Table of contents for May 2026 in Chicago magazine

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR KELLY AIGLON HAS A MESSAGE FOR us: Wisconsin has more to offer than just Lake Geneva, the Dells, and Door County. “There’s a lot that Chicagoans haven’t discovered and really should,” she says. Aiglon would know: She grew up in our neighboring state to the north and lives in Milwaukee. She put her knowledge to use in writing this month’s cover story, “Destination: Wisconsin” (page 60). “Small towns are really thriving up here,” Aiglon says. “I’ve been wandering this state for my whole adult life and have seen these small, almost neglected towns grow in their own way, usually from a cultural or artistic angle.” She’s talking about places like Princeton, Neenah, and Baraboo—three of the destinations she details in her travel story. “Princeton is just a couple towns…

Q: Why does Chicago have community areas? In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Census Bureau tracked births and deaths in Chicago by ward. But because those boundaries change based on population shifts and politics, the data couldn’t be accurately compared over time. So in the 1920s, to provide more stable demographic districts, sociologists at the University of Chicago’s Local Community Research Committee and medical experts at the Chicago Department of Public Health delineated 75 community areas, using rivers, parks, railroads, and established neighborhood lines as boundaries. Not all well-known neighborhoods have their own community areas. Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village, for example, are each part of the West Town community area, which also includes half a dozen other neighborhoods. Cabrini-Green and the Gold Coast fall in the Near…

1 Chicago-made bricks didn’t win any beauty contests. In the 19th century, the common bricks produced here “were considered the ugliest bricks in the entire country,” Will Quam writes in Fire and Clay: How Bricks Reveal the Hidden History of Chicago. Blame local clay, which is speckled with limestone and dolomite, leading to bricks with unpredictable color patterns. But Chicago still made a lot of them. Annual production peaked at 855 million in 1910. Their cheapness made them popular for utilitarian purposes, like lining “the guts, sides, and backs of buildings across the city,” Quam notes. 2 The city’s most visible bricks came from other places. “Chicago imported all its face bricks, and more of them than any other city, save perhaps New York,” writes Quam. And so the fronts…

> FOX RIVER “We have this beautiful river running right through town. When the weather is nice, my husband and I just leave our kayaks on top of the car so that we can hop over anytime.” > BREAD & VINE “Geneva has so many great restaurants, but this all-day French bistro is one of the most exciting. I love the Brie and steak sandwich. Our 6-year-old grandson, who is a french fry connoisseur, says the ones here are the best he’s ever had.” 318 S. Third St. > GENEVA HISTORY MUSEUM “It puts on remarkable and thoughtful exhibits. I went to one on local restaurants.” 113 S. Third St. > THE LITTLE TRAVELER “This store, inside a sprawling 1862 house, was started by a woman who loved to travel. Every…

SMALL SANCTUARY Imported from Amsterdam, the multimedia Anne Frank: The Exhibition includes a full-scale recreation of the little secret annex where Frank, her family, and four others hid from Nazis. May 1–early 2027. griffinmsi.org THE THREE-DOLLAR-BILL MAN Bracingly funny and flamboyantly gay, Matteo Lane, who grew up in Arlington Heights, stops at the Chicago Theatre on his latest standup tour. May 2. matteolanecomedy.com THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS A supernatural drama by Chicago-born playwright York Walker, Covenant questions how a blues guitarist suddenly became famous. May 2–31. goodmantheatre.org THE ART OF ENGINEERED ART Chicagoan Mike Cloud is part painter, part carpenter, using hinges and rope in his foldable mixed-media work. See his latest in Mike Cloud: Worldless Obstruction, his solo show at the MCA. May 2–Feb. 7. mcachicago.org CITIZENS’ REVOLT…

