Crain's Chicago Business

Nobody likes paying taxes, least of all cash-strapped businesses struggling for their lives. That’s why a new business strategy has taken off over the past year in the legal cannabis trade: claiming exemption from a burdensome federal tax provision that has — until now — been effectively taxing much of the industry to death. Since early 2024, state-licensed cannabis companies in Illinois and across the country have been changing up their approach to filing and paying federal taxes — specifically to claim exemption to a little-known 1982 provision in the Internal Revenue Code called Section 280E — in a move that is saving many of them eight or nine figures apiece. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gZSX9tx4

When "The Dining Table" podcast host David Manilow can’t go all the way to Italy for a meal, he visits Tortello in Wicker Park. Chef Dario Monni handcrafts his pasta right in a window overlooking Division Street. In the latest episode, Monni shares his journey from Sardinia to Chicago as a restaurateur, why flour from Italy is his key ingredient and which regional Italian cuisine made “his brain explode.” Read more here: https://lnkd.in/g9SVz89g

Newly for sale in Winnetka is a cottage that looks as if it's right out of a fairy tale, with curved beams and a shingle roof like a mushroom cap on the outside, ghostly figures carved into the staircase handrail and other handmade details from the 1930s. "It's so fun," said Katie Hauser, a Compass agent who's representing the Tower Road house with Meg McGuinness of the same brokerage. "Every time I go in, I find something else I like," such as the porthole that opens between two bedrooms and what she says is "a teeny-tiny painting of the house" outside the front door. The asking price for the three-bedroom, roughly 2,600-square-foot house is $829,000. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gXwejasy

It has been a year since Oberweis Dairy’s new ownership regime bought the ice cream maker out of bankruptcy. The more than 100-year-old company now has new equipment and a sizable growth plan. Oberweis, which traces its roots to a horse-drawn-wagon milk delivery operation in 1915, plans to open 15 to 17 stores in the next two years, said Geoff Hoffmann, CEO of Oberweis’ new owner, Hoffmann Family of Cos. That will add to Oberweis’ current store count of 39. Five to seven new stores are set to open in the Chicago area — Oberweis’ largest market — and five in St. Louis, where the company already operates four stores. Oberweis is also targeting an “aggressive expansion” into Southwest Florida, where it plans to open five stores. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gduSXWWm

The Chicago Bears aren't the only ones who think Arlington Heights looks good. U.S. News & World Report put the northwest suburb in the upper echelon of its best places to live in the United States. In the magazine's 2025-2026 ranking of the 250 best places to live that published today, Arlington Heights makes an appearance at No. 56, the highest showing for an Illinois town on the list. It also ranked higher than any Chicago suburb has at any time in the 2020s. The next highest-ranking Chicago suburbs on the U.S. News list are Buffalo Grove at No. 63 and Naperville at No. 76. The magazine's research took into account several measures of quality of life, including school quality and availability of health care, as well as housing affordability, the presence of entertainment and cultural venues, and commute times. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dpAmuzTM

The cost of one of the biggest public works projects in Chicago history has abruptly exploded by billions of dollars, raising questions about oversight and the debt load taxpayers would take on if the project proceeds as planned. The project in question is the 5.6-mile extension of the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red Line from 95th Street to 130th Street — a long-discussed plan that advocates say will bring reliable rail service to a region that’s been neglected for decades. Construction of the Red Line Extension is set to begin in 2026, funded in part with $2 billion in federal dollars that the Trump administration is likely to claw back unless work proceeds. But to secure that $2 billion, local taxpayers are now on the hook to spend for another $3.77 billion — and the biggest share of that must come from the cash-strapped CTA itself. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gqUFbCTs

On the way back from O'Hare after picking up his college-aged son, Crain's Recommender-in-Chief David Manilow and his family always stop at Sabri Nihari, a beloved Pakistani restaurant on Devon Avenue. The extensive menu might be daunting, but the servings are hearty and flavorful. Manilow shares his go-to order in our subscriber-only newsletter, The Dining Table. Sign up for the newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gejS7Y9T Read the full recommendation here: https://lnkd.in/gNBf8g4U

The city's "Food Guy" is leaving television to take on a new role with Levy, the Chicago-based company that runs food and beverage offerings at major cultural attractions such as Soldier Field, Wrigley Field and the Field Museum. Steve Dolinsky, who has spent three decades in Chicago media as a culinary journalist and led a popular weekly show on WMAQ-TV/Channel 5 called the “The Food Guy,” will officially join Levy later this month. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gPcMpRXE

Fewer people are going out to eat at Chicago restaurants and are spending less when they do, as consumers brace for a potential recession. Restaurant operators report that revenue and foot traffic have slumped this year. While the first quarter is always tough for restaurants — people may be trying to eat healthier, pay off holiday debt or are simply hibernating — many operators say this year has been worse than normal. Now, with the weather warming, the crowds aren’t returning like they should be. “My customers are telling me, ‘We’re not going out to eat as much right now. Times are a little tough,’” said Dave Bonomi, owner of Peanut Park Trattoria in Little Italy and Coalfire, a pizza spot with locations in Lakeview and West Town. “The people you saw once a week, you’re now only seeing once a month. The people you saw once a month, you’re now seeing every couple of months.” Read more here: https://lnkd.in/g7KErtkU

Until their grandchildren got to that age where they’re too busy with sports, Steve and Sheri Idelman often had the kids visiting their condo on East Lake Shore Drive, where there's not only glorious Oak Street Beach right across the street but a spacious "backyard." Really a second-floor terrace, it's more than 875 square feet, enough to stand in for a ground-level backyard where kids could burn off energy. Doors from the condo lead to the terrace on three sides, making it a full-fledged part of the family's living space. That's to say nothing of the view from the terrace, which includes Chicago skyline stalwarts the Palmolive and 875 N. Michigan, formerly known as the John Hancock Center. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gaKTDcyE