UrbanDaddy is a free exclusive email magazine devoted to keeping you in the know.
Chicago Home > Leisure > 7 in ’11
12/27/11
7 in ’11
Everything That Was Important in 2011
Looking back at 2011, we suppose we could have done it all differently. Then again, if we had, we would have missed the following towering achievements of humankind. So, basically, we made the right call.
RESERVATIONS BECAME A COMMODITY
The Achatz Trifecta
Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas branched out from Alinea this year with Next. You didn’t make reservations.
You bought tickets. (Most likely, you did so on a secondary market.) Then came Aviary, the
sci-fi cocktail lounge next door, and the Office, the invite-only speakeasy downstairs. Your ability to
charm your way in: priceless.
- 411:
- Next, Aviary and The Office
YOU PARTIED IN PARIS
Paris Club and Studio Paris
You had a lot of champagne this year. And your favorite place to pop a few corks: the bi-level ode to
Parisian decadence from R.J. and Jerrod Melman, who teamed with their dad’s Lettuce Entertain You empire.
Your only dilemma: drinking downstairs with dinner or upstairs with Cee Lo. So you did both.
- 411:
- Paris Club and Studio Paris
YOU LOOKED GREAT IN WHITE
Dîner en Blanc
It was a modest proposal. Just show up under the Picasso wearing all white, bringing along a folding table
and a white tablecloth. Maybe some candles. Oh, and dinner. Then suddenly, your irrepressible suaveness was
part of the biggest flash mob picnic with a dress code this city’s ever seen.
- 411:
- Dîner en Blanc, relive the whiteout here
YOUR EX STILL TALKED ABOUT YOU
The Facebook for Exes
A social networking site for your exes. Talking about you. Comparing notes. It was one of those ideas that
was so simple, so diabolical that you had to wonder why someone (i.e., you) didn’t think of it years ago.
And then block anyone from creating it.
- 411:
- ExRated, get the lowdown here
THE PUMP WAS PRIMED
The Rebirth of Pump Room
Today, we look back. But this year, famed hotelier Ian Schrager looked even farther back to find
inspiration. He turned the Ambassador East into the Public hotel and Pump Room into... a new and improved
Pump Room, more Gosling than Rat Pack. The result: timeless.
- 411:
- Pump Room, 1301 N State Pkwy (at Goethe), 312-787-3700
DOUGHNUTS BECAME A STATUS SYMBOL
The Doughnut Vault
Your intern wanted real-world experience. So you gave him a crucial task: stand in line at Brendan
Sodikoff’s (Maude’s, Gilt) tiny fried-dough boutique. Supplies were limited. The demand, stratospheric.
And if he came back without a pistachio, he didn’t need to come back at all.
- 411:
- The Doughnut Vault, 401½ N Franklin St (near Kinzie)
YOU BECAME (EVEN MORE) HANDSOME
Libero Ferrero and Haberdash EDC
You were looking pretty dashing this year. But you wanted a little extra. So you accessorized appropriately:
Libero Ferrero, a Chicago-based line of exquisite leather bags at Apartment Number 9, and Haberdash EDC, an
entire shop for all your badger-hair shaving brush/art book/oxford needs.
- 411:
- Libero Ferrero and Haberdash EDC
ADVERTISEMENT 
Only what you need to know.