1 BAR BAMBI  What A vibrant neighborhood bar from Katie Renshaw (Hawksmoor). Why With all the restaurants on this stretch, there’s a new spot for a pre or postmeal drink. Where 1703 W. Chicago Ave., West Town 2 SUSU  What Alexander Willis (Dusek’s) helms this Asian and Mediterranean steakhouse. Why Who wouldn’t be curious about dipping their steak in green zhug or Sichuan au poivre? Where 652 W. Randolph St., West Loop 3 BELMONT TAVERN What The long-closed tavern lives again. Why Longtime barman Nick Kokonas (no, not that Nick Kokonas) reopened the space with refined cocktails and Old Style on draft. Where 3405 W. Belmont Ave., Logan Square 4 THE PURPLE PIG What The famed downtown eatery adds a new location west of the city. Why It marks the return of Tony Mantuano (Spiaggia), who is…

The cold punches the early-morning air as Antonio Romanucci steps out of his Gold Coast mansion. With the sun beginning to crest over Lake Michigan, honey-colored light spills onto Astor Street. Romanucci presses his shoes into the pavement in a series of quick hops to wake up his calf muscles, stretch his tendons. This is how he begins his days: with a run. It’s not an unusual way to begin the morning, but it’s perhaps an unexpected way to begin this story — a story of a man with a chip on his shoulder taking on no less than the United States government. As a trial lawyer, Romanucci has learned that the way you begin a story is how you control the story—where it goes, how it unfolds and presents…

Baraboo often gets lumped in with the neighboring Wisconsin Dells. But that doesn’t give it its due: Long before the waterslides next door, there were elephants and railcars here, part of one of the most ambitious entertainment empires in America. From 1884 to 1918, Baraboo served as the winter headquarters of the Ringling Bros. circus, and that big-top bravado still lingers. On the town’s western outskirts, check into Fireside Cabins, which lives up to its name with stone fire pits for many of the 12 units and a large communal one for the rest. (Not to mention a bar on the premises.) When you are ready to leave the wooded seclusion, make the two-mile trip to the town square, anchored by the county courthouse, to start your shopping adventures. Check…

ON A WINDY AFTERNOON IN LATE FEBRUARY, FORMER GOVERNOR PAT QUINN HELD a press conference in front of the George Halas statue outside Soldier Field. In a Chicago Bears pullover layered over a Gale Sayers jersey, he promoted a petition he’s circulating to demand that the team not depart for Indiana. “We’d rather make sure we remain ‘the pride and joy of Illinois,’ ” Quinn said, referring to a line in the team’s fight song, “Bear Down, Chicago Bears.” “Otherwise, the song doesn’t rhyme. Indiana, they stole the Baltimore Colts in the middle of the night with the Allied Van Lines. They’re not gonna pull that again. We gotta take a stand. The Illinois Bears fans deserve a team they’ve been supporting for a century. Don’t let the Bears become the…

◼ The Stroller Derby in Lincoln Square: Moms push baby carriages down Lincoln Avenue, performing synchronized routines. ◼ The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union Sobriety Parade in Beverly: Anti-alcohol advocates march through the beer-loving neighborhood, carrying banners declaring, “Lips That Touch Liquor Shall Never Touch Mine.” ◼ Gentrification Pride Parade in Bronzeville: Owners of properties worth more than $500,000 strut down 35th Street behind a rank of Lexuses. ◼ Say Yes to War Cavalcade in Mount Greenwood: Cops and firefighters on their day off carry “Boots on the Ground” signs while a loudspeaker blares Vince Vance & the Valiants’ 1980 hit, “Bomb Iran.” ◼ Let’s Block Devon Avenue Swarm in West Ridge: Not so much an organized march as a game of Frogger. Dozens of pedestrians randomly cross the street in…

THOUGH TYLER MARSH played two years of Division I college basketball at Alabama-Birmingham, he soon realized his place was on the sideline. “Coaching is in my blood,” says Marsh, whose father, Donnie, was a longtime college coach. “I wanted to use basketball to make a positive impact in people’s lives.” After stints as an assistant coach in the NBA and WNBA, he became the Chicago Sky’s head coach before last season. (His dad joined the support staff shortly afterward.) With his job often taking him on the road, he was finding it tough to maintain a healthy diet. So Marsh, 38, who lives in southwest suburban Burbank with his wife and their toddler, recently adopted a new discipline to avoid processed food. NUTRITION HELPER “Fast food is my vice. I…

