Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2023 i Chicago magazine

WHEN MARK MATCHO GOT THE ASSIGNMENT to illustrate this month’s cover, highlighting our travel roundup (page 70), he knew exactly from where he wanted to draw inspiration: the pulp adventure magazines of the 1950s and ’60s. Matcho combed through a couple of books he owns about these periodicals, trying to match the color, energy, and type treatments. One thing he dialed back, though: their extreme machismo. His early cover attempts were “a little grittier and more precarious,” he notes: “One was a couple on a boat in these high seas, and another had somebody on a mountaintop.” And the figure who wound up in the foreground initially had “more of an Indiana Jones feel.” But ultimately, it was important to reflect that these trips, though certainly high adventure, are accessible. “We…

Q: What is the shortest street in Chicago? — James Finn Garner, North Center That distinction, according to Hidden Chicago Landmarks by John R. Schmidt, was long held by 76-foot Ziegfeld Court, off Van Buren in the Loop, next to the Ziegfeld Theater. But in 1970, the city sold the street to Continental Assurance, which built the CNA Center on top of it. That made Hoey Street, off Archer Avenue in Bridgeport, the new shortest street. But Hoey didn’t reign for long. In 2000, construction began on the Belmont River Club, a townhouse development on the west bank of the Chicago River in Avondale. Since the site was an old boatyard, it needed streets of its own. Two of those — Bay Court and Pier Court—are shorter than Hoey. According…

EVERY WEEK, VAUGHN Bryant takes a deep look at the number of shootings and homicides that have occurred across the city. For the 51-year-old executive director of Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (part of the non-profit Metropolitan Family Services), the statistics are more than just an indication of the city’s toughest neighborhoods. They offer a window into where his violence prevention team needs to focus its resources. If Chicago is going to become one of the safest cities in America, as promised by elected officials, community outreach groups like Bryant’s have to be an integral part of a long-term strategy, he argues. Q: How does an organization like yours go about reducing violence? A: When we see these numbers, it allows us to say, “Hey, where are these conflicts coming from?” We…

BACK IN 2016, IF YOU WERE lucky enough to catch the world premiere of The SpongeBob Musical downtown, you were treated to an oceanful of Tony-winning stagecraft—including the titular hero scaling a menacing volcano, represented by an enormous arrangement of interlaced ladders. Achieving that effect presents quite a challenge for a storefront theater like Kokandy Productions, which staged a small-scale version this summer. “When SpongeBob climbs the volcano, this giant ladder structure flies down from the sky. Well, what sky? We’re in the Chopin Theatre basement — t he moment you stand on a chair here, your head is right under the stage lighting,” says JD Caudill, who directed the Kokandy production. “How do we climb a volcano when we literally cannot climb? We had to come up with creative…

MY WIFE AND I COULDN’T FIND out anything about the new place except that it was open on a Monday, and we were hungry. I was familiar with it only from a few dramatically lit shots on social media that had that whole “if Caravaggio were on Instagram” aesthetic. I couldn’t tell if its name, Warlord, was ironic or in earnest, or if it signaled the presence of gaming nerds or gun enthusiasts. I couldn’t even find a menu. But the Avondale restaurant, which had opened less than a month earlier, in April, seemed intriguing. We lucked into a corner table in the no-reservations dining room, adjusted to the soft-glow lighting and soundtrack of old rock standards, and ordered a meal of shared plates with zero spiel from our server. They…

FOR A GLASS-HALF-FULL APPROACH to the end of summer, consider the onset of sunchoke season. “Sunchokes are a fun fall ingredient that have a creamy center and a nutty flavor,” says chef Aaron Patten of Bucktown’s Pompette, where the knotty little tubers star in a hale and hearty vegetarian hash and also anchor the dish’s bright, creamy sauce. Pro move: Roast the ’chokes, blanch the kale, and make the sauce a day ahead and stash them in the fridge. In the morning, you can outsleep the late sunrise and have breakfast on the table in minutes. POMPETTE’S VEGGIE HASH Makes 4 servings Active time 35 minutes  Total time 1 hour 35 minutes 1½ lb. sunchokes (available at Fresh Thyme Market)5 Tbsp. olive oil, divided2½ tsp. kosher salt, divided, plus more…

