Cafe Mustache 2313 N. Milwaukee Runner-Up Groundswell Coffee Roasters

There was a moment recently where everyone was going to open a diner, which meant his or her take on a diner—Stephanie Izard’s cheerfully wack one, Brendan Sodikoff’s swankily hip one, and so on. But any “take” is always partly ironic, because if you didn’t want a diner refracted through someone’s newer, hipper sensibility, you’d just go to an actual diner. And nobody eating on Randolph Street is doing that....

A pair of jeans doesn’t have to be synonymous with mass production: Brandon Lamar Rials of BLRDesign elevates the humble garment to haute-couture material. From his cool live-work space in Pilsen, the driven entrepreneur produces customized pants that take one to two weeks for completion, fashioned in quality 11- to 13-ounce stretch selvage denim made in America, Italy, and even Japan. “The jeans are one of a kind; you can’t find anything like what I make elsewhere in the city,” he says....

Andrea Bauer Danny Davis says he learned about power from his mother’s whuppings. In the middle of campaign season for the March 18 Democratic primary, Congressman Danny Davis was recalling the time his father had saved the life of a cow. “My daddy was a sharecropper, a farmer, who finished the fourth grade when he was 19 years old,” Davis said. “He also turned out to be one of the most gifted individuals I’ve ever encountered....

Ben Sachs is attracted to and repelled by The Tribe, a Ukrainian drama set at a boarding school for deaf children; the subject of this week’s long review, it opens Friday at Music Box. Gwynedd Stuart has the lowdown on The Gallows, the latest mock-verite horror flick from the folks who gave you Insidious and Paranormal Activity. The Tribe Jimmy’s Hall Way Down East

AP Photo/Eric Jamison RIP Casey Kasem. Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us. • About how teaching college is no longer a middle-class job and why it matters? —John Dunlevy • That influential radio personality Casey Kasem passed away yesterday? —Leor Galil

Six months after a group of ten women first came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct, bullying, and harassment against Alec Klein, the Northwestern University journalism professor has resigned. The university issued an official apology on July 10. “Northwestern University apologizes to our current and former students and former employees for the experiences that they went through,” wrote spokesman Alan Cubbage, adding that the institution “is committed to fostering an environment in which all members of our community are safe, secure and free from sexual misconduct of any form....

The first exhibit you’re likely to encounter at the new American Writers Museum is a temporary installation. Longer on gadgetry than on literature, AWM is all about the breezy quote and the glitzy busywork toys that are now the currency of the exhibit industry: push a button, spin a wheel, drag an icon, and the gadgets spit out a thimbleful of data. It’s American Lit 101 (and more), the nutshell version....

Rainbo Club 1150 N. Damen

Chicago DJ Tim Zawada, cofounder of nightlife collective Boogie Munsters, goes to great lengths in his search for amazing tracks: as he told the site SF Station in 2012, he’s discovered new wave records in a rural Indiana barn and lucked into a collection of funk seven-inches while doing post-Katrina repairs on a house in Gulfport, Mississippi. Around five years ago, Zawada began to notice a constellation of small labels releasing new takes on boogie, a futuristic funk sound whose synths evoke a battery of computer hardware and whose bass is so dense you could bounce a quarter off it....

After the U.S. air strikes against Syria in April, some questioned whether Donald Trump has abandoned his campaign platform of “America First.” The phrase has elicited comparisons with language used by the American First Committee, the powerful isolationist group founded in 1940 to oppose any material support for Britain in its war against Nazi Germany. But it wasn’t the first political movement to use the slogan. Thompson served three terms as Chicago’s mayor, from 1915 to 1923 and then again from 1927 to 1931....

Singer, producer, and chef Via Rosa moved to Chicago in 2010 to help take care of her grandmother and work with local production collective ThemPeople. As she told culture site Chicago Creatives last year, outside of family obligations, she spent the vast majority of her time during her first five years in the city working out of their space: “Literally the night that I landed, I went to their studio.” Through ThemPeople she met singer Jean Deaux, formerly of the local collective the Village, and soon Deaux introduced Rosa to the musician who’d become one of her most important creative partners: producer Na’el Shehade....

ARTIST: Joe Schorgl SHOWS: The Sueves and Make-Overs American tour MORE INFO: jcsuperstarcomics.tumblr.com

After just three months Diana Dávila resigned Wednesday as executive chef at Cantina 1910, one of the city’s most exciting new restaurants. In an interview, Dávila, a subject in the Reader‘s recent People Issue, cited “irreconcilable differences” with the Andersonville restaurant’s ownership. Cantina 1910’s chef de cuisine Aaron Covert and executive sous chef Alison Denton also quit. Dávila says she’s looking for a new gig—Mexican, of course. Despite near unanimous praise from the city’s professional critics and a nod in the Wall Street Journal, Cantina 1910 was the subject of a Yelp smear campaign by people who couldn’t understand the restaurant’s progressive approach....

A screen shot from the “Paranoid Android” video The Reader‘s Comics Issue went online today, and in honor of the occasion, the 12 O’Clock Track is Radiohead‘s “Paranoid Android.” What does Radiohead have to do with comics? Well, not much—but “Paranoid Android” is my reflexive pick for my favorite animated music video. Swedish animator Magnus Carlsson directed it, and the short animated film he created for the lengthy single is as beguiling and twisted as the best songs on OK Computer....

What’s interesting about the conclusions the Pew Research Center draws in its latest media survey is that they’re so inconclusive. Why? As we all know, there are lots of reasons—the ones some of us (not all) might call good reasons, and the ones some of us (not all) might call bad ones. Some 45 percent used their phones to post a picture or video of the occasion—which is kind of nice, though not if you were just badgered into coming out onto the sun porch and saying cheese for 20 minutes until all the children happen to smile at once....

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast Note the clock. That’s AM—this morning. The Cubs had just beaten the Rockies. The two worst teams in the National League squared off at Wrigley Field last night, and for nearly six-and-a-half hours, both clubs warded off victory. Finally, in the 16th inning, Cubs backup catcher John Baker scored on a sacrifice fly to give the north-siders a 4-3 triumph. The winning pitcher was backup catcher Baker....

2109 S. Wabash 312-753-5681 theshrinechicago.com Runner-Up Reggie’s Rock Club

Daisy Cutter Half Acre Beer Company www.halfacrebeer.com/daisy-cutter-pale-ale Runner-Up Anti-Hero IPA