She’s powerful enough to make the NBA change their primetime playoff schedule. After an emotional 25 seasons, Oprah is taping her final two episodes tonight at the United Center which holds 20,000, a close second biggest event ever when she shut down Michigan Avenue. Kicking the #1 seeded Bulls out of their practice, everyone’s abuzz with what Oprah’s Final Big surprise is. Set to air Monday and Tuesday, the number of celebs in Chicago this week is nothing short of epic.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Illinois will hold its key fundraiser the Wish Ball, Saturday May 21, 2011 at UIC Forum with celebrity host and five time Emmy award winning comedian Dennis Miller and celebrity emcee Richard Roeper. Celebrating 25 years of granting wishes after being started by volunteers, the chapter has since granted more than 10,000 wishes across the state. Last year, the Foundation fulfilled 755 wishes, the most ever in chapter history.

Gwynnie snuck into Chicago under the radar and took the city by storm. According to her weekly newsletter, she came to “visit her bff from high school.” Here’s a recap of her fav places straight from the horse’s mouth.

The Southside and Northside rivalry once again heats up in the kitchen on Friday, June 24th as Four Seasons Hotel Chicago Executive Chef Kevin Hickey – serving up for the White Sox – and avid Cubs Fan Chef Koren Grieveson of avec present a culinary field of dreams in the Fifth Annual Crosstown Culinary Classic hosted by Seasons restaurant to benefit Common Threads.

One of the most refined summertime activities is boating. A quick hour and a half escape from Chicago, Lake Geneva is a sleepy lake town with a rich history of famous inhabitants. The Geneva Lake area is home of cartoonists Joe and Jay Martin and Sidney Smith, Buddy Melges, 1972 Olympic yachting gold medallist and Producers/creators of”The Young and the Restless,” William Bell and Lee Phillips. Plan your weekend getaway with the kiddos or as a romantic twosome.

Join Phil Stefani Signature Restaurants this June as they hold their annual golf outing to help raise money Stefani Children’s Charities. Formed in 1988, they donate to a collection of causes centered around children such as Children’s Memorial Hospital, Maryville Academy, Ronald McDonald House, Mercy Home for Boys & Girls, Cystic Fibrosis and United Cerebral Palsy.
 

As soon as men invented fire, women learned to play with it. Going off of a similar philosophy, welcome Union Sushi & Barbeque Bar, a playfully refreshing twist on the ever-growing Japanese hautes in downtown Chicago. Started by the ever-sassy food blogging duo Mike and Chao, Kushiyaki is the formal Japanese term for grilled meat, poultry, offal, vegetables and fish. Yakitori is the common term for grilled meat – but it actually only refers to grilled chicken. Kushiyaki is the broad term that encompasses all ingredients grilled on a stick – and it is the very heart and soul of Union.

Cleansing your palate to prep it for intense sensory images, a good wine dinner turns a meal into a celebration. Indulge in these worldly wine menus as a good vino brings out flavor combinations like you wouldn’t imagine possible.

Richard Melman, CEO of Lettuce Entertain You finally won his first James Beard Foundation Award for Restauranteur of the Year, after being a finalist since 2005 as their list of 80 properties across the country keeps growing. It’s been a big year for the LEYE group, as Melman’s sons Jerrod and R.J. began to take the reigns with their own restaurant ventures staying busy opening Paris Club, Hub51 and celebrating the 40th anniversary of their first success, R.J. Grunts.