If the unspoken ambition of every human being is to make the most money while doing the least amount of work, then try naming a profession that meets the criteria as well as voice-over acting. Where’s the “labor,” really? Someone hands you a piece of paper with some words on it, you step up to a microphone and read them with a little pizzazz, and presto! You’ve just made many thousands of dollars, potentially six figures. And your voice might be heard on commercials or audiobooks or TV for years, during which time you keep getting checks in the mail, all for showing up to read out loud for half an hour. This perception of voice-over acting—or VO, as people in the biz refer to it — is partly due to…

AFTER RUNNING A CANDLE COMPANY FOR 20 years, Gretchen Hollingsworth found herself drawn to a new flame: accessories. The Atlanta native sold her jewelry through other retailers for seven years before choosing Chicago as the first city in which to open a standalone location of Ink + Alloy. The space is as vibrant as the boho-chic pieces it sells. “We went a little crazy with color,” admits Hollingsworth. Pieces are handcrafted in India by artisans who use traditional techniques like block printing and sequin embroidery. Glass seed beads and brass find new life as earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, and materials like raffia and enamel pop up as elements of surprise. Part of the proceeds from each sale go to the nonprofit Commit2Change, dedicated to educating abandoned and impoverished girls in India.…

VOICE ACTING, AS TAL ROSENBERG writes in “Everyone Tells Me I Have a Great Voice” (page 60), is a lot more complicated than it looks. As it turns out, so is photographing voice actors. Chicago tasked Saverio Truglia with shooting some distinguished local pros in their element — behind a microphone—but the initial images weren’t as animated as he’d hoped. “At first, I told them to recite lines they knew well,” Truglia says. “It made for a realistic shot, but it fell flat. I needed something that felt like it was going to 11.” So he started playing director, giving the actors emotional cues and asking them to improvise. “I told Dave Leffel, ‘You are the danger,’” Truglia recalls. “His delivery was pure evil.” His instructions for Harlan Hogan? “State your…

■ Wellness, Nathan Hill’s follow-up to his 2016 bestseller The Nix, is, like his first novel, set in the Chicago area. It tells the story of a couple who meet in Wicker Park in the early ’90s and eventually plot a move to suburbia. Hill has local roots, briefly calling Streamwood home as a child. What made you pick Wicker Park as a setting? “It is among my favorite neighborhoods in Chicago. My wife and I would visit every summer. I’d be like, ‘That was a sweatshop and then it was a warehouse. And then it was a coffee shop. And then it was the setting for a TV reality show. And then it was a gym.’ That’s what’s happening with my characters: They undergo all these small changes over…

> COLUMBUS PARK REFECTORY “It’s one of the crown jewels of the West Side. It’s flanked by tennis and basketball courts, a golf course, beautiful water — it’s great for walking or jogging around the beautiful paths. And then there’s the refectory building itself.” 5701 W. Jackson Blvd. > SCHWEET CHEESECAKE “It’s a charming little café painted in this calming sea-foam blue. They play old-school music on a record player. This summer they’ve had these signature lemonades: lavender, rose, and hibiscus. Absolutely delicious.” 5248 W. Chicago Ave. > POPCOURTS! COMMUNITY PLAZA “I like it because it was created with young people in mind, to give them a place to hang out and play a little basketball or just chill. I’d like pop-ups all over the community. My dream is to…

Strike a Triangle Pose on the Amalfi Coast When April 15–23, 2024 Your guide Masin Ouksel Ahimsa yoga studio co-owner Cost $3,900 to $6,700, depending on room selection and occupancy; includes breakfasts and most dinners Sign up ahimsayogastudios.com/italy-2024-yoga-retreat It’s hard to think of a more picturesque setting for yoga (or anything, really) than Italy’s Amalfi Coast. You’ll spend five nights at the Hotel Santa Caterina, a five-star seaside resort in Amalfi, then three on Ischia, an island off the coast of Naples. Ouksel and another teacher at Ahimsa, Christine Cipra, will lead yoga and meditation twice daily, usually an active class in the morning and a relaxing one in the evening. “Everything’s optional — it’s your vacation!” Ouksel says. “If you want to sleep in, no problem. We’re not strict…

