Secret Chicago wants to help you make the most of your free time and keep you informed! We’ll be putting out “Don’t miss” and “ICYMI” plans and news for you each week, so you’ll always catch an incredible event or story. Here are some of them that you may have missed over the last week.
1. Chicago’s Latin Reggaeton Festival ‘Sueños’ is coming back bigger & better this Memorial Day weekend
Already boasting an impressive lineup of internationally recognized music festivals like Lollapalooza in Grant Park and Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, last year the City of Chicago added another music festival to the mixer. The difference? This one offered a lineup made up of entirely Latin music.
The largest Latin music event ever to have been held in Grant Park, the inaugural Sueños Festival featured headlines such as J Balvin, Ozuna, and Wisin & Yandel as well as a roster of other Latin music stars such as Myke Towers, Jhay Cortez, El Alfa, and Chicago artist DJ Mariam.
Read more here.2. Embrace winter in Chicago with these 5 cozy activities
When the outside turns chilly, we usually want to retreat, bundle up, and stay away. But, there’s still so much fun to be had in the winter months. Though it might be a bit dreary outside at times, winter is actually a chance to embrace some really beautiful and comforting rituals and spaces.
3. A bookstore bar, Kibitznest, is the perfect place to spend a winter afternoon in Lincoln Park
With a giant front room featuring a long wooden top bar, and tables to gather at, often you’ll find the place packed, customers busy reading or speaking in hushed tones. There’s even an event room that can be reserved in advance and the back area functions more like a community room, with chatter at normal volume and ambient music piping through the speakers.
Read more about the bookstore and bar here.
4. The top 5 deals you should try out this Restaurant Week
The 17-day event known as Restaurant Week fills Chicago with a bevy of deals on some of the top restaurants in the area. With over 350+ restaurants participating in the annual celebration, but with $59 dinner deals and $25 lunch options, there’s a lot to sort through, so we’ve got you covered.
Read more about Restaurant Week deals here.
5. 25 things that are considered totally normal in Chicago… but nowhere else
You already know Chicago is like no other city or place… a world all on its own.
And because of that, there are some things we’ve become accustomed to that are strange to others, sometimes hilarious, and at other times shocking.
We asked our audiences which things they think of as uniquely Chicagoan and so, without further ado, here are your responses for things that are considered totally normal in Chicago… but would not be acceptable anywhere else. The good, the bad, and everything in between:
Read more about Chicago’s normal here.
6. A once-in-50,000-year comet will pass over Chicago skies this February
Stargazers, ready yourselves for this once-in-a-lifetime celestial event! For the first time in 50,000 years, a green, long-period comet named C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will sweep across our night skies. On February 2, the comet will appear a mere 26 million miles out from Earth, a phenomenon that hasn’t occurred since the Stone Age.
7. The Grand Cabaret is bringing a series of burlesque and drag shows to Chicago
When the weather dips to unbearable temperatures, experience the light and heat indoors with a tantalizing spectacle of top-rated Grand Cabaret shows taking place this winter in a hidden back room space in the West Loop’s Porkchop restaurant at 1132 West Grand Avenue.
Read more about Grand Cabaret here.
8. Here are all the Chicago nominations in this year’s James Beard Awards
Since the James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards began in 1991 it has developed into one of the most prized culinary acknowledgments around up there with the Michelin guide.
Championing and supporting U.S. culinary culture for over 30 years, the James Beard Foundation is now a renowned name for anybody in the business. In addition to their fundraising efforts and events, their coveted food industry awards are recognition of the highest order.
Read more about the James Beard nominations here.9. An Austin-based female-headed sushi bar is coming to River North this spring with a 17-course Omakase experience
Chef Ambrely Ouimette is said to open this Spring 2023. Adding a unique omakase dining concept to the Windy City’s restaurant lineup, this marks Chef Ouimette’s third restaurant, a feat as she is actually one of the only female omakase chefs in the country.
Read more about Sushi | Bar here.
10. Shedd Aquarium has announced 15 free days between now and the end of February
Chicago’s beloved Shedd Aquarium is helping us get through the winter months with news that it will offer free admission for Illinois Residents for more than a third of February as well as 5 free days in January.
For the next 5 days, from tomorrow (Thursday, January 12th) through to Monday, January 16th admission costs will be dropped for Illinois residents and then again on every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of next month starting Tuesday, February 7.
[Featured photo via: Upsplash]