River North’s Ambar is based on an intriguing premise in this day and age…How much house-made Balkan food can you, your friends and family consume in two hours? 

“Dining Without Limits”

The answer comes in the experience of sampling and sharing small plates of rich and hearty cuisine from Southeast Europe that blends Mediterranean, Ottoman, and Central European culinary traditions. 

As their website notes, Ambar is inspired by the Balkan tradition of “Voz” (Train), ‘Dining Without Limits’ lets you savor over 40 dishes and reorder favorites as much as you like.

You can enjoy grilled meats, seafood, slow-cooked fare, baked flatbreads, spreads, and pies, paired with premium wines and traditional rakia at an additional price. 

Since 2025, the Michelin Bib Gourmand (i.e., good food at reasonable prices) restaurant has served, in their own words, “Next-level Balkan flavors, endless plates, and unbeatable value — all for one flat price.”

Ivan Iričanin, founder and CEO of the restaurant’s parent company, told Eater.com why he opened in Chicago after opening a successful restaurant in Washington DC. 

“One of the largest Balkan populations outside of a Balkan is in Chicago,” Iričanin responded, of the city’s sizable community, represented largely by people of Bosnian, Serbian, and Albanian descent.

He told SheBuysTravel.com about the all-you-can-eat concept. 

“Our concept isn’t about sheer volume like some ‘all-you-can-eat’ places; it’s about variety and discovery,” he said. “It allows guests to explore the entire spectrum of Balkan cuisine – from spreads and cheeses to salads, and grilled meats – without having to choose just one or two things. It encourages sharing, trying new dishes without risk, and truly immersing yourself in a culinary journey through the Balkans.”

The Journey through Small Plates

Start with Beet Tzatziki, a vibrant blend of roasted beets, Greek yogurt, garlic, and herbs. Or Urnebes, feta cheese pureed with chili flakes and red pepper jam, and Ajvar, which is roasted red pepper with garlic and onion. They’re all served with fresh, warm pita bread, as well as marinated olives with pickled vegetables.

Next, try their Vitamin Salad with root vegetables, honey-lemon dressing, and toasted sunflower seeds. Or, a hearty Veal Soup, made from a generational recipe, with creme fraiche on the side.

No Mediterranean menu is complete without a savory pie. Try their Cheese Pie, made traditional with feta and goat cheese in a phyllo crust, and served with Ajvar and Greek yogurt. Or, their Meat Pie, with beef in a phyllo crust, served with a lemon-garlic yogurt sauce.

Entrees include such Mediterranean-inspired favorites as Stuffed Cabbage, with pork belly and jasmine rice, served with mashed potatoes. Roasted Lamb is served with roast potatoes and carrots and garlic lemon yogurt sauce on the side. Slow Cooked Pork Shoulder is a confit pork shoulder served with Balkan-style rice and cabbage slaw. Fried Chicken Sliders are unique, served as three almond-crusted fried chicken sliders with pickled onions and apple wasabi coleslaw, accompanied by fries. Roasted Lamb is tender and served with roast potatoes and carrots, with garlic lemon yogurt sauce served on the side.

Many of the items from their lunch and dinner menu also make an appearance on their Brunch menu, along with such classics as a Fruit Granola with blueberry yogurt, mint, seasonal fruit and honey, and Shashuka, which is poached eggs with bell peppers and tomato sauce. 

How Much to ‘Dine Without Limits?’ 

✅ Brunch $37.00 – Unlimited small plates (Unlimited drinks starting at $15.00) 

✅ Lunch $30.00 – Unlimited small plates

✅ Dinner $55.00 – Unlimited small plates

Ambar is located at 700 N. Clark Street. They are open for lunch Monday–Friday from 12pm–3:30pm; for dinner, from Sunday–Thursday from 4pm–10pm, and Friday-Saturday from 4pm–11pm. Brunch hours are Saturday and Sunday 10am–3:30pm. Reservations are highly recommended, and can be made by clicking here. 

Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago

Most of us can describe our dream house pretty quickly.

A bigger kitchen. An extra bedroom. A huge backyard. Maybe a pool. A three-car garage. A home office with actual doors. Plenty of storage. And while we’re dreaming, let’s throw in a great view and one of those enormous laundry rooms that somehow makes doing laundry look enjoyable.

But there’s another question we don’t ask nearly as often:

What does your dream life look like?

Because those two answers aren’t always the same.

The perfect home isn’t necessarily the one with the longest list of impressive features. It’s the one that makes the life you actually want to live easier, more enjoyable and more natural.

Start With Tuesday, Not Saturday

When we imagine living in a new home, we tend to picture the highlights.

Friends gathered around the kitchen island. Kids jumping into the pool. Summer barbecues in the backyard. Holiday dinners around a long table.

But most of life isn’t Saturday afternoon or Thanksgiving dinner.

