“The Man Who Saved New Orleans” is the latest play at eta Creative Arts Foundation. Written by Thomas Meloncon, it returns the narrative of New Orleans to the people who were kicked out of the city when Katrina moved in. It tells the story of the Prejeans, an African American family from the Lower 9th Ward who have been relocated to the Houston home of an evangelical cousin. A blind grandfather, a broken mother, a tormented son, and a silent daughter populate the cast list of the family drama that unfolds over two lengthy acts. A host of supporting characters, most notably a snarky, seductive fellow refugee named Eva (played by Ina Houston), add commentary but little complexity to the Prejeans’ struggles.

Each of the characters attempts to deal with the pain instilled by Katrina and its aftermath while grappling with immediate domestic trauma. Heartbreak, addiction, death, redemption—it’s all here. Arthur Prejean (Foster Williams, doing his best Ray Charles impression), the family patriarch, tries to hold everyone together by spouting mystical wisdom handed down from his black Indian ancestors, but his words are not enough. So Vincent Bourdeaux (Reginald Jackson), the inhospitable cousin, imposes his rigid Christian faith on the family, once again to no avail. Eva blames her family’s problems on white people, and the family joins her in finding a scapegoat.

And then things fall apart. Willie Jean (Nicole Black), Arthur’s daughter and caretaker, can no longer bear to see everyone else suffer, much less Johnny Boy (Randle Michael), her wayward teenage son, as he torments himself over the tragedies that unfolded in the wake of the storm. And Hattie (Chloe Johnson), the youngest of the family, resigns herself to silence. At first, each family conflict provokes characters and spectators alike to take sides. As characters scream and storm out, or crumble in pain, the audience is left to decide who is justified in their outbursts.

In the midst of the familiy turmoil, the play finally manages to establish a solid foundation for itself. All of the Prejean’s quarrels have run their course, and the family is finally left in a state of complete dejection. Should they turn to God or against their enemies? As discussions turn into arguments and points of view devolve into dogmas, an overwhelming sense of despair permeates the atmosphere of the play. No one is completely in the right; everyone is searching for the most convenient solution. The open set invites the audience to participate in the dialogue of the Prejeans, and director Artisia Green’s loose staging adds a heightened naturalism to the acting.

Unfortunately, the play wraps up this whirlwind of conflict too neatly. The title is an overt reference to Johnny Boy’s nickname, “New Orleans,” and his grandfather predictably pulls him out of his despondency and returns him to righteousness. Meloncon leaves questions of faith and family hanging, preferring to mop up most of the confusion with easy resolutions.

Still, the play leaves the audience with a lingering intuition that the Prejeans aren’t quite through the storm yet. The hope that the play ironically inspires is that their confusion will return, and that the family will continue to probe the confounding facts and motivations that surround their tragedy. They have yet to return to New Orleans to reclaim their city.
eta Creative Arts Foundation Main Stage Theater. eta Square, 7558 S. South Chicago Avenue. April 22-June 13. Thursday-Saturday, 8 pm, Sunday, 3 pm & 7pm. (773) 752-3955. $30 ($15 for students). etacreativearts.org

Charles J. Whitman and Kona N. Burns in “Levee James”; courtesy of eta

While this is hardly enough to provoke a story on its own, the production finally exerts itself as the outside world crowds in on the three, and the ominous presence of Southern white terrorists makes itself known. As rumors and danger become woven into the story, and fear leaks in to the lives of the three, Lily and Wesley clash in their approach to the threat; while Wesley refuses to be associated with the “runnin’ blood” that distinguishes so many of his contemporaries, Lily’s practicality gives her a different outlook. As she reminds the steadfast Wesley in her rich vernacular, “One minute they talkin’ ‘bout who needs to be taught a lesson, next minute the lesson be taught.”

