We All Scream

It took forever for this wicker park shop to open, but I'm glad it finally did. There are lots of ice cream shops in the area, but what makes this one unique is the way they make the ice cream. They use these crazy hydrogen robo-machines to freeze the base substance and flavor. Then they add in whatever ingredient your tiny heart desires. Although the lines might frighten you away, the servers behind the counter work diligently to get the icream--which is made right in front of you--to your lips in no time. And even if you don't live in the hood, it's definitely worth the trek there because the icream is oh so good.

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Shopping • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Tiny & Tasty

This spot is tiny and when I say tiny I mean anything over six people would seriously crowd the place. This is definitely one of those grab it and go cafes. When you're about to jump on the Blue Line, you can stop in here for something to eat or drink. It’s also a good spot to meet friends. They have a variety of coffee drinks, Italian sodas, pastries, and Paninis in addition to Milk & Honey's awesome granola. Although they don't have a ton of items to choose from, what they do have is excellent.

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Coffee • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Tequila Time

This is a beautifully decorated space. The masks, big bull head on the wall and tables and chairs are reminiscent of an old Mexican watering hole. This place is always packed. Whenever you pass by there are people hanging out the window drinking, laughing, and smiling, but it's probably because there is an extra shot of Tequila in every margarita glass. It's definitely not because of the food. The salsa tastes store-bought and the plates of food are rather small. It leaves a lot to be desired especially if you are accustomed to eating the other fabulous Mexican food available throughout the city. Skip the food, go for the drinks.

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Restaurants • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Tasty & Hilarious

There is no shortage of cafes in Wicker Park, but this teensy bakery with interesting pastries sits quietly on Division Street minding its own business. The thing about it is that it has the most hilarious and amazing cakes sitting in the window drawing you inside like Homer to a doughnut. They have every kid's dream cake--an enormous hamburger that looks oh-so-real. It's rather spectacular and it doesn't come cheap, but cool things rarely are. They also have a variety of delicious pastries. And of course, no cafe would be complete without coffee. Next door there is a larger space with free Wi-Fi in case you need to get some work done. This is an awesome place to visit frequently.

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Coffee • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Trendspotting in the Flesh

Over the years I've become somewhat cynical about brunch, preferring the greasy dependability of the Golden Nugget to an hours-long wait at a trendy spot where the food’s occasionally not worth the 20 minutes you have to wolf it down before they give your table away to the next wave of customers. My hater hackles were raised as soon as I entered the Bongo Room. Seizure-inducing color scheme? Check. Loud music designed to drown out meal-extending conversation? Check. Amazing food that’s worth standing around for 45 minutes? Check plus. An hour after I arrived, the Bongo Room won me over by serving some of the most delicious potatoes I've ever eaten before noon--not shredded, not mashed, but thickly chopped and lightly spiced. My friend had the tower of chocolate-banana French toast and I can tell you I would wait two hours in a neon green room while the Chemical Brothers shatter my eardrums to eat this again. While the Bongo Room's ambience is par for the fashionable restaurant course, the food definitely exceeds expectations.

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Restaurants • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Empire of the Pizza

Bin Wine Cafe may be the smallest restaurant in the Bin 36 empire, but it is now my favorite because of one thing: their pizza crust. Sure, the wine is great and sold at a good price. They're not at all snobby, it's everything you could want in a wine cafe, etc., etc. But this pizza crust! It's divine and doughy and tastes like a freshly baked loaf of bread. It's soft enough to be chewy, but crunchy enough that you can hold your slice aloft without anything sliding off. Even some of the fancy pizza places that regularly top the "Best Of" lists can't hold a candle to what I had here. For Pete's sake, there were flecks of freshly ground sea salt! It may seem counterintuitive to come to a place like this for pizza, but Bin has mastered the art of the wine & not-so-fine dine.

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Restaurants • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Chocolate, Disguised

Here is a superior chocolate lounge located in the heart of Wicker Park disguised as a super sexy club. Its burgundy interior is filled with stainless steel elements giving this space a mysterious and possibly intimidating vibe, but it's not. The staff is incredibly nice and knowledgeable about each truffle and hot chocolate drink they offer and they will give you the good, bad, and ugly without sugarcoating the truth. Try the Cassius truffle which is a combination of caramel, scotch, and bittersweet chocolate or the Sirena truffle which is a blend of orange blossom, kumquat, ginger, and Jamaican all spice. Then top it off with a cherry blossom hot chocolate. You will be pleased.

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Shopping • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Green and Mean

Finally, a veggie fast food restaurant opens in Wicker Park to pacify vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Picture walking into a clean, sunny spot decked out in bright blue and green furniture often filled by neighborhood patrons. The menu sports classically bad fast food favorites like meatless nuggets, gyros, and Philly cheese steak sandwiches among other things. Okay, so it's not nutritious, but it's plenty tasty and conveniently located on Milwaukee Avenue between Damen and Ashland. They also have a south side location, but it's closed for renovations, so right now this is the only Veggie Bite in town where you can get your veggie on.

