David Montgomery runs for a touchdown against the Lions last month. | Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Montgomery sprained his knee a month ago.

Bears running back David Montgomery will return to practice Thursday and could play Monday night against the Steelers.

Montgomery was put on injured reserve after spraining his knee against the Lions a month ago. Per league rules, he can practice for up to three weeks before the Bears have to formally take him off injured reserve to play in games.

“It’s good timing, if we are able to get him back and get him going,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said Thursday.

If Montgomery is unable to play, he’ll get an extra week off — the Bears have a bye after Monday’s game. Still, Nagy made it sound as though Montgomery would play Monday if he feels ready during the course of the week. The Bears will practice Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Rookie running back Khalil Herbert has stood out in Montgomery’s absence. Nagy made it clear that Montgomery will be the starter when he returns; it’s unclear what role Herbert will play when Montgomery returns. When the third-year player went on IR, he was fifth in the NFL in yards per carry.

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Matt Nagy was the first Bears head coach to miss a game since Mike Ditka had a heart attack in 1988. | Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

Nagy was back at Halas Hall on Thursday for the start of the practice week. He missed one game after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Bears coach Matt Nagy was back at Halas Hall on Thursday after testing negative for coronavirus. He missed eight days, including the game against the 49ers on Sunday.

Nagy will be with the team for all three of its practices this week and the game against the Steelers.

He tested positive after flying home with the team from its 38-3 loss to the Buccaneers on Oct. 24 and ran the team remotely during the week of the 49ers game, but had to cede head-coaching responsibilities on game day to special teams coordinator Chris Tabor.

The Bears made some progress offensively, but fell 33-22 for their third consecutive loss. It was the first time a Bears head coach missed a game since Mike Ditka had a heart attack in 1988 and defensive coordinator Vince Tobin coached the team against the Bucs.

Nagy was one of several members of the organization to test positive recently. Offensive lineman Germain Ifedi is the only player still on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

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Emily Kaplan patrols the benches for ESPN during the Canucks-Kraken game Oct. 23. | Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images

Kaplan will report from between the benches when the NHL returns to ABC for the first time since 2004 with the Blues-Blackhawks game Nov. 26 at the United Center.

The referees were concerned when they saw who was inhabiting the space between the players’ benches in the NHL’s season opener last month. ESPN was airing the game between the host Lightning and Penguins, and the network had put reporter Emily Kaplan in the middle of the action.

“Someone from the NHL came up to me and was like, ‘The refs were all asking about you,’ ” Kaplan said. ” ‘Who’s that girl between the benches? Is she gonna be OK? Does she need a helmet?’ “

Kaplan, 30, knows to keep her head on a swivel to avoid the pucks, sticks and bodies that could crash into her little world at any moment. But she chalks those up as merely occupational hazards in her new role in ESPN’s NHL coverage.

“I keep telling people, ‘I want a black eye because I think that would give me credibility,’ ” she said. “Most hockey players tell you, ‘No, trust me, you don’t. It hurts a lot.’ “

Kaplan already has enough credibility in NHL circles, having covered the league for ESPN.com since 2017. But the network expanded her job description significantly since picking up the league’s broadcast rights this year. In addition to in-the-glass reporting, Kaplan appears on ESPN’s hockey studio shows and co-hosts a podcast with Linda Cohn.

“She is the model on-air reporter where she is touching all platforms,” said ESPN senior vice president Mark Gross, who oversees NHL game production.

When the NHL returns to ABC for the first time since 2004 with the Blues-Blackhawks game Nov. 26 at the United Center, Kaplan will be back in her little world.

“It’s such a cool way to take in a game,” said Kaplan, a Montclair, New Jersey, native who has lived in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village since 2016. “The chirping that I overhear, I find myself cracking up because guys are just hilarious. You get to see the way they interact with each other on the bench.”

Kaplan never played hockey, but she has a love for the game that dates to her childhood, when she watched Rangers games with her dad. Dave Kaplan was the Sunday sports editor at the New York Daily News. So she not only took to hockey, she took to sportswriting.