“Levee James” is carried by the starring roles of just three actors—the indefatigable Lily, who pulls out a flask within ten minutes of her appearance; the unmovable and proud Wesley, who tends to stay quiet until pressed; and the charmingly goofy Fitzhugh, who dons an eye patch in an attempt to discourage the nickname “cockeyed Fitzhugh” (eliciting the line, of course, “Now they call me ‘Cockeyed Fitzhugh with the eye patch’”). Kona N. Burns, as Lily, provides the standout performance with a well-hidden vulnerability and a signature, while George C. Stalling and Charles J. Whitman, portraying Wesley and Fitzhugh respectively, amble along quietly but rise up dramatically when their time comes. Whitman in particular delivers an arresting monologue in a climactic moment—as if Wesley is commanding the audience to reconsider his character.

The story’s namesake has no presence other than a brief introduction in the first act, when we learn that Levee James was the father of Wesley, who worked tirelessly alongside him on the levee until his death. Levee James’ short ghost of an appearance stands as a symbol of steadfastness throughout the play, in which Wesley and Lily are forced to determine just how imperative the virtue of standing one’s ground should be in the face of danger.

eta’s adaptation of “Levee James,” written by S.M. Sheppard-Massat and directed by Artisia Green, is clunky at times, with some awkward recordings (car engines, gun shots) played through the speakers, but the personal and simple nature of the production makes sense in eta’s intimate setting. Although it deals with major, dark issues, the story is matter-of-fact and subtle enough that one is unlikely to leave the theater in tears, or in the throws of major catharsis. Still, the subtlety leaves a gnawing sensation of the injustice of such invasive actions, and the question of how to stand up to it.
eta Creative Arts Foundation, 7558 S. South Chicago Ave. April 9-May 31. (773)752-3955. etacreativearts.org

Irving, who is best known for his work as a keyboardist and producer for numerous Miles Davis albums, began painting in 1996. He cites Davis as encouraging him to take up the brush, saying that Davis told him “that music is a painting you can hear and a painting is music you can see.” Looking at his work, one feels like Irving took this mantra a little too much to heart. His main series of paintings is strongly dependent on musical motifs—instruments, singing heads, floating staffs complete with scribbled notes—and it is their overly concrete representation that keeps Irving’s works from being more than pretty café art. Although the general compositions bring to mind Kandinsky, with their clouds of color juxtaposed against geometric forms, Irving rather rudely plasters recognizable images of trumpets and treble clefs over what would be very nice abstract pieces. The final result is a collection of work that would look tacky and uncouth in a museum, but hang well in a basement coffee shop or gentrified juke joint.

In addition to this main body of work, a significant number of disparate pieces are scattered throughout the exhibit. Some are notable, like the two portraits of children that are vaguely reminiscent of a ‘70s era David Hockney and an eerily beautiful work of a window overlooking a beach at night. Others beg to go unmentioned, especially those works that strangely bring in heavy ancient Egyptian symbolism—ankhs and golden pyramids and views of the Nile don’t mix well with whatever it was Irving was trying to mix them with.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the exhibit is its last ten or so pieces, which are not by Irving, but by his son, Jeremy, who goes by Jae R. These works exude a refined, cool, art-school aura, simultaneously belying and attesting to the precocious age of the artist, who is just nineteen years old. Jae R’s palette of neutrals—achieved through working almost exclusively with earthy paper, charcoal, white chalk, and newsprint—makes for clean and chic art. His largest, most arresting works are drawings of sunglasses-sporting figures, across whom are strewn newspaper-clipped letters to form words like “love” and “jazz.” Accompanying these pieces are some interesting but not particularly distinctive abstract drawings and two really neat works that appear to be embossed images of old records. Overall, Jae R’s collection relies strongly on design and aesthetics for its appeal. No lofty ideas or radical principles here—his works are the pinnacle of trendy art.

