Coddled by denizens of pre-Yelp/Eater/hell, even the Google, Centerstage was Chicago’s de facto city-guide since 1996, joining forces with the Chicago Sun-Times post-millennium to both serve as a comprehensive tome of new venue openings and a cultural alt-weekly in digital form, where one could find a write-up on a Neapolitan pizza joint making waves aside an exposé on the intersection of gangs and gentrification in a rapidly changing south side neighborhood.
Signing on as a writer, scouring the city’s every-corner to be the first one to cover a chef’s new digs, the secret dive, exotic tea shop, whatever filed a license with the city, I then expanded to feature pieces in myriad beats—food, culture, beer—eventually taking on the guide’s blues coverage, interviewing and previewing 100+ blues artists a week, followed by strategy roles developing new columns and story-mining techniques for a mid-size, cross-functional staff.
Highlights:
The Writing on the Wall
Bridgeport is supposed to be the community of tomorrow. A mural painted on the wall of a local gallery tells a slightly different story.
Thax Douglas
The days of looking over the notorious street-poet’s shoulder at New York are gone—and so is he.
The Morel of the Season
The elusive morel mushroom season is upon us—sprouting on menus in spades. We profile five chefs cutting ’em up for the masses.
The Revolution will be Brewed
Uncovering the evolution of Josh Deth’s Revolution Brewing in Logan Square.
Weegee’s Lounge
An old Polish dive outfitted in disco balls on the outskirts of Humboldt becomes a whiskey knock-back homage to an iconic crime scene photographer.