Best of 60626 in 2007

This list is by no means comprehensive, and some of it's even a bit tongue-in-cheek. The Bench threw together a few of our faves in 60626 for 2007. Readers (that's you) are invited to share your favorite things in 60626.

WiFi Coffee Shop: Ennui
It was difficult to choose between Ennui (Lunt and Sheridan) and Common Cup (Greenview and Morse). Both are wonderful coffee shops in their own way, but each is quite different from the other. But this is “Best WiFi Coffee Shop,” so let’s stick to that criterion. Ennui is open from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. every day. Common Cup, on the other hand, closes at 8:00 p.m. M-Th, at 9:00 p.m. F-Sat., and 3 p.m. on Sundays. Ennui offers more WiFi hours, but their bathroom is disgusting. Lately, Ennui’s toilet constantly flushes, about once every 15 seconds. It’s been that way for months. Ennui offers more choices of substantial food items, with a great variety of sandwiches in addition to high-carb sweets. Common Cup offers simple sandwiches and soups, which are good but not as good as those offered by Ennui. For somebody doing heavy work on their computer for hours on end, it’s nice to know that Ennui has far fewer screaming babies coming in. However, Common Cup has fewer horrible "musicians" imposing themselves on the house. Tough decision here.

Best Frozen Yogurt: Common Cup
They take the stuff and cram it into an auger machine, which mashes the stuff down and spews it into the waiting bowl. But that’s not the best part. For a small additional charge, they can add Oreo cookie bits, M&M pieces, fresh fruit, or a number of other sweet things to be mashed together into what amounts to a cold bowl of heavenly sin.

Best Pizza: JB Alberto
No contest here. The slices at the front counter are always hot and fresh, and the pies they deliver are among the best in all of Chicago. JB Alberto (Wayne and Morse) offers a good variety of non-pizza items, too, all of which are great to excellent. Order a delivery (if you don’t mind having your food delivered by a stop sign-running crazy man intent on breaking half the traffic laws on the books). Or stop in and pick up at the counter, if you don’t mind rubbing shoulders with some of the uh, more colorful characters of Rogers Park.

Best Book Store: Armadillo’s Pillow
Located just south of Pratt on the east side of N. Sheridan, this used book store feels like a comfortable den in an eccentric college president’s home. The selection of books is great, with “new” used books coming in often enough that you should check in regularly. Knickknacks and original artwork are sold, too. I have often gone in and spent a couple of hours reading in one of their easy chairs, then walked out with like-new hardcover editions for about five or six bucks each. Paperbacks can be had for under three bucks apiece. Reading is fun, but finding a good book at a bargain price is a blast.

Best Political Entertainment: Alderman Joe Moore
It’s all about Joe Moore and his crazy antics. An ordinance to ban the sale of goose liver pate (foie gras), cutting off his own finger tip, claiming credit for private sector construction projects with which he had no direct involvement, standing next to old ladies while they voted, and so much more. C’mon, you’re in Chicago, where politics is a time revered spectator sport. The best entertainment in Rogers Park, on a daily basis, is Alderman Joe Moore. Moore is essentially the Emperor of the 49th Ward, and many of us can see that the emperor is stark naked. Moore barely squeaked through a reelection struggle in April’s runoff, during which he committed so many violations that it’s impossible to detail them all here. Photographed in the act, Moore’s supporting cast greased the system for him and he slid home through the mud, kicking the umpire on the way in. On a daily basis, even without the election action, Moore provides chuckles. His preposterous statements, his self delusion about building shopping centers and improving Morse Avenue single handedly, backyard gardening accidents, and so much more are frequently chronicled by the local bloggers.

Best Rap Noise: Morseland
Great bartenders here (Morse and Sheridan). But after spending considerable amounts of money there consistently every week for three years, and giving them mucho free advertising on this blog, I’ve gotten about four free drinks and no offer of a free hat. The cheapskate owners have no idea how to treat a good regular, which is why this former regular just referred to himself as a “former regular.” Oh, I'll still go in. But not as often. That's not to discourage you, however. If you like rap and hip-hop acts that call white folks the devil and walk around demanding five dollars from everyone in the audience (including the white devils) to stay and listen to that shit, come on over.

Best Local Blog: The Broken Heart and 24/7 North of Howard Watchers
Yep. The Bench admits that these two blogs tie for covering the 49th Ward best of all. Between the two of them, we get news about neighborhood happenings better than from any newspaper. Period. The Bench covers that stuff, too, but with a more outward view, not restricting itself to east Rogers Park. The Broken Heart has recently said that it will cover a couple of nearby neighborhoods in addition, but it and 24/7 have always touched on topics outside the immediate environs, so that's really nothing new. (That's not a criticism, mind you.) Keep up the good work, Craig and Toni.