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Restaurants • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Commodity Depravity

Corner stores make their money by setting up convenient locations, shuffling you to the back of the store, and forcing you to bend over. W Crossings has taken a different approach. You can go in and buy some ice cream or a frozen pizza, choose from an impressive selection of fresh produce, and leave without that trademark corner store limp. They actually have an expansive selection of groceries and other stuff you might have forgotten to get from Dominick's--you have a choice of at least three varieties of toilet paper. But don't be fooled, you have a choice because two of them are reasonable but the third costs your firstborn and your grandmother's wedding dress. It's sort of like playing Minesweeper with your groceries. A word to the wise: resist the temptations of the $5 organic chocolate bars. Once you taste something so delicious, you can't be bothered with trivial things like paying the rent.

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Shopping • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

The Drinking Below

The Subterranean runs a bar downstairs and a music venue on the upper two floors. The downstairs bar is pretty mediocre compared to the other, nearby offerings. It doesn't help that it's full of rounder people than you'll find in an episode of South Park. Still, it's usually good for a free beer on a Friday night, and there's no complaining about that. The music venue itself is excellent. There's a solid mix of rock, indie, and pop acts that frequent the place. The drinks are reasonably priced, and if the crowd can get uncomfortably young at times (they're not averse to hosting dance parties for 17-year-olds during the week), the sound system and unique balcony views more than make up for it. You're more likely to drop in here at random and catch a quality show than you are next door at the more venerable Double Door--at least, less likely to have to sit through the same metal band that played your high school talent show.

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Nightlife • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Relive the Degradation

Rational people spend most of their adult lives doing everything they can to avoid thinking of those hours they were locked in their uncle's closet (...); drunks in Wicker Park will gladly wait 45 minutes in subzero weather for the chance to relive the experience. Maybe it's a way of taking control of the situation--at least this time they're the creeps drunk off of PBR. This bar can be a good hang before 1AM, though. The bottled beer is cheap, it's a more relaxed crowd than the other bars nearby, and the music is happily eclectic. But unlike that certain someone staring at you from across the room, this place gets uglier the later you stay. If you're not in before the mush-rush from Tavern and Debonair, good luck. Your feet will probably freeze to the pavement before they find a place to shoehorn you.

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Nightlife • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Average and Proud

Residents of Wicker Park should rejoice. Two in the morning used to present the most terrible of questions: Estelle's or Evil Olive? You could either wait in line for too long to spend an hour paying too much for drinks in someone's sweaty closet, or you could pay just as much to run the risk of "accidentally" picking up a 16-year-old and getting stabbed. The Flatiron offers no waiting, cheap(er) drinks, and entirely average times. That may sound like a dig, but think about your recent trips to bars that stay open till four; I'm willing to bet that average sounds like fingering the captain of the cheerleading squad in comparison.

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Nightlife • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

You Know It

When I don't want to cook but want to entertain, I've been known to call Cooking Fools and have them cater the whole party. I don't usually tell my guests and I think they are utterly impressed thinking I've done so much work. I knew Cooking Fools had good catering. I knew I could pick up a pretty inexpensive catfish sandwich for lunch, and I knew I could rely on them for fancy chocolate and tea from their small retail store, but I didn't know how awesome their cooking classes are. Cooking Fools isn't content to just cook for you party after party and day after day, they actually want to teach you how to do it yourself. Most of the teaching classes have a complimentary drink and, after you finish that one, you can by beer by the bottle and wine by the glass. By the time you finish drinking, you won't think even your cooking's that bad.

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Services • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Impressive, Preventive

I want to hate this place. Really. The people who work here make wine so unappealing--snobbish and trendy. The employees have been to Napa Valley too many times and haven't spent enough time around the Finger Lake, Italian, or French wineries where the wine is made (and sold) on the farm alongside pigs and goats and there's nothing to stick your nose in the air about. All that aside, the selection is amazing and stays aware of seasonality. I avoid asking for suggestions, but whoever writes the description cards is dead on about flavor notes. Careful not to spend too much money, it is easy to be fooled by the way the store is arranged. If you are willing to look around the whole store instead of listening to recommendations and falling for the "easy to see" wines in the middle of the store, you can find deals on Tempranillos and impressive Rhone Viogniers. As much as this place eats at my paycheck and the employees make me miserable, the selection of import wines is great and the wine sampling is generous. Then again, Trader Joe's does a good job at both of those things for less money and with a lot less attitude.

