Features

How Your Town Rates
by Dennis Rodkin
Whether you’re hunting for a home in the suburbs or just curious about how your town stacks up, here’s the tool to use: our survey of 160 communities, comparing qualities such as schools, crime, amenities, and more.

Whatever Lola’s Wants
by Marcia Froelke Coburn
Va-va-voom: Leopard print and blue velvet set the scene at Chicago’s hot spot of the moment – a forties-style supper club with a nineties-style owner.

The Soul of a New Hamburger
by Scott McMurray
McDonald’s reputation for innovation may be riding on its new Arch Deluxe, the locally created burger that has received millions in ad support since last spring. But consumers aren’t exactly waiting in line to try it.

Ballad of a Lonely Man
by Jonathan Eig
As the brash leader of the Chicago band Material Issue, Jim Ellison projected a rock-star mystique as seamless as the top hits he penned. Only after his suicide did people perceive the turmoil behind the image.

At Home: Mixing It Up
by Christine Newman
The oven door that a woman can stand on, the square ice cubes that men crave (it’s a rectilinear thing), and other secrets of successful kitchen renovation from three couples who survived it

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Stage & Screen
by Penelope Mesic
Composer Randy Newman reinvents heaven and hell for the Goodman.

Real Lives
by Marcia Froelke Coburn

The latest love buzz about the Chicago redhead and the New York senator

The Goods
by Jennifer Epstein
Reporter
by Jonathan Black
For newlyweds, house hunting can be an arduous adventure – and a revelation.
Dining Out
by Dennis Ray Wheaton
Two new bistros are making steak frites as cool to eat as polenta con funghi.
That Sinking Feeling
by Jonathan Eig
How a house rehab by developer Lee Miglin became a home-improvement debacle

Confessions of a Yuppie Bookie
by Richard Roeper
“Joe” didn’t resemble the typical bookie in any way – except in the eyes of the police.

Going Places
by Anne Spiselman
Southwest Wisconsin combines a feel for the past with today’s sensibilities.
Sullivan’s Travels
by Terry Sullivan
The steadfast Monica takes on the bocce masters of Highwood.

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