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If you love high-end pastries and campy snack cakes alike, check out pastry chef Stephanie Samuels' sandwich/soup shop and bakery in Ravenswood. From house-made Twinkies to devil's food 'igloos' filled with cream and topped with homemade marshmallow. B and L (Tu-Sa), brunch (Su).
The owners of popular Bucktown spot Silver Cloud bring that restaurant's comfort food-with-a-twist concept to Uptown, with signature items like a braised pork belly sandwich, fried mac and cheese bites, sloppy joes, hand-cut fries and more. The decor is all about '40s and '50s style, with a 40-foot Art Deco bar and hand-sewn light fixtures hung over plush U-shaped booths. L (Sa, Su) and D (daily).
I never expected everything to be so different.
When I left America a few days ago to spend my summer vacation in London, I figured I would be heading to a country quite similar to my own. Okay, not that similar—I do come from an area of the States where it is not uncommon for the younger set to go cow tipping on the weekends (and if you don’t know what that is, it’s probably best that you don’t). But I never imagined I would be entering a world so vastly different than my own.
Since winning the 2005 bid to host this year’s Olympics, London has been working hard to prepare for the influx of visitors this summer. They formed a committee to organize the Games and started meeting in October 2005. Like many host cities, London decided to build some new venues for the epic event, including the staggering 500-acre Olympic Park.