1 Northwestern plays its first posthazing-scandal football game Sept. 3 at Rutgers. The Wildcats will be without not only fired coach Pat Fitzgerald but touted freshman linebacker Nigel Glover, who transferred out. 2 Chicago got a break from the election cycle after the mayoral runoff, but here it comes again: Candidates for the March 2024 state, county, and judicial primaries can start circulating petitions Sept. 5. 3 Will the Sept. 24 Chicago Half Marathon in Jackson Park actually be 13.1 miles? Last year, runners discovered at the finish that it was half a mile short due to a course change ordered by the city. 4 Chicago’s Shadows of Knight will never make the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, but they’ll be inducted into the Illinois version in Joliet…

CARLOS GAYTÁN LIVES THE fabled American dream. He grew up in rural Mexico, cooking with his mother and excelling at volleyball. At age 20, he came to Chicago and got a job washing dishes at a hotel. After parlaying that into kitchen work, he kept climbing, eventually becoming the first chef from Mexico to earn a Michelin star. Now 52, Gaytán runs Tzuco, his Near North Side restaurant, which celebrates its fourth anniversary in September, as well as Ha in Mexico’s Riviera Maya. Even amid the hecticness of operating establishments in two countries, he finds time for wellness. His balanced approach to exercise and diet includes daily runs — in Chicago winters and Mexican summers alike. He went for an afternoon jog in Oaxaca this summer as the mercury hit 102.…

■ “You cannot have Kerala cuisine without coconuts,” says chef Margaret Pak, who opened the much-anticipated restaurant Thattu with her husband, Vinod Kalathil, in April. “Kerala is tropical by nature and lined with coconuts.” She serves dishes traditional to that region of India, where her husband grew up, as well as others inspired by it. “It’s a long strip on the western coast, so seafood is integral to the cuisine,” Pak adds, also noting that curry leaves, cardamom, and black pepper are prevalent. “We say Kerala is the spice garden of India.” Turn the page for Pak’s breakdown of the perfect order at Thattu, including, yes, tastes of coconut. 2601 W. Fletcher St., Avondale The Perfect Order at Thattu…

AFTER STACY AND BRIAN SANDERSON MOVED TO the North Shore suburb of Lake Bluff, they agreed not to budge — unless, that is, an opportunity came along for a place with a water view. So when a contemporary house on a pedestrian street overlooking a ravine and Lake Michigan hit the market in 2019, the couple jumped. “It was very ’80s, but it was on a great lot,” says Stacy, who began tearing out pages of home decor magazines. “I took these sheets to Morgante Wilson Architects and was like, ‘These are my thoughts.’” Once the Evanston-based firm began opening up walls, it became clear that a wrecking ball would be the best way to realize Stacy’s vision. “At least we didn’t change the foundation,” she jokes. Now when neighbors walk…

Chase Fancher left a career in real estate in 2015 to dial into his love of horology. He started Oak & Oscar, which puts a fresh spin (think hand-drawn fonts and double-layered dials) on men’s watches. The collection of finely tuned stainless steel and leather timepieces—nothing digital here—now includes a no-date option on the signature Olmsted 38. “People either love or hate watches with dates,” Fancher says. “It’s actually a very heated debate.” While some assembly is done in Switzerland, the bulk of the watchmaking is handled in-house. This fall, look for an all-new chronograph—that’s a stopwatch, for horology newbies. oakandoscar.com…

■ I’ve always had a smart mouth. To this day, it is a machete, you hear me? With any level of bullying or brutality, I’m quick and can say something in rebuttal, and then it can slice and dice you, too. With or without cuss words. It worked even more when I was younger. The fact that I would say something as such a young person, it stunned people for a minute, and that was enough. ■ Rhyme is sonic. It’s more immediate and molecular to us than nonrhyming poems, because you learned the English language through rhyme scheme: the ABCs, nursery rhymes. When you think of “Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey,” you’re supposed to see all those things. It’s the same with…