It’s Tuesday at 6:15 p.m.

You’re getting home from work. Someone needs dinner. There’s laundry waiting. The dog needs a walk. You need groceries. And somehow there are three pairs of shoes sitting directly in the path of the door.

That’s the version of your life a home really needs to support.

Instead of only imagining special occasions, picture an ordinary weekday. How long is the commute? Where do you put your keys? Can you walk the dog easily? Is the kitchen laid out the way you actually cook? Is there somewhere quiet to work? How much of your evening will be spent maintaining the house?

Sometimes Tuesday tells you more about a home than Saturday ever could.

Bigger Isn’t Always Better—It’s Just Bigger

More square footage sounds wonderful.

Until you remember that somebody has to clean it, furnish it, heat it, cool it and maintain it.

For a large household—or someone who loves entertaining—extra space can dramatically improve everyday life. But if half the rooms rarely get used, owning more house can sometimes mean spending more time and money taking care of spaces that aren’t really contributing much to your life.

The better question may not be, “How much house can we get?”

It might be, “How much house will we actually enjoy using?”

Those are very different questions.

That Huge Backyard Comes With a Saturday Morning

Picture the backyard you’ve always wanted.

Big lawn. Mature landscaping. Maybe a garden. Plenty of room for entertaining.

Beautiful.

Now picture yourself at 9:00 on Saturday morning standing behind a lawn mower.

Still beautiful?

Maybe! Some people genuinely love maintaining a yard. Gardening is relaxing. Outdoor projects are enjoyable. Spending a weekend trimming, planting and tinkering outside is exactly how they want to spend their time.

Other people would happily trade half that yard for a small patio, a comfortable chair and absolutely no reason to own a leaf blower.

Neither is better.

The question is which life sounds more like yours.

The Pool Question

Few features reveal the difference between fantasy and lifestyle quite like a swimming pool.

If your family spends every warm afternoon outside, entertains constantly or practically lives in swimsuits all summer, a pool can become the center of the home.

But if the idea of testing water, cleaning filters and maintaining another major system already sounds exhausting, perhaps the pool you really want belongs at someone else’s house.

Preferably someone who invites you over often.

Sometimes Location Is the Amenity

It’s easy to compare homes by what exists inside the property lines.

One house has the larger kitchen. Another has the extra bedroom. Another has the bigger lot.

But some of the most valuable features of a home aren’t actually part of the home.

Maybe it’s being able to walk to coffee on Saturday morning. Having a park around the corner. Living five minutes from family. Cutting 25 minutes off your commute. Being close enough to your favorite restaurant that deciding to go doesn’t require planning.

A smaller home in the right place can sometimes create a much bigger life.

Think About the Life Behind the Feature

A home office isn’t really about having another room.

It’s about having somewhere you can concentrate.

A large kitchen isn’t really about countertops.

It’s about cooking together, entertaining or making hectic mornings easier.

A guest room isn’t about owning an extra bed.

It’s about having people you love stay with you.

Even a front porch isn’t really about the porch.

Maybe what you’re actually looking for is a neighborhood where sitting outside means seeing people you know.

Once you start thinking about what a feature allows you to do, the wish list begins to look different.

Your Dream Home May Surprise You

There’s nothing wrong with wanting the beautiful kitchen, the extra bedroom, the pool or the enormous backyard.

Dream a little.

But when it comes time to choose a home, it helps to look beyond what photographs well or sounds impressive on a list.

Imagine waking up there.

Imagine getting groceries there.

Imagine working there.

Imagine a rainy Sunday afternoon there.

Imagine Tuesday at 6:15.

Because ultimately, you’re not just choosing where your furniture will go.

You’re choosing the backdrop for thousands of ordinary days.

And when the house you want supports the life you want, that’s when you’ve found something much closer to a dream home.

DID YOU KNOW…that the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Avenue, was once a carriage showroom, named for the Studebaker buggies sold on the ground floor?

All that changed in 1898, when the Studebaker Theater, as part of the 10-story Fine Arts Building, opened to host the finest actors, performing the latest plays. 

Today, the 750-seat venue combines the grandeur of Chicago’s golden age of theater with modern technical excellence. It’s also home to NPR’s popular “Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me” broadcast on select Thursday evenings. 

In the Beginning… 

The original building was built for the Studebaker company in 1884–1885 by Solon Spencer Beman, and extensively remodeled in 1898, when Beman removed the building’s eighth (top) story and added three new stories, according to Wikipedia sources.

Studebaker constructed the building as a carriage sales and service operation with manufacturing on upper floors. By 1895, having outgrown the location, Studebaker moved its operations to a bigger location nearby on Wabash Avenue. 

Instead of selling the original Michigan Avenue structure, Studebaker retained ownership. Encouraged by visionary real estate manager Charles C. Curtiss, the company invested in a massive remodeling project.

