haha yeah i was down there playing some volleyball while that was going on. it started out as a huge gathering of black kids over by the boardwalk at the edge of the courts. they were all just standing in a huge circle and we couldn't tell what was going on since nobody was shouting or anything. whenever someone hit a ball in that direction with rock-scissor-papered to see who had to go get it.

The Critical Mass ride was fun to watch - apparently the last Friday of every month, starts in Daley Plaza and ends god knows where.

The people at the end of the group on Critical Mass rides tend to be huge douches in my experience (purposely blocking southbound traffic on busy streets on a northbound ride, yelling "happy ****ing friday" to people walking with kids, etc). Not a fan.

everything about critical mass sucks. it would be super awesome if police would just show up and ticket every one of those *******s who breaks a law, every time they ride.

Agree 100%. I'm fairly sympathetic to bike-riding in theory, but the people who do critical mass seem to go out of their way to be annoying.

I'm a big supporter of critical mass. There are douche bikers just like there are douche drivers and taxis, but they aren't what it's supposed to be about. Unfortunately both just build up resentment between the two to the point where a pretty normal seeming chick I know actually got off of her bike and took her U-lock and smashed a dude's headlight.

My commute takes me through it sometimes (the critical mass path is basically ad-libbed by whoever is up front), I just keep it in mind just like I keep in mind cubs games.

bigalt,

maybe this isn't the thread to get deep in to discussing critical mass, but what is it about critical mass that you are such a big supporter of? i can understand if your answer is "i believe that the city should be more bike friendly, meaning more bike lanes in more places, better bike lockup access, etc," but i don't really see how that lines up with the concept of the critical mass rides. the rides appear to be almost entirely made up of people who think it's fun to block traffic, break traffic laws, inconvenience people who likely have nothing to do with their pains as bike riders, and flaunt all of these things.

the fact that chicago is in fact amazingly bike friendly amongst major US cities i guess shouldn't impact whether or not i feel that the bikers are entitled to lobby for additional concessions, but whatever, it does. whatever their deal is, blocking major streets, riding on the wrong side of the street, etc isn't cool. and yes, i know that there are bad drives just like there are bad bikers, and that bad drivers put bikers in more risk than bad bikers tend to put drivers, but you don't see drivers putting together an anti critical mass movement where we all go out for the night and stop short in front of bikers, do you?

finally, since critical mass rides are improvised and not announced in a super-public way, how do you plan accordingly not to be in their path? the cubs release a schedule of their games and they're always in the same place.

I don't support critical mass in a "I support stem cell research" kind of way, but as a peaceful gathering of people who get together, have fun, and call attention to something that a lot of cities may not otherwise pay any attention to. I think it's a clever microcosm of the whole idea that one can ignore individuals, but if you put enough together it demands it. I've ridden twice, so I don't know the majority of the people. The friends of mine that I know don't go into it with the mentality of making themselves a public nuisance, it's more a matter of community I suppose, or thrill of doing something normally verboten like having a beer on the beach?

Yes, the price is a few minutes' inconvenience sometimes. And it's not implemented flawlessly. I just think it's "neat," when it comes down to it. Perhaps it's just that I have the luxury not to be in a hurry, as I also don't get mad if someone's driving slow in the fast lane. By plan accordingly I just mean that I leave myself a few extra minutes' time, like if you need to go over one of the bridges in the beginning of summer or across one of the freight train crossings in the burbs.

Most of the organized anti-critical mass group tends to take the form of regular protesters instead of ill-meaning groups cars, but individual cases of either anti-biker rage (cutting people off) or just carelessness tend to be far more profound.

Yes, Chicago does well for sure. Critical mass is all over the place though.

Thought I'd plug this place here instead of just in a random OOT thread:

Chava Cafe
4656 North Clark Street
(Across the street from Carol's)

Coffee/Sandwich/Salad/Soup shop. Probably slightly overpriced on all fronts, but everything is good. Previous sandwich list had the ubiquitous roast beef, arugula, horseradish mayo thing that is so tasty. Current has pork belly and kimchi sandwich that was oh so good. I'm pretty sure they fry their own potato chips in house, which is awesome. Salads have more tasty stuff than green stuff. Coffee is supposed to be great as well, and doesn't have annoying hipsters running the place.

Free wifi, quiet non-crappy music, comfortable seating (and enough of it).

Not in the best neighborhood or whatever, but if you happen to be there (or live there) give it a try.

So I confess I'm really into going to streetfests this time of year. thought I'd try to get a discussion going on some of the ones coming up.

Anyone every been to mayfest up in Lincoln Square? Never been, probably will check it out tomorrow in addition to stopping by Do Division right by my house.

On a similar note to Citanul's, I'd recommend 'bon bon sandwiches' located near North & Western. They do Vietnamese sandwiches, basically soft little baguette type things with delicious asian style fillings.