Exhibited together, the works of the Irving men provide some interesting contrasts, but more noticeable than their differences is the way that they are exactly the same: none of the work is new or transcendent enough to make a difference to the art world or the general viewing public. That said, amateur art has its place in society, and both Baabe and Jae R contribute nicely to its ever-growing oeuvre.
eta Creative Arts Foundation, 7558 S. South Chicago Ave. Through January 11. (773)752-3955. Free. etacreativearts.org

Best Glazed Torus
Dat’s Donuts
Dat’s Donuts, located on South Cottage Grove Avenue and East 82nd Street, serves up a big one. The “Big Dat,” a local culinary fable, remains the centerpiece pastry at this modest 24-hour doughnut shop on the South Side. Measuring eight inches across and serving at least four people, this colossal glazed doughnut makes every trip to Dat’s more than worthwhile. And “Big Dat” is just one member of this yeasty family; its equally delicious siblings make up an assembly of sweet wonder. Pick up an extra coconut doughnut, Devil’s Food doughnut, or popular buttermilk doughnut to complete your sugary meal. Doughnuts not enough? Order up a plate of nachos, an ice slushie, or a cone of hand-packed ice cream. 8249 S. Cottage Grove Ave. 24 hours Monday-Saturday. (773) 723-1002. (Yennie Lee)

Best Theater
eta Creative Arts Foundation
Chicago has always been one of the vanguards of African-American culture, and the eta Creative Arts Foundation has contributed to that status. The basis of the Foundation is a professional theater, which commissions original works for its stage featuring nationally renowned talent. The plays all depict the African-American experience, but that’s about all they have in common. The Foundation also boasts two art galleries and classrooms for children, which provide art and theater instruction. The theater classes are especially successful, producing graduates such as the current artistic director for the Foundation and Hollywood stars like Kel Mitchell. In a departure from the previous thirty-seven seasons, this year eta will focus on classics by established black playwrights, with only one new work. 7558 S. South Chicago Ave. (773)752-3955. www.etacreativearts.org (Ben Oren)

Best Vegan Alternative
Soul Vegetarian East
The image that comes to mind with soul food is hot, crispy fried chicken (or catfish) thrown straight from the kitchen onto a plate next to a bed of secondary vegetables. Soul Vegetarian turns the tables around with its purely vegan soul food menu. How can soul food exist without meat, butter, or milk? Actually, astonishingly well. Managed by African Hebrew Israelites, this iconic Grand Crossing institution decorated with vivid African art focuses on the “divine diet” consisting of nuts, fruits, and—naturally—vegetables. Soul Veg is perhaps most renowned for its textured mock meat derived from well-seasoned wheat gluten. Specialties include tofu lasagna, BBQ roast sandwich, and the Garvey Burger. The price for an average meal ranges from $5-10. 205 E 75th St. Monday-Thursday, 7am-10pm; Friday-Saturday, 8am-11pm; Sunday, 8am-9pm. (773)224-0104. www.soulvegetarian.com (Justyna Nytko)

eta Creative Arts Foundation’s new play opens on a scene of newlywed bliss, which quickly turns into an argument before marital harmony is restored and the couple rushes off stage to have sex. It is a scene repeated countless times in “Checkmates,” written by acclaimed playwright Ron Milner and first performed at eta in January 1987. Like most of Milner’s previous works, “Checkmates” was a success and toured the country after its initial run at eta. It arrived on Broadway in the summer of 1988 for an extended run that featured a young Denzel Washington as Sylvester, a recently married black man rising through the ranks at a mostly white corporation. Syl (in this production, Keir Thirus) and his wife Laura (Caren Blackmore) serve as stand-ins for a younger generation of African-Americans who, the play implies, have had opportunity served to them on a silver platter. Syl and Laura’s foil is found downstairs in the form of Frank (Willie B. Goodson) and Mattie (Davalie Friend), an older couple who own the two-family house and rent out the upper floor.

The conflicts within and between the two couples result from generational differences. Speaking about these differences and relationships in “Checkmates,” Milner has said, “Now, it’s about I when it used to be about we and us.” Syl and Laura’s relationship often seems like a life-and-death struggle for dominance and independence. Downstairs, meanwhile, Frank and Mattie may squabble about the same issues, but it’s never serious; neither one seems more in control than the other, and their relationship is as balanced and stable as the modern couple’s isn’t. Flashbacks give us a glimpse of the beginning of this relationship in a small town and continue through their move to Detroit and Frank’s enrollment in the army. Through all the rough patches, Frank and Mattie remain constant in their marriage; meanwhile, thoroughly modern Syl and Laura are having trouble making it through their first month.