The carriage factory was transformed into an artistic and cultural haven featuring studios, offices, and the historic Studebaker Theater. Initially, the theater sat 1,550 people and featured classical music, opera, and vaudeville performances, as well as resident companies such as the Castle Square Opera Company. 

In 1910, the Studebaker hosted a sold-out two-week farewell engagement with the famed French actress Sarah Bernhardt.

In 1926, Samuel Insull, a business magnate who helped found General Electric, took over the lease of the Studebaker and his wife Gladys Insull ran the theater as a stock company until it was disbanded in 1927.

As the website notes, following the stock market crash in 1929, the Studebaker began leasing to a variety of itinerant groups and touring productions. 

Some notable productions from this time included James Kirkwood and Mercedes Gilbert in “Mulatto” by Langston Hughes in 1936; Ethel Barrymore in “The Corn is Green” in 1943; Mae West in “Catherine the Great” in 1945; and Yul Brynner in “Lute Song” in 1947. 

Actor Mike Nussbaum, who grew up in Chicago, remembered this period of the Studebaker’s history to the Chicago Sun-Times. “If you went downtown to the Studebaker and wore a white shirt and dark pants with a tie, then they let you work in the upper balcony as an usher — and you got to see the show free,” said Nussbaum in 2021.

Nussbaum passed in 2023, just days before his 100^th birthday. 

Home of NBC and Repertory Theater 

From 1950-1955, the theater was used as studios for NBC. 

In 1956, The Studebaker Theatre Company was founded by Bernard Sahlins, whose name is synonymous with The Second City. Sahlins’ goal was to create a permanent repertory company in the Studebaker, presenting classic and contemporary plays with Chicago talent. 

Some of the company’s productions included Geraldine Page in “The Immoralist” by Andre Gide; “A View from the Bridge” by Arthur Miller; and Harvey Korman in “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett. Due to financial difficulties, in 1957 the company shuttered. 

From 1957 to 1982, the Studebaker went on to operate under a series of organizations including the Nederlanders. The theater featured touring productions during this time, with prominent stars. 

Some notable productions from these years included Eartha Kitt in “The Owl and The Pussycat” by Bill Manhoff in 1964; Martin Sheen in “The Subject Was Roses” by Frank D. Gilroy in 1966; Henry Fonda in “Time of Your Life” by William Saroyan in 1973; Peter O’Toole in “Present Laughter” by Noel Coward in 1978; and Rex Harrison and Claudette Colbert in “The Kingfisher” by William Douglas Home in 1979.

In its final iteration before its renovation in 2021, the Studebaker was chopped up to become a multiplex for several years. 

Today 

The most recent renovation brought state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems and restoring the theater’s glittering façade. Jacob Harvey,  managing artistic director of the Studebaker Theater, envisioned an intimate theater offering an unparalleled concert experience. 

“Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” 

Since its grand reopening in 2022, the Studebaker has been home to NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” and has featured performances from local organizations such as the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, the Chicago Opera Theater, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, and the Chicago Sinfonietta, as well as new musicals in development.

For tickets and information about upcoming performances, click here. 

Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago

Fall is here and you know what that means: a cozy hot cup of soup and a melty grilled cheese! I can’t think of anything better. Here are  7 easy tips to bring out the flavor and texture so it’s extra delicious. 

Pick a bread you really love. I love sturdy sourdough sliced thick. It can hold its own against any cheese you might choose. If you’re looking for a butterier flavor, try a rich brioche. Rye bread also adds a nice flavor. Just stay away from that tasteless regular white bread!

Grill the inside of the bread. This gives the cheese some heat for a head start on melting and gives you a better crunch in your end product. 

Try mayo instead of butter on the outside of the bread. Mayonnaise has a higher smoke point, and the oil will give you a better crust. For a bigger cheese punch, sprinkle some finely grated parmesan on the mayonnaise. 

Use real cheese and grate it yourself. That pre-shredded stuff contains cellulose to keep it separate and doesn’t melt well. Try different cheeses like Gruyere or fontina for a different taste than cheddar. Or mix two or three different cheeses. 

Add some fillings. Bacon is a classic. Thin sliced fresh tomatoes are delicious and add a fresh flavor. Be adventurous and try pepper jelly or pesto. You can even add some spicy or sweet pickles for crunch and a vinegary twist. 

Cook low and slow. Medium or medium-low heat will cook your sandwich more evenly and will give the cheese a chance to melt before the bread gets too brown. If you notice the bread getting browned too quickly, cover the pan for a bit but then remove the cover before the steam makes your grilled cheese soggy. 

Let it cool. When your grilled cheese is done to your liking, resist setting it right on your serving plate. This will trap too much heat and make the bottom soggy. Place it instead on a wire rack to cool for a bit and stay crisp. 

Then, grab your cup of soup and enjoy!

Kathleen Weaver-Zech and Dean’s Team Chicago