It's reasonably priced ($7.75 gets you a sandwich + soup + drink) and the owner is a really cool and friendly guy. They also have free wifi and good music, definitely a nice place to chill.

damn, partygirluk, i probably get a sandwich at Ba Le (argyle and broadway) once a week, but i had no idea there was a bahn mi shop down in wicker park. awesome info.

ha, i go to Bale a couple times/week as well. 4 bucks for an awesome sandwich.

and if you buy 5 the 6th sandwich is free!

you ever go to the Thai place Hai Yen, that's in a similar area? Place is great.

Just started going to Hai Yen recently. I think it's majority Vietnamese, with some Thai/Chinese dishes thrown in because why not? They do some stuff very well. Awesome stuff to have 100 yards from the front door. Also a big fan of Tank Noodle, but haven't tried Sun Wah BBQ yet, which is depressing. Some time soon I've got to get it together to eat a few lbs of Peking Duck and BBQ Pork. Great nbhd for food.

I actually like Hai Yen better than Tank Noodle. I'm not a big fan of those soups with tons of stuff in them, which is Tank Noodle's specialty.

I haven't heard of that place you mentioned. I'll havta check it out...I pretty much only go to Hai Yen and Bale when I eat in that area.

WAT

Sun Wah is great. The duck is really really good - probably the best Peking duck I've had in the U.S. Also, they sell 22 oz bottles of Goose Island Mathilda for $5.50, which is ******ed for their bottom line but awesome for anyone drinking there.

seriously. the place is at the end of my block. i know. i have to walk around here with that wonderful smell all the time and i never go. it's pathetic.

****ing vegetarian gf, man. i need to set up a man-date or something.

i guess i should add some content so people know what the big deal is:

the occasional roast pig:

off the pig, on the plate:

fried chicken:

bbq chicken thighs:

peking duck:

all images shamelessly stolen from the lth forum thread on sun wah.
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php...st=0&sk=t&sd=a

How did I live that close to Sun Wah and never hear about it.

citanul -- Feelings about Dib on Lawrence if you've been there

Actually found this place through one of the Redeyes posted on their wall, but good lord it is awesome. I end up going there once every couple weeks or so.

knives,

haven't been to dib, though i drive by it every time i get on lakeshore. when i do thai i tend to get Spoon delivered from lincoln square, though recently i've been giving Thai Pastry on broadway a shot, and it's been reliable, though nothing special.
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went to Franks 'n' Dawgs (1863 N Clybourne) for the first time this weekend. gourmet hotdog spot that sources their premade dogs from the same place as Hot Doug's. I liked that it was 5pm on a Saturday and me and a group of 5 were able to walk in, place our orders, and sit comfortably with no wait. They have probably 12 dogs on the menu, half of which the sausage is made in house and half of which are ordered. One dog each month is a local chef created dog. I had a veal sausage with fried sweetbreads, fried capers, pickled raisins, aioli, and something else on it. It was pretty good, but I found that it had the same problem some of Hot Doug's more complex things have, that you really have to work and try very hard to get perfect bites, and if you don't, there's something missing from each bite. I actually found this more problematic than at Hot Doug's because while Franks uses a nice, texas toast style bun that is definitely delicious, it made it even harder to take bites because fitting the damn thing in your mouth was difficult.

the hot dogs are expensive - running in general from like $7 - $9. there might be a cheaper standard dog option i don't remember. fountain drinks are available and at least they didn't complain when we took free refills so i assume it was legit. fries with various toppings including chili, cheese, or truffle were available and tasty.

on the whole not bad. an a silly expensive hot dog with a big plate of cheese fries and a drink was like $13. not sure if i like the food better than hot doug's but i certainly appreciate not having to wait in a line for an hour, and paying with a credit card is nice too. finally, that strip of clybourne with all the shopping and all that is kind of dead cheapish/quickish food-wise (i can't say food wise on the whole because goose island is right there and a good strip of stuff on halsted is just a couple blocks away), so it's nice to have an option there. will do again i'm sure, but won't go out of my way to do it.

I was just in that neighborhood yesterday picking up some art that was getting framed next door, so I tried Franks 'n' Dawgs for lunch and randomly had the same dog (veal w/sweetbreads, etc.). Pretty good stuff, just as good as Hot Doug's without the wait.

The cheese fries had melted cheese on them, not "cheese". I liked the melted cheese.

My wife got the normal hot dog and it just come plain, hot dog on a bun, no toppings. I thought that was weird.

They also have Gayle's Root Beer, which is really awesome root beer.

That area is sooo crowded now though. Huge traffic jam at Wednesday at like 2pm... can't say I'll drive there again.

Any luck on this? I'd like to find somewhere for Sunday's 1:30 kickoff game.

Wow some of us randomly ate there and we all thought it was pretty bad. Standard crappy hipster food.