Time Out Chicago news

The holiday season is officially underway now that Christkindlmarket has commenced. The outdoor German market has once again set up shop in Daley Plaza in the Loop, bringing with it a seemingly endless supply of Glühwein, schnitzel and festive cheer. We took a lap around Christkindlmarket on opening day to scope out all of the best things to eat, drink and buy. Take a look at what caught our attention along the way and be sure to check out this top winter attraction before it packs up after its final day on December 24. Psst: Consult this handy-dandy Christkindlmarket vendor map for exactly where to find each goody listed. RECOMMENDED: Our complete guide to Christkindlmarket   Photograph: Jaclyn Rivas 1. Glühwein ($8 with mug, $7 refill) from Beer & Wine Vendors (booths #1, #55 and #28) No trip to Christkindlmarket is complete without a mug of warm Glühwein, a traditional mulled wine that tastes like holiday spirit and baking spices. This year, guests will sip the boozy beverage from adorable heart-shaped vessels that are adorned with the Chicago skyline.   Photograph: Jaclyn Rivas 2. Pierogi ornament ($10.95) from from Wildlife Ornaments (booth #18) There are plenty of ornaments to choose from at Christkindlmarket, but we were immediately drawn to this shimmery gold pierogi, which is perfect for dumpling fans and Chicago foodies alike.   Photograph: Jaclyn Rivas 3. Masala curry fries ($5) from Chiya Chai (booth #14) New to this year's vend

Time Out Worldwide recently released a list of the 50 best things to do in the world right now, filled with essential experiences to have in cities around the globe. Scroll through the inventory and you'll discover a Tokyo museum dedicated to the kaleidoscopic works of Infinity Mirror Room artist Yayoi Kusama, the otherworldly landscapes of the Atacama Desert in Chile, geothermally heated pools in Iceland and Norway's fastest zipline. After reading the entire list, you may be tempted to hop on a plane to Jamaica to explore the birthplace of jerk chicken in Boston Bay. But if a last-minute trip isn't in the cards, you won't have to go far to experience the 20th entry on the list: Smart Bar's weekly Queen! party, a premiere spot to dance to house music in the city where the genre was born. Queen! takes over Smart Bar every Sunday night, beginning at 10pm and continuing until 4am on Monday morning. Once you pay your $10 cover charge and descend into the basement, you'll be treated to sets from resident DJs Derrick Carter, Michael Serafini and Garrett David as well as appearances from guest selectors and legendary house music producers. On Sunday, November 18, Queen! celebrates the birthday of local drag performer Imp Queen, while the November 25 edition of the party hosts a set from French deep house DJ Brawther. Looking for even more amazing things to do in Chicago? We've got a list for that, too. Want more? Sign up here to stay in the know.

The most wonderful time of the year is just around the corner, which means that you might encounter a train or bus decked out with twinkling lights during your commute in the coming weeks. This morning, the Chicago Transit Authority announced the schedules for its Holiday Train and Holiday Bus, revealing when you can expect to see Santa making some pre-Christmas Eve journeys through the city. RECOMMENDED: Our complete guide to Christmas in Chicago The CTA Holiday Train will begin running on Friday, November 23, with trips scheduled on every CTA line. As usual, the six-car train features an open-air platform that holds Santa and his reindeer, along with LED signs, colorful interior decorations and more lights than ever before. The Holiday Train typically runs from 1 to 8pm on weekends and from 3 to 7pm on weekdays, but you can consult the CTA website for a more detailed schedule. Just like last year, the Holiday Train will be followed by the Elves' Workshop Train every Saturday through December 15. The train is another set of six cars decorated with lights, providing more room for passengers on busy weekends when everyone wants to hop aboard the most festive mode of public transportation. If you prefer to ride the bus, you'll be happy to learn that the CTA Holiday Bus will return to 13 routes throughout the city this year. The bus is wrapped to resemble a reindeer, with a glowing red nose, a pair of antlers mounted on top of the bus and strings of lights lining the windo