The serious subject matter and social criticism don’t get in the way of the play’s lively humor, which drew frequent laughs from the audience. Milner’s wit is on full display; while advising Laura against adultery, for example, Mattie tells her, “People with problems get to thinking they can subtract by adding or multiplying.” This wit extends into dialogue that feels as real as anything you’d hear on the street or in a bar; “His nose is browner than his ass,” Syl tells Laura about a sycophantic coworker.

Frank’s exaggerated concerns about (and anger at) the young folks also draw laughs, but the play’s message is ultimately behind him. Milner’s concern with modern values is understandable. At the time of the play’s premiere in the 1980s, America was in the middle of the so-called “Me Generation.” One of the strengths of “Checkmates” is that two decades later, despite the changing cultural landscape, the play doesn’t come off as a dated conflict between individualism and traditionalism. Every character is humanized and, with the possible exception of Syl, sympathetic even during the most intense fights. Whether or not you buy Frank’s view of the younger generation as self-absorbed and unappreciative, Syl and Laura’s story feels real and immediate, even twenty-one years after it was first told.

eta Creative Arts Foundation. 7558 S. South Chicago Ave. Through June 8. Thursday-Saturday, 8pm, Sunday, 3 and 7pm. $30. www.etacreativearts.org

This is what he is trying to accomplish with “This Far By Faith,” a gospel musical that he re-opened last week at the South Side’s eta Creative Arts Foundation.

This is the musical’s fourth run, and features new dance routines choreographed by Rueben Echoles. Jahi, eta’s Black Theater Alliance Award-winning Artistic Director, has staged the show before sold-out audiences at eta three times since it premiered there in 1997. “It’s a crowd pleaser,” he said, “It’s a wonderful musical, it’s a morality tale.”

According to the theater, the play tells “the story of a progressive minister’s conflicts with the congregation he pastors and morality struggles with his prodigal blues-singing son.”

“It touches on some problems among the African-American community, but from talking to some white friends, I think that some of them are very universal,” said the playwright, eta dramatic coach and recently retired Northeastern Illinois University instructor Marylene Whitehead.

Jahi sees the play, focused on a bold minister’s tenuous career and collapsing family, as “about values, and ambition, and not being gobbled up by ambition. It’s also about keeping the family connected and keeping your values clear.”

He said that he chose the script because it was “spiritually relevant in the most universal sense of the word spiritual.”

The playwright denied any great ambition for the play. “I didn’t set out to write this story, but it just ignited people,” she claims, and affirmed that her inspiration came “from a higher source.” “Everyone says this sort of thing about their own play, but it seems like there are issues in life and with raising children that seem to resonate with all people, and the music is just hypnotic.”

The late Rufus Hill’s score is a mix of conventional musical fare, gospel and upbeat jazz. The star track, “No Time to Give Up,” won the Black Theater Alliance Award for best original song.

Jahi was introduced to eta when he was “17 going on 18” by Chicago playwright, musician and activist Oscar Brown, Jr. Jahi took acting classes for some time, and first performed in “El Hajj Malik,” a dramatization of the life of Malcom X.

According to his website, he has since acted and taught extensively and directed over a dozen plays for eta, including “Eyes” in 2004, Mari Evans’s stage adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” He has won numerous high awards within the black theater world, including multiple Black Theater Alliance Awards for set design and direction. He has also taught several actors that have gone on to successful film and television careers.

Whitehead has written several other family-oriented plays, and continues to write for the stage in her spare time. She said, “I’m always writing, and I’ve worked full time all my life. It’s a passion I’ve developed into a fine craft.” As well as teaching, she is the founder of the Northeastern Illinois University Black Heritage Gospel Choir, and worked closely with Hill on the score for “This Far By Faith.”

eta Creative Arts Foundation, 7558 S. South Chicago Ave. February 7-March 30. Thursday-Saturday 8pm, Sunday 3pm and 7pm. Students $15, General Admission $30. www.etacreativearts.org

Richardson describes the play itself as “kind of a boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back story” and assures that the play’s outcome is a happy one—“but with a twist.” Set in the early ‘70s (when it was first written by Rob Penny), the play features Rip, whom Richardson describes as “kind of a loner in this world.” Rip has just come back from Vietnam, and “At age 35, he is worried about getting his life together.” Under these circumstances, he ends up falling in love with Dale Jean, an older, single woman with kids, in what is a classic May-December romance.

