Those Mayans may have missed the mark on the whole end-of-the-world thing, but if they had anything to say about 2012 being a great year for places to eat, drink and buy clothes... well, then they would have been totally right. Here’s a look back.
Your morning routine got a shake-up when this bakery began injecting otherwise standard-variety donuts with vodka, chocolate liqueur and Grand Marnier. We’re not sure who the intended audience is for these, but we can say the cops seem a lot happier lately.
If the booze didn’t make you dizzy this year, the altitude did. Let’s see: Drumbar was hopping. So was StarDeck. Let’s not forget about Sky Terrace. And just before the summer ended, the J. Parker became your perch in Lincoln Park. All we can say: thank God for elevators.
Opening one place successfully is a challenge. The guys behind Old Town Social rose to it beautifully with Nellcôte, inspired by the Exile on Main St. recording sessions. Then in August, they debuted RM, a snug champagne cove, right next to it. Any excuse for a toast, we guess.
Yes, there’s that mustache. But we were looking for the man behind it. So when Illinois-bred and Chicago-trained Nick Offerman came back to perform during the Just for Laughs comedy festival, we chatted with him. Turns out... he in fact had some pretty great mustache-grooming tips.
You wanted to go all Bear Grylls and get back to nature—which to you includes leather chairs, pulsating showerheads and a personal chef. So hello, Sandhill. This fully loaded cabin near Kohler, Wisconsin, debuted from the American Club Resort folks. People who really get you.
Apparently, wearing clothes was back in style. There was a boom in menswear stores in and around the Gold Coast. Suitsupply, Brunello Cucinelli, Gallery Aesthete, J.Toor and Apartment Number 9 all opened shops within feet of each other. This probably explains the corresponding dapperness boom.
You expect good things from the guys who brought you Blackbird and Publican. You didn’t expect those good things to come in the form of a butcher shop. Now that they have, your working lunches over meatball sandwiches have never been better. Of course, before this place, they never existed.
