with griddle bread. There’s an instant merriment that comes with tearing apart the pillowy rounds. The recipe is modified here to give the bread its rise from instant yeast instead of sourdough starter, but cheffy touches like fermenting the dough overnight and blanketing the ricotta in burnt-lemon hot honey add complexity worthy of the swankiest year-end fete. CHRIS JUNG’S WHIPPED RICOTTA WITH GRIDDLE BREAD Makes 18 griddle breads with dip Active time 1 hour 25 minutes Total time 2 hours 25 minutes,…

On the third floor of the Field Museum, down a long hallway lined with large vintage bas-relief maps, a sign hangs on the door of paleontologist Jingmai O’Connor’s office: “Archaeopteryx is the most important fossil of all time. CHANGE MY MIND.” Now, thanks to the efforts of the Field, Chicagoans will get to see one up close: In May, the museum unveiled the acquisition of its very own such rare fossil, one that is particularly extraordinary. Covered in feathers and with a beak full of teeth, archaeopteryx has been an icon of evolution since the first fossil of its kind was discovered in Germany in 1861. The genus, which is the earliest known dinosaur that is also a bird, indisputably linked the two groups. Like the 12 previously known examples…

It had been two decades, by Harry Lennix’s estimate, since he’d acted on a Chicago stage. Commitments to film and TV projects, including 10 seasons on NBC’s The Blacklist, kept him away. But he made up for lost time, returning to deliver indelible performances in three high profile productions this year. “Chicago is the city of my birth. Chicago is my home,” says Lennix, 60, who grew up in South Shore and started his career in the city’s theater scene in the 1980s after studying at Northwestern. “You can take me out of Chicago, but you cannot take the Chicago out of me.” Lennix, who now lives in New York, began the year starring as a familiar-feeling civil rights leader, pastor, and patriarch of a Chicago family in Steppenwolf Theatre’s…

■ There’s a natural tendency after you’re in any business for a while to just think, I can skate a little bit, I don’t need to do all this work. But in the end, it’s the humility to prepare and the confidence to pull it off that’s the formula for success. ■ I sat in the booth with Harry Caray one time, and he says, “Look at that guy’s swing. Isn’t that something?” I’m thinking, Here’s a guy who’s seen 10 million ball games, and it’s like he’s seeing his first one. ■ Colonel Parker said about Elvis in the beginning: “I don’t have to sell Elvis to the public. I just have to sell Elvis to the people who sell to the public.” I started hanging out at Riccardo’s,…

Q: Why does the city’s border extend north of Howard Street in Rogers Park? When Rogers Park was annexed to Chicago, in 1893, Howard Street became the city’s boundary with Evanston. The little 8 0 - acre neighborhood just north of Howard along the lake was known as Germania, after the German immigrants who had settled there. But Germania had a problem. It was cut off from the rest of Evanston by Calvary Catholic Cemetery to the north and later by the L tracks to the west. That made it impossible for the suburb to extend electrical or sewer lines to its southeasternmost district. “The territory received almost no services from Evanston,” the Tribune reported at the time. As a result, Germania picked up a new nickname: No Man’s Land.…

1 Dreaming of a white Christmas? The odds we’ll have one this year have increased thanks to another La Niña, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2 The NHL Winter Classic returns to Wrigley Field on Dec. 31, with the local team facing the St. Louis Blues. It will be an unprecedented fifth appearance for the Blackhawks. Let’s hope it will also be their first win. 3 Mayor Brandon Johnson’s seven member rubber stamp interim school board, which he handpicked to replace the one that resigned en masse in October, holds its final meeting Dec. 12. A new, partially elected 21-member board will begin serving in its place in January. 4 Evanston native John Cusack hosts a screening of the Gen X classic Say Anything at the Auditorium Theatre on…

AN OUTSPOKEN supporter of Israel, Alderperson Debra Silverstein has become a lightning rod for public criticism and harassment since last year’s Hamas attack and Israel’s retaliation. For the past 13 years, Silverstein, the only Jewish member of the City Council, has represented the 50th Ward, a diverse North Side stretch that runs through West Ridge, Rogers Park, and Lincoln Square. She talked with Chicago about the treatment she’s received recently, her efforts to push back against hate incidents of all types, and her ongoing condemnation of Mayor Brandon Johnson for what she sees as stoking tensions. Q: You have become more publicly visible since protesters shouted you down at two separate City Council meetings. At the first, less than a week after the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel, you introduced…

WITH FIVE DAYS A WEEK ON air, NBC-5’s Chicago Today host-producer Cortney Hall has to juggle work duties with her wellness routine. “I’m not a person who loves going to a gym, but I’m down for a class,” she says. “I love the social element and learning a new sport.” Born in Beverly, the 43-year-old Loop resident always wanted a job that had an immediate impact. She found her calling on 9/11 while hunkered down in her Georgetown dorm “watching Peter Jennings and seeing the visual of the Pentagon on fire.” That ultimately led her to study broadcast journalism at Northwestern. Now she has five years under her belt on the local midday lifestyle show. On December 31, she and Chicago Today partner Matthew Rodrigues switch to prime time for A…

COQUITO Artsy Bartender Available: Through January Every Puerto Rican household has its recipe for coquito (“little coconut”), the cocktail with coconut cream, baking spices, and, nonnegotiably, Puerto Rican rum. Cocktail consultant and event bartender Davíd León Jr. updated his family’s formula, which he bottles into boozy gifts. Nodding to his ancestors, León incorporates hibiscus into his toasted spice mixture and infuses it into rum with cinnamon. He also uses the entire coconut, meat and all. In case the OG isn’t sumptuous enough, he makes a chocolate and peanut butter one, too. Order via Instagram (@artsybartender). PONCHE NAVIDEÑO Frontera Grill Available: Through New Year’s Eve Come December, aromas of this simmered holiday punch—traditionally made with rum-soused guava, tejocote (similar to a crabapple), and sugarcane—permeate markets and homes throughout Mexico. Spirits director…

THE GREAT NEW YORK TIMES restaurant critic Ruth Reichl once described the flavor of dry-aged beef as having a “mineral tang.” It’s a turn of phrase that stuck like a skater’s perfect landing, and over the decades it has been copied incessantly. I’m guilty myself — it can’t be beat. Dry-aging profoundly affects the flavor and texture of beef. It subtly raises its pH and not so subtly raises its price, owing to the sheer amount of weight the meat loses during the process. When large cuts spend a couple of weeks or more in a cool, controlled environment with good airflow, our ambient microfriends—bacteria, molds, yeasts — go to work. They form a crust that keeps the bad microbes out and works with the meat’s natural enzymes to break down…

1 TAVERN ON RUSH What The Gold Coast staple steakhouse returns after its 2022 closure. Why Relocated to the Thompson Chicago hotel across the street, it now has two floors and a fresh chef at the helm. Where 1015 N. Rush St., Gold Coast 2 KHMAI What Mona Sang’s Cambodian fine-dining spot lands a new location that also houses a sister venture. Why Head in for your faves, then check out the more casual Kaun Khmai attached. Where 6580 N. Sheridan Rd., Rogers Park 3 LA LICOR PANAMERICANA What Explore the range of Latin American flavors at this vibrant spot. Why Take a virtual vacation by sipping palomas and snacking on lomo saltado. Where 2521 N. California Ave., Logan Square 4 CASA MADAI What A Japanese-Mexican BYOB with à la carte and omakase…