As Warm Human, Chicago pop artist Meredith Johnston likes to marinate in artificial sounds: her music usually relies heavily on synthesizers, and she processes overdubbed layers of her powerful voice to give them a cybernetic sheen. What makes her distinctive isn’t those techniques but rather the nuance with which she uses them—she still manages to […]
Tag: Vol. 52 No. 13
Issue of April 6, 2023
On the cover: ‘BEST of Chicago: See voting results’
Over 300 categories presented and 400,000 votes casted
Photograph by Nick Murway.
Find a print copy of the Reader.
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Posted inCity Life
Best housing case manager who takes no shit while getting shit done
In the history of human existence, there occasionally is someone who becomes so famous for excelling at what they do that they only need one name: Buddha. Beyoncé. Sylvia. Sylvia Hibbard is a case manager for the street medicine organization The Night Ministry. I’ve heard her name uttered with respect from what feels like pretty […]
Posted inCity Life
Best action to take when an unhoused Chicagoan is sleeping across three seats on the train
Nothing. Do absolutely nothing. Don’t take a picture of someone at their most vulnerable. Don’t post it online for the world to see. Don’t tag the CTA in a post of faux-compassion that reveals your panic and discomfort at having to share a public space with someone who is desperately poor. Don’t be a snitch. […]
Posted inCity Life
Best use for the lakefront in a cold snap
I finally got COVID-19 in December, first testing positive on the 16th. For Christmas my family was gathering at my parents’ home in Texas—my brother, his wife, and my precociously deranged seven-year-old niece were traveling from New York. I had one chance all year to see everybody together, and suddenly it looked like I’d miss […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Best ‘don’t go here, go there instead’ Chicago food TikToks
The first time my girlfriend sent me a TikTok from @plateswithp, she said, “I don’t know why, but I trust everything she says.” I, too, became an immediate fan. Paige Serena started making food and lifestyle content on TikTok in 2022. Born in Chicago and raised in Milwaukee, she fell in love with Chicago’s food […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Best midnight screening of an iconic early-2000s movie
On a cold November night, as the clock struck midnight and the movie theater lights dimmed, the audience broke into raucous, hooting-and-hollering applause, and I knew that movie-going etiquette was out the window. Sipping Mystery Machine Margaritas—the Music Box’s featured cocktail for the occasion—longtime fans of 2002’s cult classic Scooby-Doo watched with giddy anticipation as […]
Posted inCity Life
Best three-day-long workers strike from employees of one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ organizations
From January 3 to 5 this year, the freshly unionized members of Howard Brown Health Workers United (HBHWU) staged day-long strikes at seven different Howard Brown clinic locations in the city. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an excess of government funds that LGBTQ+ -focused health system could access, but as those […]
Posted inCity Life
Best municipal election coverage from a media outlet that started in 2017
The TRiiBE, aka Chicago’s premier Black digital news platform dedicated to changing the narrative of Black Chicago, had a running start in 2017 and has not slowed down since. The TRiiBE was founded by Morgan Elise Johnson, who made the Forbes 30 Under 30 media list in 2019, and Tiffany Walden, selected in Poynter’s 2018 […]
Posted inCannabis
Best ‘private’ space to smoke a blunt outdoors
I like to lay out a blanket in a city park and smoke a fat Backwood under the sun just as much as the next guy. I don’t like the low hum of anxiety I feel when I’m smacked and alone around too many people who aren’t smoking too. Once I’m properly high, if I […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Best internationally known drag pageant system based in Chicago
The art of drag has been around for centuries, and today’s drag ball scene can trace its roots to post-Civil War Harlem, when Hamilton Lodge No. 710 began hosting regular competitions. The modern drag pageant evolved from one-off nights in bars, clubs, and rented banquet halls, to several pageant systems throughout the country; if you’ve […]
Posted inMusic & Nightlife
Best place to catch a man practicing harmonica while he urinates
Sidekicks (4424 W. Montrose) is an understatedly chill karaoke joint. Flashy people sing at Alice’s or Cafe Mustache, but if you’re looking for a good, weird time singing to a mix of people that might include Bass Pro card carriers as well as homos you haven’t met at every other gay spot, Sidekicks is the […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Best place to take yourself out on a date
Here’s a rule I live by: once a month, take yourself on a date. No phones allowed; bring a book. Last month, I ventured to Ghin Khao Eat Rice, and I can assure you it’s the perfect spot. (And I’ve done this 21 times!) First, it’s truly delicious and authentic, with nearly 200 Google reviews […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best racket sports enthusiast
For college tennis player Chris Clark, the COVID-19 pandemic became an unexpected reset that helped him bring his master’s of business administration back to the court. After stints at Gatorade, Wilson Sporting Goods, and the Kraft Heinz Co., he found himself out of a sports start-up job, with his love of racket sports “staring me […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
2022 Buy Local poll winners
The people, places, and things voted Chicago’s best—and runners-up: apartment finder, real estate agent, real estate company, bicycle shop, motorcycle shop, auto dealership, auto repair shop, comics shop, independent bookstore, record store, financial institution or bank, financial planner, florist, garden store, landscape company, jewelry store, tattoo artist, tattoo shop, barbershop, hair salon, pet adoption or animal shelter, pet store, veterinarian, picture framing store, place to buy local wares, home furnishings, resale shop, vintage store, kids clothing, place to buy gender-neutral clothing, place to buy women’s clothing, place to buy men’s clothing, T-shirt shop, streetwear brand, local clothing designer, shoe store, dancewear shop, sex toy shop, place to get married, recovery center, and more
