2833 N. Sheffield 773-665-5660 hqbeercade.com Runner-Up Logan Arcade In February 2018, this category was updated to use the phrase ‘arcade bar’ in place of the word originally used.

Betsy DeVos, president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Education, might not be the worst of the megabucks donors and right-wing crusaders in Mr. Trump’s prospective cabinet. DeVos, as you’ve no doubt gathered by now, is not a friend of teachers’ unions. Nor of what she calls “government schools”—traditional public neighborhood schools—though she has no personal experience with them. She’s never been a teacher or a school administrator, and she never attended public school herself....

On April 2 and 3, the second Chicago Cocktail Summit returns to the Logan Theatre for two full days of seminars, panel discussions, and interactive workshops with local bartenders and a few guests from out of town, most notably author and historian David Wondrich. The first day is aimed at “consumers and home enthusiasts,” the second at industry professionals, though both are open to anyone who wants to pony up the $50 per day or $15 per session....

[Image-1] The Trump regime’s flood of attacks on democratic norms, rule of law, and vulnerable populations—most prominently its widely contested ban on immigrants and refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries—can seem calculated to induce outrage fatigue in Americans determined to oppose it. But it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, remains a high priority of this administration. A week before Trump’s inauguration, the Republican-­controlled House and Senate took the first steps in dismantling Obama’s health-care law—which has helped provide medical insurance to roughly 20 million people over the past three years—with votes that set the stage for eliminating some of its most important provisions....

1531 N. Damen 773-235-4039 bigstarchicago.com Runner-Up L’Patron

4953 N. Broadway 773-878-2253 tank-noodle.com Runner-Up Simply It

Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies There are no big surprises in Jessica Sherr’s 60-minute solo, no novel insights. Yes, Bette Davis faced sexism in the movie industry. Yes, it was lonely at the top. Even if you didn’t see Feud, the recent FX series about her war with Joan Crawford, you likely know already that Davis drank to excess, smoked like a chimney, had a sharp tongue, and earned two Oscars, arguably getting robbed of a third by Vivien Leigh and the 1939 Gone With the Wind juggernaut....

J. Joseph Cox’s play, receiving its world premiere at the 16th Street Theater, is about a lot of things. It’s about a preteen who was born female and now identifies as a boy. It’s about a father, a conservative gulf war vet who can’t accept that his Natalie wants to be called Nate. It’s also about his anger issues and PTSD and his fear that he may lose shared custody of Nate....

My first week in Chicago, in February 1995, I was driving around exploring the city when I turned my girlfriend’s juddery little red Hyundai down Fulton Market between two delivery trucks backed up against opposite-facing loading docks. I was slowly squeezing my way through when around the corner whipped a forklift piloted by a wild-eyed berserker with Lemmy-length hair and a bloodied white work coat who stopped on only the briefest beat before hitting the gas, well aware that I was already putting the car in reverse and getting the fuck out of his way....

After hosting underground bands for five years Avondale’s Auxiliary Arts Center says good-bye tonight with one final show, which doubles as a release party for a cassette compilation, Aux Mix Tape Volume 1. The album’s title gives me hope that Auxiliary Arts Center’s organizers will be able to continue flying the flag for Chicago’s DIY scene beyond tonight; at the very least the folks at Powell Brew House, who frequently collaborate with the Auxiliary Arts Center crew, aim to continue their annual “Arts N Drafts” minifest....

An avid researcher of fashion and art history, Alma Wieser takes classic ideas and translates them into original contemporary designs for her line, Renovar. She got her start back in junior high, when she altered vintage garments to suit her sophisticated taste, and currently offers a lower-priced line of reworked vintage items, but her latest high-end collection—inspired by legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland—also includes new items. Her aesthetic is “complex simplicity,” clothes that seem minimal but have an elaborate construction....

DJ Rashad was on course to guide footwork music to a crossover breakthrough when he died in April at age 34; he’d performed in Europe, opened for Chance the Rapper on his U.S. tour last fall, and played at many high-profile festivals, including Pitchfork in July. On last year’s Double Cup, Rashad pushed footwork toward pop while retaining its eccentric, fluttering beats, hyperactive pace, and strange internal tension among syncopated layers....

809 W. Randolph 312-492-6262 girlandthegoat.com Runner-Up Sabri Nihari

Gene Page/AMC Alex (Tate Ellington) and Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in The Walking Dead Whenever I have zombie apocalypse nightmares—which I do a lot; it’s awful—zombies aren’t the antagonists. Instead it’s the gang of men with leashed Dobermans who want the last of the canned food I have stashed in the strange bedroom I’ve hidden in for weeks, living in darkness so no one knows I’m there. Something like that....

“My first thought was: Don’t make a spicy margarita,” said Trenchermen bartender Jonah Frank. Challenged by Dan Smith of Barrelhouse Flat to make a drink with pimenton, Spanish smoked paprika, Frank initially found himself tossing around “a bunch of awful ideas.” But eventually he hit upon an approach he hoped would yield a drink not just tasty but restorative. The name of his cocktail is another take on the Corpse Reviver, which made him think of Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, the Mexican holiday commemorating friends and family who have died....

Anyone interested in DJing as a form of musicianship owes it to himself to see DJ Harvey at least once behind the decks. While not very well known for his own music, Harvey is a legendary DJ—working largely with his own record collection (forgoing the use of Serato or other MP3-DJing platforms), his sets each have their own arc and character. What you see and hear one night bears little resemblance to another Harvey set....

Tonight the Wicker Park branch of Dimo’s Pizza is hosting a benefit show for the inaugural Fed Up Fest, a DIY queercore extravaganza that’s going down at the end of the month. The bill features Arugula, Boots, and the Valenteens, who are behind today’s 12 O’Clock Track, “Mile Marker.” It’s a scorching punk tune that’s got some hardcore coursing through it; the song sits on the right side of the pop-punk fence and it fits in neatly with the rest of the band’s Fun in the Sun With ....

“Solarise,” a new installation by the artistic duo Luftwerk, uses light and color to produce five site-specific interventions that reflect the inner and outer structures of the plants at the Garfield Park Conservatory. The exhibition, which opened last month on the fall equinox, will run one day short of a full year, the longest exhibition Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero have ever produced. “Solarise” is still a work in progress; Bachmaier and Gallero will continue to study how each installation reacts to the changing seasons....