Nevertheless, the situation is a tumultuous one. Dale Jean is also being pursued by her boss, Jake, a married and prominent man. “Jake is really hung up on Dale Jean; she won’t give him the time of day,” comments Richardson. Unfortunately, “Rip gets the wrong read on it, he thinks that Jake and Dale Jean are having an affair,” leading to a confrontation between Rip and Jake in which Rip, “Instead of listening to his love, listens to his anger.” This fairly straightforward and relatable story has been so popular in the past because it’s a play “about humanity,” and in it, we see “People living out recognizable situations, struggling to get to their better selves,” Jahi says.

Yet in the spirit of the Sankofa Season, the production of this play is not just a reflection on eta’s past, but also of America’s past. Richardson mentions that Rip is a “man of strong family values,” values that he feels have deteriorated today. “The attitude children have with their parents in the 70s was much different too, especially in the black community,” he said. “It was more respectful.” The story of “Good Black” is immersed in this “world without,” an era before the advances of society “made it easier not to pay attention to those things that are necessary.” Indeed, Rip is definitely a character driven by these older sensibilities; his attraction to Dale Jean is in part “because of her strong sense of family.”

However, ultimately the point of the Sankofa season is to look back on the past in preparation of the future. The production of “Good Black” is a pivotal part of this preparation, at once an immensely popular play from eta’s now thirty-seven-year history, and also a play that looks to the future in its commentary on universal themes: the importance of family, the importance of love, the importance of values. A compelling story and a popular production, “Good Black” is in more ways than one a great play for this Sankofa season.

Best Serious Culture
eta Creative Arts Foundation
Chicago has always been one of the vanguards of African-American culture. The DuSable Museum of African-American History was the first museum in the world to focus exclusively on African-Americans. The founder of the DuSable also helped found one of the institutions which ensure that African-American culture will be a part of the future as well as the past: the eta Creative Arts Foundation. The basis of the Foundation is a professional theatre, which commissions original works for its stage featuring nationally renowned talent. The plays all depict the African-American experience, but that’s about all they have in common. A typical year’s run will include plays about the 1930s South, a slave couple that gets married in secret, an urban family trying to weather their differences, and a piece which throws them all together at once. The plays are performed in the Foundation’s theatre. Offering good sightlines for all 200-odd plush red seats, it’s another reason why Chicago is second to no city in terms of quality theatre.

The Foundation also boasts two art galleries and classrooms for children, which provide art and theatre instruction. The theatre classes are especially successful, producing graduates such as the current artistic director for the Foundation and Hollywood stars like Kel Mitchell.
The Foundation’s future looks even brighter than its present. A multi-million dollar expansion is due to complete construction within the next few years, which will almost exponentially increase the Foundation’s current space. Look for more classrooms, a larger theatre, and a community space which can hold everything from weddings to wakes to conceptual art. 7558 S. Chicago Ave. Show runs and times vary. (773)752-3955. www.etacreativearts.org (Ben Oren)

Best Place to Feel Like a Millionaire
South Shore Cultural Center
Ah, to be young and rich; to walk into an opulent clubhouse and hear footsteps reverberate down columned corridors and off domed ceilings; to play a round of golf away from the hustle and bustle of the city; to play a tennis match in a secluded court; to eat a lavish picnic on a private beach; what a lifestyle one could lead. Of course, in order to enjoy it a large pile of cash has to be lying around somewhere close at hand—or, failing that, a bus that goes down to 71st street and the South Shore Cultural Center.