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Liquor Stores • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

The Book Bike

Beginning July 5th, a most curious bicycle hits Chicago streets and parks: The Book Bike. The only bicycle built for books will visit random Chicago parks every Saturday (weather-permitting) and open its doors to reveal a treasure-trove of books for the taking which have been generously donated by publishers all over the country: from Not For Tourists to McSweeney's to Akashic to Fantagraphics, this oddity is packed to the brim with free books. The Book Bike is a part of Something to Read, a literary initiative founded by writer and editor G.M. Levinson (reviews editor of Make: A Chicago Literary Magazine and an associate editor for the online journal Is Greater Than) to promote and support all things literature in Chicago. The Book Bike will make its inaugural journey to the heart of Wicker Park at noon. Don't miss out. The books are free to anyone in the park on a first-see, first-take basis!

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Landmarks • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Hip To Be Square

Not quite a comic shop, not quite a bookstore, Quimby's features graphic novels, off-beat art books and all kinds of entertaining inflammatory literature. The sister store of Chicago Comics (same owners), Quimby's shares the same hip-to-be-square vibe as their sibling, while a unique, inspired library gives the place it's own equally-as-rad identity. A great selection of graphic novels and independent, oft-politically charged literature define Quimby's collection, and the photo booth and selection of picture-heavy art books offer interest to even those who don't read. The perfect place to grab a gift for the eccentric in your life, Quimby's is a must-stop, and an integral part of the happening Bucktown scene.

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Bookstores , Shopping • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Party Time: Free NFTs (& Beer)! June 6th

Not For Tourists, publisher of the little black city survival guides that savvy Chicagoans are already gleefully clutching to their bosoms, is coming to the Windy City to celebrate the release of the 6th edition--the 2008 Not For Tourists Guide to Chicago. We're throwing our baby out with the booze-water on Friday, June 6 from 6 to 9 pm at Gold Star Bar, that dear little dive in Ukrainian Village. Free books and free drinks will be given to all. Or at least to the ones who show up early. You know you like free booze, but do you know how great a free NFT is? Here are five reasons why our book is infinitely more useful than all the other guidebooks clogging up your shelves: 1.) 44 neighborhoods in detail; 2.) all content entirely written by and for locals; 3.) our beautiful, unique neighborhood maps; 4.) sleek non-touristy design; 5.) fits right in your glove compartment, so you'll always have something to read while you sit in traffic on 290. So come on, go to the party. Meet our writers. See what we've got. You won't be disappointed.

Click here to download the invite!

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Nightlife • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Eating with the Enemy

It may be blasphemy to recommend a New York style pizza place in Chicago, but the message must get out: Santullo’s has the best slice in town. Located in Wicker Park, right next to the Flat Iron Building, Santullo’s serves giant pieces of standard favorites such as cheese and sausage, as well as daily specials, including BBQ chicken, Margherita and Pesto pizzas. Santullo’s also has an awesome selection of sandwiches, but the pizza’s so good, it makes it hard to stray. Open late on the weekends, serving legitimately reasonable-priced mugs of beer, Santullo’s is perfect for a quick meal before, after, or during a Bucktown/Wicker Park pub crawl. Join the pizza revolution, and eat thin at Santullo’s.

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Restaurants • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

To Help You See Clearly

As Amazon, Walmart, and Costco continue their massacre of the local bookstore, Myopic Books stands strong, a beacon of hope amongst the rubble of fallen brethren. There was a time, before the internet, when book-buying was less about getting the cheapest price on the new Dan Brown novel, and more about the exploration and experience associated with actual brick-and-mortar bookstores. Myopic is the personification of this ever-endangered sentiment. With winding staircases, backrooms and basements teeming with used books and a labyrinth-like interior, the place feels like the library of some local eccentric inventor. Myopic knows book-buying is about discovery, and they encourage it with a staggering collection of works, including a particularly impressive collection of fiction and books about film and music. Fight the battle. Shop at Myopic.

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Bookstores , Shopping • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village

Earwax

There's just something so charming about these hipster people. They dress cool, act cool, hang out at cool places. Like Earwax Cafe! A staple of the Wicker Park scene, especially when local arts fest Around the Coyote is in full force, Earwax (as the name would imply) boasts a large menu featuring breakfast and lunch, and there is nothing they make that isn't good. Extremely vegetarian and vegan friendly, Earwax, hands down, has the best seitan sandwich in the city. With decor emphasizing old-timey circus paintings, servers as friendly as they are artsy, and a menu that encourages investigation, this is the perfect place to end your aren't-we-alternative Wicker Park shopping day. Although sometimes the coziness borders on cramped, it's easy to forgive the place’s popularity once the food arrives. Go check out the Earwax Cafe. We promise we won't tell anyone you'd never heard of it.

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Restaurants , Video Rental • Wicker Park / Ukrainian Village