- Issue of
- Feb 4-17, 2021
- Vol. 50, No. 10
Recipes for restaurant survival
From heated yurts to community support, local eateries are doing what they can to make it through the pandemic’s bleakest months yet.
By Emma Oxnevad
News & Politics
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- Feature
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Losing count
For nearly 20 years, the United States was on the verge of adjusting the census and eliminating the Black undercount.
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- News
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Hidden figures
Health officials aren’t addressing—or even tracking—the impact of COVID-19 by gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
City Life
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- Feature
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When does drinking to cope become drinking too much?
Examining and altering our pandemic-induced substance habits nearly one year in
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- Feature
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Coupled up in quarantine
Despite the ongoing pandemic, partners are finding—and maintaining—love.
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- Public Service Announcement
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Take your lovin' to Zoom
Upcoming events and recommendations from our listings coordinator
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- Public Service Announcement
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A fashion show, a paczki, and thou
Upcoming events and recommendations from our listings coordinator
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- Shop Local
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Lending a hand
Chicago Tool Library has proven to be a much-needed lifeline for locals sprucing up spaces while quarantining.
Food & Drink
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- Restaurant Review
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Aye-Aye, Kapitan
The owners of Serai open the country’s only nyonya restaurant, devoted to the food of Malaysia’s Peranakan culture.
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- Food & Drink Feature
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Recipes for restaurant survival
From heated yurts to community support, local eateries are doing what they can to make it through the pandemic’s bleakest months yet.
Columns & Opinion
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- On Culture
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Percy Julian: chemist and catalyst
His Chicago labs brought us modern miracle drugs and much more.
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- On Politics
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So outrageous
It’s hard to get outraged about the Steans-to-Cassidy handoff when Marjorie Taylor Greene’s on the scene.
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- On Politics
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Now they love her
Karen Lewis knew you don’t make a lot of friends in high places when you stand up for teachers and poor kids.
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- Savage Love
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The pandemic sex recession is upon us
Too stressed, overworked, and overwhelmed to get it on
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- Savage Love
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My 16-year-old is stealing our sex toys
Maybe you should buy your son his own collection.
Arts & Culture
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- Art Feature
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Chicago museums and galleries prepare to optimistically reopen
The leaders of the city’s cultural institutions remain encouraged after facing the most recent round of closings in November.
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- Art Feature
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Amy Sillman breaks down art barriers
In her book Faux Pas, the painter makes a rarified field approachable with humor and profundity.
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- Dance
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Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell takes charge at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
She's the first company alum to head the 43-year-old ensemble.
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- Feature
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Almost 100 years after her death, Nellie Bly is back
Chicago writer and theater artist David Blixt uncovers a trove of previously unpublished novels by the original Lois Lane.
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- Feature
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Making social distancing sexy
Boudoir photographers get creative during COVID.
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- Feature
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Parvesh Cheena invites you into his home
From a call center in India to the socially distant confines of video chat, he's starred in television shows that have defined an era.
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- Performing Arts Feature
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Old Ways New Tools explores performance "beyond the rectangle"
SAIC's grad students control (and explode) the frame in an online performance festival.
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- Theater Preview
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Quantum physics and romance collide in the streaming production of Constellations
Theatre Above the Law's production lets its leads drop the masks for one moment in time.
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- Theater Review
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Weaving tangled webs with Constellations and Missed Connections
Theatre Above the Law and A Red Orchid Theatre dive into the physics and magic of being alive together.
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- Book Review
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Theorem is more than a book of poetry
Evoking memory and mystery, two artists collaborate on an art piece.
Film
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- Movie Feature
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Rebecca Fons leads Gene Siskel Film Center into a new era
The new director of programming prepares for the return to in-theater viewing and beyond.
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- Movie Review
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Revolution vs. reform: Judas and the Black Messiah
With knockout performances comes an examination of the need for revolutionaries when pushing for real change.
Music
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- Chicagoans of Note
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CaSera Heining, producer at WGN Radio and DJ Ca$h Era
“For a couple months, I was just DJing for tips. Luckily the community that I have around me, they were pouring into me as much as I give out to them.”
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- Gig Poster of the Week
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A Doobie on his own on the gig poster of the week
This week's featured gig poster was designed by Jordan Fann of Vector Management and features a photograph by Scarlett McDonald.
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- Gig Poster of the Week
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That first step’s a doozy on the gig poster of the week
This week's featured gig poster was designed by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mobley for his upcoming online tour.
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- Gossip Wolf
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Party photo crew GlitterGuts take to Patreon to survive the nightlife drought
Plus: Artist and musician Hali Palombo creates otherworldly collages from antique audio cylinders, and R&B singer Queen Mars drops the lead single from her upcoming EP.
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- Gossip Wolf
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New talent buyer Zoey Victoria stirs up Tonic Room
Plus: Rapper CantBuyDeem drops a video for “Benny the Butcher Owes Me $500,” and the Hideout hosts a livestream to benefit Chicago Community Jail Support.
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- Music Feature
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Music workers’ jobs disappeared, but their bills didn’t
With federal aid to venues only now arriving, how are tour managers, stagehands, bookers, and their colleagues in the concert business making ends meet?
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- Music Feature
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Bandcamp Friday returns for 2021
You can jump-start your browsing with nearly 100 newly Reader-recommended releases.
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- Music Feature
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Twenty-four points of view on the band Joan of Arc
Tim Kinsella lets everyone else tell the story of his longest-running group—entirely in keeping with their music’s embrace of illogic and reinvention.
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- Music Feature
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Rapper SG Ali carries a torch for Cabrini-Green
For her new single and video, “Drank on the Block,” she partners with a label for the first time.
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- Music Feature
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KeiyaA levels up even with live music shut down
The Chicago-born singer-songwriter beat the odds by turning her debut album, Forever, Ya Girl, into a multidimensional artwork.
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- The Listener
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This carousel calliope has a message for you—and you’re not going to like it
Sometimes you learn more from a machine when it stops working.
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- The Listener
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Black Country, New Road bring the heat to the polar vortex
The rowdy UK postpunk band dropped their eagerly awaited debut album on Friday.
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- The Secret History of Chicago Music
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Johnny Shines belongs in the pantheon alongside Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf
This powerful bluesman spent the late 30s on the road with the great Robert Johnson, then lived long enough to win a W.C. Handy Award in the 90s.
Best of Chicago
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- Best of Chicago Ballot
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Best of Chicago voting has ended
Winners will be announced in the March 18 Best of Chicago issue
Reader
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- About
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Chicago Reader distribution locations
Where to find the print issue every other week
Reader partners
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- Sponsored Content: Corvelay Media Inc. (paid sponsored content)
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Top phone sex numbers with free trials
It's late and you're itching to get naughty. Pick up the phone and call one of these top phone sex numbers. They offer free trials and are sure to do the trick.
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- Sponsored Content: NeuroMedici (paid sponsored content)
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Fibromyalgia and cannabis
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- Sponsored Content: Red Bull (sponsored advertising)
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Introducing CIVL SAVE
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- Sponsored Content: The Foley Food and Wine Society (paid sponsored content)
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Slik Wines: Marie Cheslik, Danielle Norris, and Kyla Peal
Sommelier Series