eat drink shop play Chicago

Taste of Peru
6545 N Clark St, 773 381 4540
Small space, Big flavor, BYOB - make your own pisco sour! (They used to have an official site, but that doesn't seem to work, so this is a link to their reviews)

Takkatsu
161 West Wing Street, 847 818 1860
You never knew pork could taste this good....pork from highly marbled black berkshires akin to Kobe-style wagyu. Food so good here that local Japanese swear by it, this partially explains why they feel there's no need for a website (link is to review site).

Joy Yee's Noodles
2159 S. China Place, 312 328 0001
It's easy to just peg Joy Yee's as a regular Pan-Asian joint, but that's before you see the wall of fresh fruits that churn out shakes after shakes. Must-try:
Mango Coconut Green Tapioca Freeze!

Fox & Obel
401 E. Illinois, 312 410 7301
One of the best kept secret in town, it's a gourmet grocery store with high-quality produce/meats/seafood...etc, and it has a cafe connected to the store where you can't go wrong stopping by during breakfast, lunch or dinner. For breakfast, I'd recommend Truffled Eggs Benedict, mmm mmm good !

Stone Lotus
873 N. Orleans St, 312 440 9680
Drinks, sophisticated.

Butterfly Social Club
722 W. Grand Ave, 312 666 1695
Organic, fun and surreal!

Fulton Lounge
955 W. Fulton Market, 312 942 9500
Unpretentious, go early to grab table outside!

Threadless (Store officially opens on 9/10/07)
3011 North Broadway Avenue, 773 878 3557
chicago@threadless.com
t-shirts2.0 !! Everyone should own a drawer-ful of t-shirts from them.

Sprout Home
745 N Damen Ave, 312 226 5950
Home and Garden, modernist style.

Chiasso
2112 n. Clybourn ave, 773 244 4100
Chicagoans love to decorate their homes.

Chicago Architecture Cruise
465 N. McClurg Court, 312 527 2002
"Without question the best architectural tour available in Chicago: witty, informative, engaging." Chicago Sun-times, and I agree. *Recommend to pre-purchase tickets, this one is quite popular.

Shedd Aquarium
1200 South Lake Shore Dr, 312 939 2438
Home to all sorts of sea creatures, squids included!

Lincoln Park Zoo
2200 N Cannon Dr, 312 742 2000
Zoo animals, free entry, what more can you ask for?

Second City
1616 N. Wells St, 312 337 3992
Second City...where the funny people are at!

Metromix
comprehensive site for things to do in Chicago

Chicago Reader
if you want to dive deeper into Chicago local culture