Filter 2.0

The beloved Wicker Park coffee spot is back, with more serious eats than before

Chicago has serious coffee and low-key, casual cafés. But there are too few places that combine quality caffeine with good food, especially in a stay-all-day...

Sustainable Suds

Goose Island releases its first eco-conscious beer

Our plan for this weekend: Go to Big Star, eat a taco, drink a Green Line--and save a square foot of rainforest. When creating Green Line Pale Ale, the eco-conscious Goose Island...

Hot Commodity

Turning a serious eye to tea

The Rare Tea Cellar's Rodrick Markus has been stocking Chicago's fine-dining shelves with high-end tea for years. But it's only recently that the restaurant world has caught on and...

Dark Matters

A small coffee roaster with big ideas

Jesse Diaz started roasting beans in a $7 popcorn popper. Today, in a room above his Ukrainian Village coffee shop, Star Lounge, Diaz (pictured) roasts small batches of Dark...

Friends With Benefits

Half Acre beer and Dark Matter coffee combine to make Big Hugs Imperial Stout

It's been a busy year for Half Acre Beer Company. Owner Gabriel Magliaro has brewed 10 different beers and opened a store in the front of his North Side brewery. But there's one...

Mead to Order

Make a toast--and warm yourself--with local mead

New Year's is about bubbles, but for the cozier holidays that come before, there's mead, a historic concoction made of fermented honey that has been making the rounds since the...