ON A RECENT SUNDAY, Postcard in the West Loop was packed with folks spending the afternoon sipping coffee and matcha drinks and nibbling fancy toasts and flaky croissants. But this isn’t a standard java shop. It’s an extension of neighboring Monos, the chic luggage and travel accessories boutique that opened here last October. It’s not the only new shop boasting a hip place to eat. Bandit Running, which landed in Bucktown in January, houses a coffee and pastry bar, and Kith, the cool kids’ store that opened last October in the Gold Coast, slings soft serve and housemade waffles alongside apparel and footwear. This trend draws on the legacy of eateries like Ralph Lauren’s RL Restaurant and the café at Ikram, but the new spots are casual, designed as gathering…

ONE CAN’T HELP BUT COMPARE the new restaurant Petite Edith with the nearly fouryear-old Obélix. A few blocks from each other, both occupy ground floors of apartment buildings on the sleepy west end of the Near North Side. Both are sophomore projects from seasoned local restaurateurs. Both are French. Or maybe French-ish, because both take that cuisine’s techniques, ingredients, and classic preparations and remix their beats for the house party that is today’s Chicago. At freewheeling Obélix, that means a whole lotta luxe, with foie gras showing up in tuna crispy rice, tacos, and corn dogs. At Petite Edith, the menu calls out French gourmandise but then takes the flow in its own direction — less melting pot, more reimagined American-Continental. Husband-and-wife owners Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo, the team behind…

LEVEL UP YOUR SUMMER PICNIC spread with a sandwich that marries the best bits of a classic Japanese tamago sando (the creamiest egg salad, the squishiest bread) with a little heat, courtesy of a simple Sriracha-infused sauce. It’s a combination Yokocho’s former chef Zac Gierke developed as a riff on the popular deviled eggs at sister restaurant Sushi Dokku. For the tastiest results, he advises seeking out shokupan (milk bread) and Kewpie brand Japanese mayonnaise. You’ll find everything you need at local Asian grocery stores like H Mart and Mitsuwa Marketplace. YOKOCHO’S SPICY DEVILED EGG SANDO Makes 1 sandwich Active time 25 minutes Total time 35 minutes 2 eggs2 tsp. chopped pickled cucumber2 t sp. mayonnaise, divided1½ tsp. yellow mustard¾ tsp. Sriracha2 slices shokupan S mall handful of baby arugula 1 Boil…

DAYS 1 AND 2 Milwaukee You don’t want to rush this underrated city, so stay a couple of nights at the Dubbel Dutch, an inn that occupies an 1898 duplex mansion on the east side of downtown. Each of its 17 rooms is unique, with custom furniture and a mix of local art, and its self-service check-in suits independent travelers. Agency, a cocktail lounge operating on the first floor, makes it easy to steal away for a nightcap. Start your art crawl a short walk from the hotel at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The Quadracci Pavilion, designed by Santiago Calatrava, is half the draw (stare at it long enough and you’ll see the design’s references to a ship heading out to sea). The other half? The unexpectedly large collection of…

An hour or so north of Madison, you’ll find this tiny town (population: sub-1,300) along a bend of the Fox River that once made it a milling and shipping site. Today, the grain elevators are gone, though brick storefronts remain, and the economy now runs on weekenders who know a good detour when they see one. The downtown’s Italianate façades, faded ghost signs, and river views peeking between buildings hint at a place that deserves to be a destination in its own right. The revival has names attached: Urban planner Greg Wright and his design-minded partner, Matt Trotter, who have been instrumental in recalibrating the town over the past decade by restoring buildings, opening shops, and layering in culture without sanding down the grit. Their orbit includes the Princeton Art…