One of her dad’s friends was then-Sports Illustrated NFL writer Peter King, who also lived in Montclair. When Kaplan was in high school, King took her to see the New Jersey Jackals, a nearby independent-league baseball team. He arranged with the public-relations director to meet with the manager and a player after the game.

“I talked to Emily about some of the things you have to talk about and everything,” King said. “She needed no advice. She needed no help. She just took over. She commandeered the interview. And then I had her write a story on deadline about it, and it had zero errors. It was really good for a kid who was in high school.”

Kaplan went to Penn State because it offered a sports journalism major. She interned at Sports Illustrated, then worked there after college. She graduated in 2013, just before King launched his football website, the MMQB, at SI. He brought her aboard.

“One of the underrated things about our business is, If you’re not curious, you’re not gonna make it,” King said. “And Emily was extremely curious, and she was a worked bee. If you have those two things, all the other things can come into place.”

Kaplan made a name for herself in NFL circles, but she knew she was at the wrong end of the MMQB depth chart. ESPN called her about a job covering football, and she went in for an interview. Kaplan thinks she mentioned hockey several times because when ESPN called her back a few weeks later, the football job had fallen through but a hockey job suddenly was on the table.

“They said, ‘This is our biggest need right now. You can be one of two people covering hockey for us,’ ” Kaplan said. “I thought it was an opportunity. Although the NHL is much smaller in stature than the NFL in this country, I saw it as an opportunity to own a beat, to really challenge myself in that way. And again, it was a sport I grew up loving. It made sense to me.”

She dove into the job, spending the first couple of months on the phone, introducing herself to general managers, coaches, agents, PR people, practically everyone in the NHL media directory. She went to the United Center on game days for morning skates to meet with visiting teams. She had some frustration with stories’ limited attention because ESPN wasn’t a rights holder, but those days are over.

Now, Kaplan isn’t only read, she’s seen and heard.

“She’s picked it up quite quickly from the get-go with our first game down in Tampa,” Gross said of Kaplan’s adjustment to TV. “If you’re secure in your knowledge, then you’re just talking to the camera and not staring into the lights. Emily has a great feel for just having a conversation and not trying to be the stereotypical broadcaster.”

Kaplan credits her smooth transition to appearing on “Around the Horn.” She debuted in May 2019, but not after putting it off for a few weeks out of terror. The producer eventually convinced her to just jump in and roll with it. The show’s required brevity has taught her to pare down her words, which helped prepare her for in-game reporting.

But Kaplan also wants to tell the stories of hockey. She believes the players’ inherent preference to keep those to themselves holds the sport back.

“I’ve always had this belief that hockey players are just fantastic people with incredible stories but they never want to put themselves out there and share,” Kaplan said. “It’s kind of been my mission to get guys to open up and share stories about the game.”

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To be learning on the fly and still have a 6-2 record is a great thing. But veterans like DeMar DeRozan know there’s still a lot to work on as this roster strives to being a playoff team. The problem is some of the issues won’t be going away anytime soon.

On the concern meter, DeMar DeRozan was sitting comfortably at about a two out of 10.

In the eyes of the veteran small forward, most of the problems that have shown themselves just eight games into the regular season are very fixable for his Bulls team.

But it starts with priority No. 1, and that’s getting back to playing a chaotic style of defense, and not just in the second half.

That was the biggest issue on the two-game road trip to Boston and Philadelphia – lack of defensive energy in the first half that led to huge deficits to try and scale out of. They were able to make that climb in Boston, coming back from 19 down late in the third quarter, but 18 down to the 76ers in the second quarter left them just short.

In DeRozan’s eyes, however? Very fixable.

“It definitely has to start [with defense],” DeRozan said. “That’s when we’re at our best, getting out in transition. When we work together defensively, we’ve shown it throughout the games when we’ve needed it the most. We got to put that pressure on as soon as tip-off.”

His reason for why it wasn’t there in the first half of both road games was just as simple. Call it growing pains of a team that was assembled in the summer, had a few weeks of camp to get acclimated, and then dropped on the pressure cooker of an NBA season.