By the time February rolls around each year, we're usually daydreaming of the warm days of July when Pitchfork Music Festival takes over Union Park for a weekend of cutting-edge indie rock, hip-hop and electronica. This February, the online publication is introducing a new indoor event in Chicago that should make the wait for the Pitchfork lineup announcement a bit more tolerable. This morning, the Art Institute of Chicago and Pitchfork revealed more details about a collaborative event called Midwinter, a three-day celebration of music and art that will take over the galleries and performance venues of the world famous museum. Hosted February 15–17, the event will feature performances by more than 30 acts, musician-designed sound installations and premieres of original tunes that draw inspiration from the museum's collection. The Midwinter lineup should look familiar if you've attended previous iterations of Pitchfork Music Festival, with a bill featuring acts like saxophonist Kamasi Washington, English shoegazers Slowdive, glitchy electronic producer Oneohtrix Point Never and experimental rockers Deerhunter. The weekend will also highlight some special performances, including local post-rock group Tortoise celebrating the 21st anniversary of TNT and avant-garde composer William Basinski playing The Disintegration Loops with the help of the Chicago Philharmonic. Madison McFerrin, Mary Lattimore, Daniel Bachman, Haley Fohr of Circuit des Yeux and Marisa Anderson will perform

There's no denying that Chicago is a great place to be single, but we could all use a break from the dating-app grind. Enter Dating IRL, an original Time Out Chicago feature that sets up two eligible singles on a blind date at a Chicago hot spot. After a night out, the daters report back with honest feedback on first impressions, chemistry and awkward moments. This time, we matched Jessica and Julius and sent them to Good Measure for dinner and drinks. Let's see how it went.  RECOMMENDED: Do you want to be set up on a blind date? Apply today. THE DATERS JESSICA, 32 Publicist, model/actress and culture geek JULIUS, 28 Adventurer, photographer and avid reader FIRST IMPRESSION JESSICA “Julius came into the room wearing a smile that put my nerves at ease. He was warm, energetic and funny. He was really present during the conversation.” JULIUS “Jessica had a bright smile and good energy. Moreover, she’s funny. She’d been to the bar before, so she gave me the rundown and told me about the fun cocktails.” Photograph: Jordan Avery CHEMISTRY JESSICA “I was surprised by how well it was going, and that probably made me ‘tune in’ to him even more. There weren’t any dull moments.” JULIUS “We had more platonic chemistry, but chemistry all the same, which is more exciting because I think Jessica will be an awesome friend.” AWKWARD MOMENT JESSICA “I had to figure out a way to curb my alcohol intake because I had a flight at 7am the next day. But every

Earlier this year, beloved skeleton SUE the T. rex was removed from its perch in the Field Museum's Stanley Field Hall, making way for Máximo, the 70-ton, 122-foot-long titanosaur that now looms over the institution's lobby. Thankfully, SUE isn't leaving the Field Museum—the dino is simply being relocated to the Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet, where the skeleton will be housed in a "private suite" that allows visitors to learn more about a time when SUE had some skin on her bones. SUE's new home will open to the public on Friday, December 21 in a 5,100-square-foot space that's packed with interactive elements that survey all of the information that scientists have learned about the T. rex over the past few decades. The display includes new animations that depict what SUE may have looked like, the ways in which they likely interacted with other dinosaurs and the landscape that they inhabited. If SUE looks a bit different, there's a good reason: a new set of bones called gastralia, which helped the giant creature breath, has been added to the skeleton's abdomen. According to the Field Museum's curator of dinosaurs Pete Makovicky, scientists weren't exactly sure where the gastralia bones fit into skeleton when SUE arrived at the museum, so they were omitted from the display. "Thanks to the research we’ve been doing on SUE for the last 20 years, we now know what they were for and where they should go,” Maokvicky said in a release. Want to know what SUE thinks of their new ho

After spending the past three years in Addams/Medill Park, Chicago's largest electronic music festival is on the move once again. This morning, organizers announced that the 2019 edition of Spring Awakening Music Festival will take place in Douglas Park, the North Lawndale green space that also hosts Riot Fest and was the site of the first Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash in August. RECOMMENDED: Our guide to Spring Awakening Music Festival The change in location was spurred by extensive construction in Addams/Medill Park, where work on the $25 million Exelon Student Recreation Center is currently underway. When it's finished, the 100,000-square-foot facility will house an indoor track, artificial turf field and basketball courts. The park is also gaining a natural turf baseball field and an artificial turf field that can be used for baseball, football, lacrosse and soccer. The move to Douglas Park is the latest in a series of venue changes for Spring Awakening Music Festival, which will mark its eighth year in Chicago in 2019. The festival began as a series of concerts in 2008 before transforming into a two-day festival hosted outside of Soldier Field in 2012. In 2016, Spring Awakening announced that it would move to Jackson Park, but the Park District ultimately did not approve the event's permits, forcing organizers to take the EDM party to Addams/Medill Park, where it has remained for the past three years. Spring Awakening Music Festival will take place from June 7 throug

