ML - Michigan Avenue

2015 - Issue 5 - September

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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photography by getty images (tree); sandro (cave); illustration by getty images cool-weather culture The temperatures may be cooling down, but for artist and internationally known tastemaker Nick Cave, autumn is when Chicago's cultural scene heats up. Apple Picking at More Than Delicious Orchard: Skip the carnival explosion of most u-pick places in favor of this well-kept rural orchard that grows 80 varieties of apples (including Honeycrisp) and pears. 9905 Thompson Road, Woodstock, 815-575- 9650; morethandelicious.com Apple Fritters at Old Fashioned Donuts: The line regularly snakes out the door for these handmade fritters studded with chunks of apple. Bring your appetite or a friend—the fritters are the size of dinner plates. 11248 S. Michigan Ave., 773-995-7420 Cider Tour at Virtue Farms: A Goose Island brewing veteran opened this cider press, which uses heirloom apples from Michigan. The cidery tour—and the bourbon barrel-aged cider— is well worth the drive. 2170 62nd St., Fennville, Michigan, 269-561-5001; virtuecider.com Apple Cider Donuts at Dinkel's Bakery: The apple cider is refreshingly flavorful in these old-fash- ioned cake doughnuts, which are coated with cinnamon sugar. 3329 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-281-7300; dinkels.com Cider cocktails at Longman & Eagle: An appletini it's not. Ask for the Innocence Lost, a discerning blend of Anthem Hops cider, Aperol, North Shore Distillery Aquavit, and grapefruit bitters. 2657 N. Kedzie Ave., 773-276-7110; longmanandeagle.com an apple a Day The best places to enjoy all manner of the season's signature fruit. "My favorite restaurant is right across the street, Balena (1633 N. Halsted St., 312-867-3888; balena chicago.com). It's set up to fit the kind of evening you want to have, whether that's sitting for a longer dinner or standing at a tall table and grabbing drinks. The food is seasonal and exquisite. I don't tend to order chicken in restaurants, but the salt-and-pepper chicken thighs are insanely good. And the bar has great ice cubes, which I know sounds insane. But trust me—order a drink with ice cubes in it. "My twins are 6, and the one fall ritual we always do as a family is visit the Chicago Botanic Garden (1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, 847-835- 5440; chicagobotanic.org). It's a beautiful time of year there, full of autumnal orange and really deep reds and browns. The restaurant there sits on top of the water with a bunch of patios and bridges. The kids like to watch the ducks while we eat. My kids get so excited in the fall in general, but it's almost a bittersweet time for me. With the start of school and theater season, fall has this emotional weight. It's filled with so much excitement, but it also marks the passing of another year." Maude's Liquor Bar is the perfect spot for an intimate gathering. right: Chicagoans get in one last visit to Randolph Street Market Festival's outdoor market at the start of autumn. Fall in Chicago signals a fresh start in Windy City food, theater, and fashion. A s a professor and head of the Fashion, Body, and Garments graduate program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Nick Cave—who has gained global recogni- tion for his ongoing "Soundsuit" project, a series of costumes made from found materials—is more in tune than most with the back-to-school season. But autumn brings a renewed energy and focus to his art as well. This fall, he begins construction on a 15,000-square- foot building project in the Irving Park neighborhood that will eventually house art studios and rotating storefronts. "If summer is about relaxing and hanging out, fall is this signal of a cultural jump-start in Chicago," muses Cave. "It's like the New Year beginning, in terms of the arts and culture scene. Expo Chicago (September 17–20, Navy Pier; expochicago.com) is one of the anchor events that mark the start of that season. More than 100 contemporary and modern galleries participate from around the world; it can be so exciting. "The Randolph Street Market Festival (September 26–27, 1340 W. Washington St.; randolphstreetmarket.com) hosts its final outdoor event in the early fall, and that's a real marker of the season. I love sneaking in one last visit and the festivities around that. It seems everyone wants to visit the outdoor antique market and vintage market one last time—it's no less crowded than during the summer. "Many of the art galleries in the West Loop open on the same day, the first Friday in September. It's really become part of the DNA of the city, a community-based effort with all kinds of creative people gathering together. And in terms of fall favorites for hanging out, it's always upstairs at Maude's Liquor Bar (840 W. Randolph St., 312-243-9712; maudesliquorbar.com) for me. The upstairs has a very lounge-y feel to it, with all sorts of sofas and candles. But you eat dinner at the same time. It's very dark and cozy. I like the intimacy of it. "In many ways the Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St., 312-744-6630) has the opposite feel: It's airy and open. But it's another fall favorite of mine. It's just two blocks from the Art Institute of Chicago, so I often go on my lunch break or sometimes take my students there. Performances, exhibitions, lectures—it's such a cultural hub in the center of the city. "I live in the South Loop, two blocks from the lake. I get up every morning and by 6 [I'm] on the lakeshore path. There's no one out there at that time, and I need a bit of isolation sometimes. In the fall, you can really tell the difference in the air. There's such a sense of space and independence. The trees are turning; the grasses are changing colors. It's really sort of nice to be able to be in the presence of all that change as you're starting your day." MA michiganavemag.com 133

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