“Learning curve,” DeRozan reasoned. “Everything can’t be perfect. Pretty sure we’re going to go back and look at this [Philadelphia] game, understand the mistakes, where we made the mistakes, the play-calls we’re making at times, things we’re doing on both ends that we can be better at. We’re not even 10 games in, and there’s a lot we can learn from and we will take from this.”

That’s the good news in the 6-2 start for the Bulls. There’s daily learning going on, but also happening in the midst of winning games. Not easy to accomplish.

And while defensive intensity for 48 minutes sits atop the priority list of issues to work on, it’s likely the most fixable.

The Bulls have the athletes and the depth to play that chaotic style of defense for two halves, and now just have to refocus into doing it before Saturday’s rematch with the Sixers.

A much easier fix than some of the other issues:

1. Nikola Vucevic’s scoring slump – The big man has made a career of being talented enough to fall out of bed and put 20 and 10 in the box score. This season, however, he’s simply falling.

Vucevic is a career 49.5% shooter and came into this season averaging over 39% from three-point range the past two seasons. Entering the weekend, he’s shooting a career-low 38.9% from the field, and 28.1% from three.

Billy Donovan’s solution? The coach said on Wednesday he like to see the likes of Zach LaVine and DeRozan get Vucevic involved in the offense even more.

No one believes that age 31 he’s suddenly lost his offensive touch, so they are putting faith in the back of Vucevic’s basketball card. Keep feeding him and he’ll shoot out of it. FIXABLE

2. Rebounding – The Bulls sit 21st in rebound differential at -2.6 rebounds per game. Last week they were 27th. So while it’s improved, it’s not going to go away all season. The counterpunch is being disruptive with steals, deflections and blocks. But it’s an undersized team, and unless there’s a trade that won’t change. UNFIXABLE

3. Zach LaVine’s thumb – The ligaments in LaVine’s left thumb are slowly healing, but are also costing the All-Star the ability to attack and finish with his left hand. He’s basically a one-handed player who just has to figure it out and hope it continues feeling better with no setbacks.

Until it does, however, it’s a grin and bear it. FIXABLE (With time)

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Kyle Rittenhouse arrives in court behind defense attorney Corey Chirafisi before the start of Rittenhouse’s trial Thursday. | Mark Hertzberg/AP pool

Before testimony resumed Thursday, the judge dismissed a juror who had made a joke to a court security officer about the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

KENOSHA, Wis. — Two and a half seconds before Kyle Rittenhouse began shooting in the streets of Kenosha, someone in the crowd fired a shot into the air, a detective testified at Rittenhouse’s murder trial Thursday.

The defense has said that that shot made Rittenhouse think he was under attack.

Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with shooting three men, two of them fatally, starting with Joseph Rosenbaum, in the summer of 2020. The aspiring police officer, then 17, had gone to Kenosha with an assault-style rifle and a medical kit in what he said was an effort to safeguard property from violent protests that broke out over the police shooting of a Black man.

Prosecutors have portrayed Rittenhouse as the instigator of the bloodshed, while his lawyer has argued that he acted in self-defense after Rosenbaum tried to grab his gun and others in the crowd kicked him in the face and hit him in the head with a skateboard.

Video took center stage again Thursday, when Kenosha Detective Martin Howard testified that footage shows that a protester, Joshua Ziminski, had fired the first shot into the air. Howard said he used a stopwatch and timed five or six videos to determine that 2.5 seconds later, Rittenhouse began firing at Rosenbaum.

A wealth of video has been played in court that captured the tumultuous demonstration and the series of shootings.

On Wednesday, Howard testified that Rittenhouse shouted “Friendly! Friendly! Friendly!” as he was being chased by Rosenbaum. Howard also agreed with defense attorney Mark Richards that Rosenbaum appeared to be gaining ground on Rittenhouse.

Richards also described how Rosenbaum had come out from behind a car to meet Rittenhouse before the shooting, saying to the detective: “Correct me if I’m wrong, but this looks like the classic ambush.”

