Stress Test

One writer goes behind the scenes with Paul Kahan, Donald Madia, and the rest of the control-freak brain trust at a highly stylized 4,200-square-foot beer hall on
West Fulton Market—Chicago’s most highly anticipated restaurant

Fall Out Bar

Pete Wentz, of the band Fall Out Boy, welcomed his new bundle of joy to town on Tuesday night. Nope, not his baby—his new bride, Ashlee Simpson, is still in the bump stage—but his edgy new rock lounge, Angels & Kings (710 N. Clark St.), which Wentz co-owns with local nightlife vets Stephen Westman (Lakeview Broadcasting Company), Matt Eisler (Elm Street Liquors, Empire Liquors, Victory Liquors), and Lyle Aker (Five Star), among other investors (keep reading for more on that)…

Game Plan

Beige leather booths, glossy wood floors, and three-story silk draperies dress up the former Bravo Tapas and Lounge space, but the food and drinks are decidedly unfussy.

Wine, cheese, and seat belts

Mass Marketing

“About a year ago I made the decision that we had outgrown what we were doing,” says Eric Larson, the owner of Marion Street Cheese Market (100 S. Marion St., Oak Park; 708-848-2088). So Larson moved the market across the street into a 4,200-square-foot space, which houses a retail gourmet shop, a “cheese-centric” 60-seat Euro-style deli and…

My Big, Fat Beer Weekend

New Belgium Brewing‘s past is inextricably linked with biking: Then-homebrewer Jeff Lebesch found his beer muse while cycling through the Belgian countryside nearly 20 years ago, and that trip is forever memorialized by the brewery’s signature amber ale, Fat Tire, named in honor of Lebesch’s trusty, big-treaded mountain bike. Today, the Fort Collins, Colorado, brewery’s lean, green, eco-friendly mandate inspires such events as the 11-city Tour de Fat, a traveling-road-show slash bike-gospel-tent-revival slash suds-fest that rolls into Palmer Square this Saturday, the 21st (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; free; intersection of Palmer Street and Kedzie Avenue; proceeds benefit West Town Bikes). The event centers on one person…