In a few weeks, mezcal fanatics will be able to sneak into the basement of Frontera via a 100-year-old freight elevator and sip cocktails at Rick Bayless's subterranean speakeasy. Bar Sótano is a collaboration between Bayless, his wife and their daughter, Frontera Group's beverage director Lanie Bayless. The mezcal-heavy cocktail menu draws inspiration from Mexican markets and highlights ingredients like fresh sugar cane, chilies and garden herbs. A selection of Mexican wines and beers rounds out the booze menu. "Bar Sótano’s lifeline is the vibrant markets of Mexico, where fruit stalls, healthy herb stands and chile vendors swirl in a symphony for the senses," Rick Bayless says in a press release. "The craftsmanship of those who keep these Mexican flavors alive—including those who craft dozens of agave varieties into distillates—is unlike any in the world. Bar Sótano will reflect this side of Mexico’s exhilarating culture." On the food front, chef Rishi Manoj Kumar (Topolobampo) offers an enticing lineup of nibbles, including Yucatan Fire fried chicken, plancha-charred broccoli and a burger served with choriqueso sauce and yuca fries. The menu appears to be designed for snacking and sharing, with prices ranging from $4 popcorn to a $36 Mexican paella that's studded with shrimp, chicken thighs and poblanos. The 50-seat bar is slated to open on Thursday, November 15. Check it out Tuesday through Thursday from 4pm to midnight and Friday and Saturday from 4pm to 2am. Take a

We're just a day removed from Halloween, but Daley Plaza is already filled with cabins that will soon house handmade ornaments, wooden clocks, sausages, strudel and more. Yes, the opening of Christkindlmarket is just two weeks away, which means you'll only need to wait 14 more days before you can eat potato pancakes and sip steaming Glühwein beneath the Picasso sculpture. RECOMMENDED: Our guide to Christkindlmarket Chicago Today, Christkindlmarket unveiled its latest lineup of souvenir mugs, which are included with the purchase of any hot beverage. While anyone holding out hope for the return of the market's boot-shaped ceramics will be disappointed, the new vessels sport a heart-shaped design, paying tribute to the theme of this year's market: “Ich liebe Christkindlmarket” (“I love Christkindlmarket”). Christkindlmarket takes place in Chicago, Naperville and Milwaukee this year (the Wrigleyville edition of the market that was hosted at Gallagher Way is taking a year off), and each location will boast a unique mug. The Chicago and Milwaukee designs depict each city's skyline, while the Naperville mug includes the Millennium Carillon and a cabin at the Naper Settlement. A limited-edition set of all three mugs will be available at each Christkindlmarket location, but you'll need to act fast if you want to snag them. Take a look at the latest Glühwein delivery system below and don't forget to mark your calendar—Christkindlmarket Chicago opens for business on November 16 at 1

Election Day is less than a week away and candidates are frantically trying to remind people to head to the polls on November 6 (though you can also take advantage of early voting). Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker is hosting a Get Out the Vote Rally at the UIC Pavilion on Sunday, November 4 at 1:30pm, and he's enlisting the help of Barack Obama to headline the event. If you want to see the former president in person, you'll need to snag free tickets to the rally from one of Pritzker's field offices. Beginning Thursday, November 1 at 10am, tickets to the event will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at the following locations:1051 W Belmont Ave1402 N Ashland Ave4750 W Peterson Ave4728 W Madison St5401 S Wentworth Ave1808 W 103rd St There's a two-ticket limit per person and your ticket won't guarantee you entry, which means that you'll probably have to show up early on Sunday to wait in line if you want to avoid being turned away when the venue reaches capacity. Attendees will go through airport-style security when entering the rally, so leave your umbrellas, liquids and sharp objects at home. The former President isn't the only Obama coming to Chicago in November. Michelle Obama will headline the United Center on Tuesday, November 13 as part of her book tour celebrating the release of her new memoir, Becoming. This week, we learned that Oprah Winfrey will moderate the discussion of Obama's book in Chicago, returning to the city where her hit t