When he was starting out as a photographer, Graham Chapman would focus the lens of his Canon on Chicago’s architecture. But those shots, while artistically pleasing, lacked humanity. “The heartbeat of the city, that’s the people,” he says. “When you get all these people in the street, that brings energy to the imagery.” His new book, Chicago in Transit, is full of that energy — people in motion, moving (or about to move) by train, bus, taxi, bike, foot. Chapman, who lived in West Town and Bucktown before moving to Naperville, shot the images over the last decade on his public transit commutes to and from work downtown and during his countless hours walking the streets. “I take the Metra in now, and when you get off at Union Station,…

I’m convinced the only reason Pete Crow-Armstrong gets so much hate is because people don’t know anything about him [“Welcome to the Show,” March]. What a read. @biscuitjawn_ via X Killer read on a killer ballplayer. And I’m a die-hard Braves fan! @ChrisCarrollDC via X These are the only sports photos I ever thought were good. @christianblakley via Instagram POWER DEBATE The governor who lost the Chicago Bears isn’t going to make it very far on the big stage [“The Power 50,” March]. @theonemikem via Instagram The net effect of Chicago magazine naming avowed white supremacist Nick Fuentes the 7th most powerful Chicagoan only serves to amplify his hate. You may feel the extra clicks were worth it. We — the targets of Fuentes’s hate—don’t. Joy Schwartz, Jewish United Fund…

BACK IN 2009, when Austan Goolsbee was an economic adviser to the Obama White House, he won a Funniest Celebrity in Washington contest at a D.C. comedy club. “I always say that the central question of economics is, Compared to what?” Goolsbee says. “Nowhere was that more true. The runner-up was Grover Norquist.” It’s unlikely that Goolsbee will be doing any standup in the near future. These days, he serves as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, charged with such serious matters as helping to formulate monetary policy and regulate banks. His role includes being a part of the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, which sets interest rates. The longtime Hyde Park resident spoke with Chicago about the importance of Fed independence, the possibility of more…

WHEN NATALIE MERCHANT takes the stage at Symphony Center this month, many of the preschoolers in the audience will already know the lyrics to her songs. Not the ones their parents may remember — l ike her 1995 hit “Wonder” — but tunes from a new marvel: Cabinet of Wonder, an expansive multimedia arts and education project kicking off in Chicago. In songs and videos developed with Chicago Children’s Theatre and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Merchant expands nursery rhymes into a classroom-ready curriculum. And with a pair of May 9 concerts, it all comes to life onstage. The project debuted last November with the launch of a digital platform for educators and families. The site features 17 original songs recorded with musicians from the CSO, shadow puppetry by Manual Cinema, music…

Buchanan STRANGER WINE COMPANY Drive: 90 minutes In 2021, husband-and-wife team Maxx Eichberg and Sidney Finan began growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Riesling—grapes that thrive in Michigan’s cool climate—at their 15-acre estate near Harbor Country using organic and regenerative farming. (They also grow Cab Franc, a grape that’s widely planted in the area.) Their wines are low intervention and acid driven, and you can try them at the couple’s tasting room, located in a former bank building in downtown Buchanan. With a rotating selection of wines (some unique to the tasting room), you may find a vibrant Kerner, a creamy lees-aged Chardonnay, or a Cab Franc bursting with blue fruit. Don’t be surprised if Eichberg or Finan fills your glass themselves. Have a favorite? Grab a bottle from the literal…

CLEO’S 2826 N. Lincoln Ave., Lake View ◼ Perfect order Fried catfish, mac and cheese, green beans ◼ I’ve visited Mississippi a few times in recent years, and while there, I always seek out one thing: catfish. There are some great catfish dishes in Chicago, like Virtue’s blackened take, but the closest I’ve found to the style I enjoy in the Magnolia State is at Cleo’s. Kristen Harper, who named the restaurant for her Clarksdale, Mississippi–born grandmother, has been serving Southern classics for 12 years, first as a caterer, then at a brick-and-mortar in Bronzeville, which she opened in 2019. She added a Loop location in 2022 and a Lake View one in December. Her menu centers on fried chicken and catfish, both of which I recommend. But the catfish,…

