Howsthebar.com is a new Chicago-based Web site that invites participants to rate their local taps. Bar-goers are requested to log onto their mobile Web to evaluate their hangout, while still inside. The quick, five-question quiz asks participants to rate the pub on the basic criteria of: crowd size, gender ratio, average age, entertainment and drink value. This information is instantly processed and then averaged based on all users’ responses. “Some people may want a quiet bar and others may be looking for a crowded bar. Either way, users will get the information that they need to make the decision of where to go,” says Randy Rantz, the site’s founder. Rantz, who has been legally bar-hopping for the past sixteen years, came up with the idea for his site after having spent countless weekends on the phone with his friends. They would text back and forth, updating each other on their current destinations. He thought, “Why not get more people involved in communicating this information?” (Andrea Giampoli)
New, Cozy, and Kind of COVID-Safe: Bar Goa, Cultivate by Forbidden Root and The X Pot Braving single-digit weather, during a pandemic, requires the right frame of mind. We want to support local restaurants, and we especially want to check out the new ones, but in surroundings that are as warm and comfortable – and as protected – as possible. In the past month or so, we visited three restaurants that are new, cozy and to…