Converted from a 1920s country club, the Cultural Center retains all the aura of privilege while being free and open to the public. The entrance to the complex is a lavish arch, the driveway to the Center lined with thirty-foot columns and a glimmering flower garden. The Center itself is a large two story building, all marble and tile that houses an auditorium, a large gathering area for events which looks like it could hold a Southern debutante ball circa 1932, and an art gallery which holds around fifty works of painting, sculpture and photography. Behind the Center winding paths lead down through a wooded glen and past a nine-hole golf course and tennis courts, both of which are far enough removed from the road that they may as well be in Montana. The real prize is the beach. It’s wide enough that a hundred people would make a sparse population, and is at the end of a channel so that surf, loud surly surf, constantly crashes on the shore. Picnic tables and grills dot the freshly mowed grass which surrounds the beach.

Besides the facilities, the Center hosts a slew of social events depending on the season: back-to-school mixers, art and theatre classes, movies, and concerts. The horseback riding lessons are also offered, and are only a little more dangerous than the mixers. Whether taking advantage of the events or the whiff of the high-life the facilities provide, patrons at the South Shore Cultural Center know what it’s like to be filthy rich, if only for a little while. 7059 S. South Shore Drive. Monday-Friday, 9am-6pm; Saturday, 9am-5pm. (773)256-0149. (Ben Oren)

Best Beach
Rainbow Beach
To the discerning Chicagoan, all beaches are not created equal. The beach adjacent to the Point in Hyde Park is fairly average. Not too big, not too small, and just the right amount of pollution: enough to make things interesting, but not enough to be dangerous. Usually. The beaches on the North Side, especially around Lincoln Park, are wide, gorgeous and visions of what urban beaches should be. Except they’re so popular that extending an arm while sunbathing will invariably hit a 350-pound Polish guy and three skinny emo kids from Wicker Park. Traipsing around the city in search of the perfect beach can be exhausting (especially in flip-flops), so save the time and effort and go straight to the best beach in the city: Rainbow Beach.

Rainbow Beach extends from 75th to 79th street, making it one of the longest beaches in the Chicago area. The most obvious part of Rainbow Beach’s appeal is what it doesn’t have: traffic snarling in the background. The beach, and the park which surrounds it, extends several blocks away from the city, so that it doesn’t seem like playing in the sand and surf is taking place in the median of Lake Shore Drive.

Other attractions help Rainbow Beach put other Chicago beaches to shame. There is a large gym, fitness center, and outdoor recreational facilities like handball, tennis and basketball courts (by some sort of minor miracle, the basketball hoops actually have nets). Any spot on the beach affords a sweeping view of the entire downtown area, from Navy Pier to the Sears Tower and beyond.

Rainbow Beach isn’t just a pretty face; there’s soul there, too. As the area around the beach became gentrified in the early 60s, black and white youths fought over the right to inhabit the beach, with the scuffles sometimes getting violent. The Beach eventually became a site of a major protest against de facto segregation policies when the NAACP staged a “wade-in” to protest policies which were shifting the area’s population from black to white.

Whether sunning, chilling, grilling, or playing basketball, tennis or Frisbee, Rainbow Beach is the best spot in the city to do it on the sand. 3111 E. 75th St. (Ben Oren)

Best Place to Get Your Jesus On
God’s Dollar Store
The best thing about living in a big city is that every corner conceals a new surprise. Someone aimlessly wandering around 71st street, tunelessly whistling and putting a hop in every fourth step, would never think to themselves that a store satisfying every conceivable Christian proprietary need, and most standard Earthly ones as well, would be just up the block. Once upon it, the store is hard to miss: Music blares out into the street, and Jesus merchandise fills the front windows. God’s Dollar Store doesn’t mess around with first impressions.

A combination of spiritual salve and pragmatic provider, God’s Dollar Store carries the regular dollar store fare (some food, some toys, some household necessities, etc.) while also providing a large selection of diverse Christian paraphernalia. Things needed to attain salvation (Bibles and prayer guides), provide meditation (incense), and proclaim faith (T-Shirts with varying Jesus motifs), as well as a multitude of other Christian items, are all offered.