THE FIRST TIME I WENT TO ARLINGTON PARK, IN THE summer of 1996, the worst thing that can happen to a novice horseplayer happened to me: I won $150. Thus began a decade-long mania for horseracing. Three tracks — Arlington, Hawthorne Race Course, and Sportsman’s Park—ran almost year-round, and I was at one or the other almost every day. It’s a far cry from where we are now: Hawthorne, the last remaining track in the Chicago area, has declared bankruptcy, putting in doubt the future of racing here. But in those days, there was plenty of action to support a gambling jones. It’s not the money I lost that I miss — that can always be replaced — it’s all the strange characters I met along the way, a gambling…

Bubbler: This term for a drinking fountain supposedly originated in Milwaukee (early Kohler plumbing fixtures were branded “Bubblers”) and stuck. Ope: It covers “Sorry,” “Excuse me,” and “I’m just going to sneak past you.” Most often deployed while reaching for the same ranch dressing as another shopper at Woodman’s. Hot dish: A casserole commonly made with ground beef, cream-ofsomething soup, and a starch and baked until cohesive. Appears in church basements and at funeral luncheons. Fish fry: Friday. Every Friday. All year. Includes beer-battered cod or perch, rye bread, slaw, and potato pancakes (correct choice) or fries (acceptable). Yeah, no: Absolutely not. No, yeah: Definitely yes. Couple two, three: Could mean two. Could mean five. You’ll know when you see it. Beg/bag: These two words are pronounced the same. Context is…

Making your way through Madison, with its boisterous campus life, celebrated dining scene, and outdoorsy sprawl, can feel as complicated as navigating the one-way streets circling the Capitol. (Yes, you have passed the same block three times, and yes, you did miss your turn.) But station yourself on Madison’s northeast side—the Moxy Madison Downtown, a compact but stylish hotel where check-in comes with a complimentary cocktail (need we say more?) is a good choice — and much of what you came for will be right outside your door. First, some advice: Be choosy about how much time you spend fighting the throngs around the Capitol, but don’t skip it entirely. The Dane County Farmers’ Market, held on the plaza every Saturday morning spring through fall, is best approached with a…

◼ In Hyde Park in the ’80s, Yohance Lacour and his friends were sneakerheads, though back then the objects of their obsession were just called gym shoes. “I’ve always had an eye for what’s fly,” says Lacour. That eye followed him along a complicated path: journalism, theater, drug trafficking, and, in 2008, a decade-long prison sentence. Behind bars, he discovered leatherworking through a hobby craft program. With no instructors, Lacour learned by watching other inmates and studying fashion magazines that circulated through the yard, reverse-engineering luxury bags before designing his own geometric styles. Footwear, though, remained his fixation. After his release, he studied at the Chicago School of Shoemaking and Leather Arts and began refining minimalist sneakers — clean high-tops and low-tops defined by unusual textures and colorways. Today, he…

n More than 80 percent of women are wearing the wrong size bra. My selfconsciousness (and aching back) didn’t invent this stat; it’s according to a study by Victoria University. And it prompted me to make a side quest to Rigby & Peller, the London-born boutique with a lingerie styling service at its Mag Mile store that moves your “girls” into a more suitable home. I left inhibition at the door as store manager Carol guided me into a dressing room where I spun in a circle as a digital fitter nabbed images of me. Call it the fashionable cousin of a mammogram. “You’re an E,” Carol cooed with an air of suspense. I was surprised. That was very much not the size I’d been wearing for most of my…

◼ There are too many tales, historically speaking, in which democracies wrote themselves out of existence. We’ve seen that happen in Hungary. We’ve seen it happen in Turkey. We saw it in Europe in the interwar period in half a dozen countries. Nothing says that America is immune to that. We are not there yet, but once we are on a trajectory, it will be hard to turn back. ◼ Technology is going to make life far better in the future than we ever dared hope. One example is personalization. You go to a hospital, and you’ve got some disease. The doctor knows in 70 percent of cases this medication works best, so they give it to you. But they don’t know a hell of a lot about you. The…