Best Honky Tonk Venue: Duke’s Bar
Great bartenders here, too. Duke’s is a joint, a bar, a tavern. Nothing fancy here, and it doesn’t pretend to be. This place would be beautiful in a movie. The old pensioners happily mingle with the young professionals. Want some of the best garage band rock you’ve ever heard? How about some authentic country or blue grass? Perhaps you’re in the mood for some gritty Chicago-style blues. Duke’s is where it’s at.

Best Hope for Morse Avenue: The Morse Theatre
Still under construction, this 300-seat jazz and blues venue should open in the summer of 2008. Under the same room, The Century Public House restaurant will have 100 seats for dining and drinking. They gave away hundreds of free hats at last summer’s Glenwood Arts Fest, hundreds more in one day than the cheapskates down the road have given out over three years. Hurry up and open, Morse Theatre.

Best Italian Beef: The Grill Inn
They only opened this past summer, but The Grill Inn already has a reputation around east Rogers Park for their high quality food. It’s great food done fast, not fast food. Well, except for the French fries, which are some of the best I’ve ever had. They offer several types of grinders, slabs of ribs, burgers, gyros and much more. Their food is not greasy, a nice change from some of the stuff offered in the hood. The prices are good, too; the quality and quantity of the food you get here for a few buck will make you come back.

Best Grocery Store: Morse Fruit and Meat Market
Limited selection in the frozen section, however, and their frozen pizzas are often limp. That’s worrisome. But they have a nice selection of produce and canned beans. The meat section is scary as hell, unless you don’t mind the smell of death and rotting flesh that is so typical of third world style markets. If you can get in and out of the place without being harassed by one of the several bums that they allow to constantly hang by the entrance, you’ll be lucky.

Best English Pub: No Winner
Sorry, no English pubs. Joe Moore loves our diversity.

Best Brazilian Restaurant: No Winner
Sorry, no Brazilian restaurants here. Joe Moore loves our diversity.

Best Place to Watch Public Drunkenness: Loyola Park
There are so many opportunities to watch drunks in the 49th Ward, but this was an easy choice. Drunks congregate at Loyola Park anytime the temperature is above 40 degrees. They tend to hang out in three locations at the park: The east end of Morse, Lunt and Greenleaf. It’s a good place to watch them because (a) they tend to stay on or near a park bench, so you don’t have moving targets to photograph, (b) they tend to forget that they’re being watched, because in their stupor they think they’re in secluded hideaway, (c) police rarely shoo them away, even though it’s illegal to drink alcohol in the park.

Best Public Urinal: CTA’s Morse Station
If you’ve ever been to the great ape exhibit at the zoo, you’ll remember the tangy aroma that engulfed you there. Enter the stairwells of the Morse Avenue Red Line station and you’ll flash back to the ape house. The smell is stunningly similar. Hard working pimps and drug pushers need to pee just like the rest of us, and there are few places to relieve yourself around Morse and Greenview. So why not just jump the turnstile and piss in the stairwell? At least once a week the CTA power washes the steps with high-pressure hoses. Close runner up: Jarvis Station, one stop north. Sorry, Jarvis, Morse has more traffic and more gallons of pee per stairwell than you do.

Best Kosher Deli: No Winner
Sadly, you can’t get a good corned beef sandwich in once-mainly-Jewish Rogers Park. Joe Moore loves our diversity.

Best Place to Buy Drugs: Morse CTA Station
Odds are there will be a cop by soon, so it’s a safe place to score a high. There’s always the chance you’ll be robbed during the transaction, but that’s a risk anywhere. But the cops around here seem to turn a blind eye to the drug deals that are obvious to the rest of us.

Best Public Titillation: Kimberly Bares
Mama. Last summer, the chief of DevCorp North gave a speech to inaugurate the tacky new mural over on the Morse CTA overpass. You know, the one with fluorescent colors and blocky, depthless depictions of things that don’t exist in Rogers Park. Anyway, Bares stood on a pedestal, wearing a tee shirt and no bra. She is, uhm, well endowed. The result was about ten minutes of soft porn. Was it chilly out?

Best Italian Restaurant: No Winner
There aren’t any good Italian restaurants in Rogers Park. Oh, Gruppo di Amici? Sucks. The only good thing there, from all accounts, is the overpriced pizza. The pizza at JB Alberto is better. Only one Italian restaurant, and it sucks. Joe Moore loves our diversity.

Best Place to Buy Fine Clothing: No Winner
You can buy clothing in Rogers Park, but it’s all drek.

Best Auto Dealer: No Winner
There are no auto dealers around here.

Best Mongolian Restaurant: No Winner
Sorry, no Mongolian restaurants around here. Joe Moore loves our diversity.

Best Swedish Restaurant: No Winner
Sorry, no Swedish restaurants here. Joe Moore loves our diversity.

Best German Restaurant: No Winner
Sorry, no German restaurants here. Joe Moore loves our diversity.

Best Korean Restaurant: No Winner
Sorry, no Korean restaurants here. Joe Moore loves our diversity.

Best Hospital: No Winner
There is no hospital in the 49th Ward.