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Cover Story Best New Restaurants by Dennis Ray Wheaton and Jeff Ruby Times may be tough, but this year’s top 22 restaurants are not backing down. They’ve embraced green as the new black, elevated organic pork to foie gras status, and made us feel downright giddy about everything from slippery soba noodles to fiery soft-shell … Read more

Elysian Fields Forever

Into Africa
“Iyanzé is my mother’s nickname,” says Emmanuel Abidemi, partner of Iyanzé (4623 N. Broadway; 773-944-1417), a West African spinoff of Bolat (3346 N. Clark St.) that opened on April 13th. “Iyanzé is very hard to translate because it is a rich word, but it’s like, ‘Man, that lady can cook.’” And cook she does. The restaurant’s chef/mom, Remi Abidemi, attempts to cover four West African countries, with dishes such as…

5 Bars We’re Obsessing Over in April

The 44th Ward Dinner Party 3542 N. Halsted St. Soak up a night’s worth of drinking at this spot, formerly Lakeview Broadcasting Co., where the grilled cheese is a buck after midnight.     The Rocking Horse 2535 N. Milwaukee Ave. The High Dive guys bring their laid-back attitude and a souped-up menu to Logan … Read more

Weekend Photos: Christian Siriano at Lumen

The fierce if compact Christian Siriano, winner of Project Runway’s fourth season, brought his spring and summer 2009 collections to the newly remodeled West Loop lounge Lumen on Friday. Since snagging the show’s top designer title, Siriano has dressed the likes of Victoria Beckham, Anne Hathaway, and Miss auf Wiedersehen herself, Heidi Klum; in Chicago, his clothes are available exclusively at the Wicker Park/East Ukrainian Village boutique Bonnie & Clyde’s, which cosponsored the…

A-Plus C-View

If my visit to C-View in Streeterville’s Affinia hotel had been a vacation instead of just feeling like one, I would have needed only three photos to tell the story of my trip: one of the gorgeous bar, one of my equally sleek drink, and a third of my…