A Christian aura permeates the store. Prices are listed on the bottoms of drawings of crosses, some of which say “thank you Jesus” in red pen. The music blaring into the street is louder and more discernable inside; a version of “Our God is an Awesome God” is sung over riffing guitars and power chords, followed by a hymn set to house music. Posters and banners proclaiming God’s love and greatness line the walls. The overall tone isn’t oppressive piety but a light-hearted reveling in Christian glory; slogans on the t-shirts range from the sappy-yet-satisfying “Life is Fragile – Handle with Prayer” framed with pictures of butterflies to the sort-of-obnoxious-but-good-hearted Ford symbol with the F turned into an L.

Michelle and David Williams have been running the store for fifteen months, and work hard to make each customer feel satisfied, beginning with Michelle greeting each customer with a “God bless you, how are you doing?” when someone enters. They also ably assist customers who are unable to find some item they want in the store, be it a specific spiritual requirement or a favorite kind of toilet paper. “We’ve acquired a reputation for being able to get anything, whether it’s spiritual or practical,” David says without boastfulness in his voice. Lack of pride is an enviable quality, but it must be hard for the proprietors of God’s Dollar Store to cultivate. 2150 E. 71st St. (Ben Oren)

The Best Smells
The Scentuary
Beware the snake oil salesman, children. Be wary around the peddler of “ancient Chinese herbs” who promises to make the worries of the world melt away and induce an otherworldly superhuman calm. The man on the soapbox, shouting in rhyming couplets the mental and spiritual benefits of his specially formulated fragrance, can only lighten your wallet and shroud you in a cloud of stinky shame. This does not mean to pass up the honest merchants, the ones who care about their customers and provide fragrances which really do assist in getting through the day to day drudgery of living. In short, it means not to overlook The Scentuary, whose commitment to wellness through aromatic therapy is impressive.

Billing itself as the only fragrance bar in Chicago, The Scentuary is serious about providing scents which deliver not just a general uplift but a strong, calculated experience to individual customers. They are able to custom blend a scent from over 160 individual oils and fragrances to provide exactly the mental and spiritual renewals any customer may be looking for. Want to feel a burst of self-esteem while getting a dash of intellectual stimulus? Try the combination of Jasmine, Geranium, Green Tea, and Bergamot. The custom concoction can be made to be worn on the person or waft throughout a room or house.

Besides custom-blending scents, The Scentuary offers a wide range of pre-made scented cleansers of the body and mind. Body oils and lotions are made with all-natural ingredients and can be used in combination with various soaps which fight acne, open pores and exfoliate the skin. Candles, incense and other alternative methods of delivering scents are also available.

Perhaps the most surprising service offered is the chance to customize a scent for a party. Given measurements on the color scheme and theme of the party, The Scentuary can create an aromatic dress that perfectly fits the occasion. The consultation for this “Escentual Affair”, and all other business, is done in a tasteful room decorated with soft chairs, plush sofas and, of course, a color-matching array of scents. Far from being a modern-day snake oil emporium, The Scentuary is the real deal, delivering on its promise to enrich the lives of its customers through aromatic stimulation. 2154 E. 71st St. Sunday, 2pm-5pm; Tuesday, by appointment; Wednesday-Saturday, 11:30am-6:30pm. (773)643-1425. www.thescentuary.com (Ben Oren)

Best Italian Food On the Go
Italian Fiesta Pizzeria
Giordano’s and Leona’s are fine, quality places, but for Italian food that’s just as good for half the time and money, go to Italian Fiesta Pizzeria. Although there’s no place to sit, there’s no need, as the food comes out lickety-split. The portions are huge, and the food is maybe a notch above places with more atmosphere. Little touches like butter in the pizza crust and meat sauce to top the already-stuffed Italian sausage and beef sandwich makes this place worth traveling the extra mile. Additional niceties only further establish the Pizzeria as a must: pizzas come with such esoteric ingredients as shrimp and black anchovies, side orders include red pepper seeds and grated cheese, and the garlic bread doesn’t paint garlic spread on bread but uses, incredibly, real minced garlic. Pound for pound, cent for cent, ingredient for ingredient, Italian Fiesta Pizzeria should get just as much traffic as those other places with “tables”. 1919 E. 71st St. Sunday-Thursday, 11am-1am; Friday-Saturday, 11am-2am. (773)684-2222. (Ben Oren)