Chicago Says Goodbye to One Steakhouse and Hello to Another

BEST DATE NEWS

May 18, 2023: Best Date News Volume #25

Good morning and welcome to another edition of Best Date News! Today we dive into some exciting Chicago restaurant news, a restaurant celebrating 100 years, free chicken sandwiches, the best places to live in the US, the local news being funny and more!

May 18: National Holidays

• National No Dirty Dishes Day

• National Visit Your Relatives Day

• National Cheese Souffle Day

• International Museum Day

Last week we challenged you to see who could name the pizza and burger from the above image we shared for National Eat What You Want Day last week! Congratulations to Woranat S. for getting both La Crosta Woodfire Pizza and Little Bad Wolf correct!

Top 5: Chicago News to Know

• The Bellevue: Tavern on Rush's replacement, at the iconic Viagra Triangle corner of Rush and Bellevue in Gold Coast, just opened this week after the restaurant mainstay was there for nearly 25 years. The new spot is called The Bellevue and it will serve American contemporary cuisine, but it will not be a steakhouse. They are making it clear that they are completely different than Tavern on Rush. Check it out.

• Nisos Prime: Speaking of steakhouses, a couple weeks ago we shared that Nisos in West Loop had unexpected closed its doors, seemingly out of nowhere. Yesterday they announced that they are rebranding to become Nisos Prime, a Mediterranean Steakhouse that will open this July. The first floor will be called Prime Bar with a paired down menu and Nisos Prime will be the second floor with a nightlife lounge as well. Full Story.

• Lou Mitchell's Turns 100: Chicago's legendary downtown diner in West Loop just turned 100 years old! Equally as impressive is their hostess Donna who just turned 95 years old herself! The diner is family-owned and operated and specializes in breakfast dishes like omelettes, donut holes and pancakes. And to celebrate their 100 years, they are celebrating with 5-cent coffee (the price from 100 years ago) for the next few Wednesdays. Learn More.

• Happy Camper Vegas: This one might not be coming to Chicago, but it's the new love child of two iconic Chicago restaurant groups! Happy Camper and Lettuce Entertain You announced yesterday that they have combined forces to bring Happy Camper to the Las Vegas Strip. More Details.

• The Biggest Movie Screen: A new state of the art movie theater is opening up in the Chicago suburbs on June 1, and it will have the largest movie screen in the state of Illinois, over-sized heated leather recliners and rentable movie auditoriums. Learn More.

Quick Hitters

• Best Places to Live: There is a new rankings list out of the best places to live in the United Stats, and spoiler alert, Illinois towns do not rank very high. In fact the first city in Illinois doesn't show up until spot 70, which doesn't look great when our neighbors to the north took the #1 overall ranking. Rankings.

• SummerSalt Market: Next weekend (May 27 & 28) will be the first summer market of the year at the new Salt Shed Chicago venue. Details.

• Banned License Plates: What do the letters/offensive terms in the above image all have in common? They were just some of the nearly 7,500 terms banned from Illinois license plates. Read the story and get the Full list.

Deal of the (Next) Week

Free Chicken Sandwiches: Hot Chi Chicken n' Cones will be giving out free hot chicken sandwiches next Wednesday, May 24 between 11am and 8pm at Revival Food Hall in the Loop in celebration of their Grand Opening party! They claim "free chicken sandwiches for everybody" so we are hoping they don't run out. Their social media pages (IG & TT) are pretty wild and they have been pushing this promotion hard!

Video of the Week

WGN Says "Bleep You": I think we all know that local news can be cringey at times. It pretty much comes with the territory. Combining local news and an effort to be funny on TikTok? You would think that would be a recipe for disaster. However, we have to hand it to Chicago's very own WGN Morning News for putting together this pretty hilarious video that has gone viral.

Poll of the Week

If you didn't see the Best Places to Live article in the quick hitters section above, go check it out. While many of those lists are subjective, it's still interesting to see different perspectives on how you stack up. With that being said, Wisconsin town that Chicagoans know all too well took the top spot which got us thinking...

Last Week's Poll Results

Poll Results: Last week we asked you which of the below rows you would choose if you were in charge of getting stuff for a group of your friends on a hot summer day. With over 50% of the total votes, Row B came in first place by a wide margin! In second place was Row A, in third place Row C and last place was Row D. Row C could have placed higher but according to our readers Toby and Dash, "they are always our of the Powerpuff Girls one."

Today's Sunset in Chicago

The sun will set in Chicago this evening at 8:06pm. Which means the sun sets today seven minutes later than it did compared to last week.