After prosecutors objected, Richards said: “Mr. Rosenbaum is in hiding as my client arrives, correct?”

“It appears so, yes,” Howard responded.

Before testimony resumed Thursday, the judge dismissed a juror who had made a joke to a court security officer about the police shooting of Jacob Blake — the Black man whose wounding triggered the Kenosha protests. The juror, a retired man, declined to repeat the joke for the judge.

“It is clear that the appearance of bias is present and it would seriously undermine the outcome of the case,” Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder said.

Prosecutors on Thursday also replayed widely seen video of an interview that the conservative website The Daily Caller did with Rittenhouse before the shooting. It began with Rittenhouse in front of a boarded-up building, where he said he and other men were there “to protect this business, and part of my job is there’s somebody hurt, I’m running into harm’s way.” He also said he was there to provide medical aid.

Richie McGinniss, who made the video for The Daily Caller, testified that he went to talk to four Black people in the crowd who seemed angry. He said one of them had two rocks or brick-like stones in his hands, and another had a rock and a strap.

McGinniss said he asked them why they were mad, and they said that they were jumping on vehicles and that Rittenhouse came up to them with his gun. One member of the group accused Rittenhouse of waving his gun around as if he were in a movie, the witness said.

Rittenhouse, who is white, could get life in prison if convicted in the politically and racially polarizing case that has stirred furious debate over self-defense, vigilantism, the right to bear arms and the racial unrest that erupted around the U.S. after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other cases like it.

On Wednesday, prosecutor Thomas Binger drove home the point that Rosenbaum was apparently unarmed, asking Howard if any of the videos shown in court indicated Rosenbaum had a weapon of any kind. Howard replied no, and said he could only see Rosenbaum carrying a plastic bag.

“No gun?” Binger asked.

“I can only see a plastic bag he’s carrying,” Howard said.

“So no gun? Binger asked.

“No,” replied Howard, who repeated the answer over and over when Binger also asked him whether Rosenbaum carried a knife, bat or club.

But Richards, on cross-examination, asked Howard what can happen if a weapon is taken from someone. “It can be used against them as a deadly and dangerous weapon, correct?” the defense attorney asked.

“Correct,” Howard replied.

Moments after shooting Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse shot and killed Anthony Huber, 26, a protester from Silver Lake, Wisconsin, who was seen on bystander video hitting Rittenhouse with a skateboard.

Rittenhouse then wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, a protester from West Allis, Wisconsin, who had a gun in his hand as he stepped toward Rittenhouse.

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Bears defensive tackle Akiem Hicks chases quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in 2017 — a 23-17 Bears win. | Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The Sun-Times’ experts offer their picks for the Bears’ “Monday Night Football” game in Pittsburgh.

The Sun-Times’ experts offer their picks for the Bears’ “Monday Night Football” game in Pittsburgh:

Rick Morrissey

Steelers 24-17

The Steelers have won three straight, and although they haven’t set the world on fire during that stretch, they do have good vibes on their side. The Bears do not. Aside from a nice performance by Justin Fields, the loss to the 49ers last week was a disaster. The defense fell apart. Why would there be reason to think anything has changed in one week? Season: 6-2.

Rick Telander

Steelers 23-17

The Steelers don’t have much of an offense (18.9 points per game), but the Bears are almost pulse-free (15.4 points per game). Without a running back who can stay healthy or help from the formerly terrific wide receiver known as Allen Robinson (102 catches last year; 26 so far this year), you have to wonder how the Bears can beat anyone. Keep wondering. Season: 5-3.

Patrick Finley

Bears 15-14

The Steelers are only the second team the Bears have played this season — the Lions are the other — who rank in the bottom half of the NFL in both yards per game and points per game. The Bears are tied for last in the NFL with 13 touchdowns — but the Steelers have just 14. Give me the upset in a game that makes Don Coryell roll over in his grave. Season: 7-1.

Jason Lieser

Steelers 24-16

As good as it felt for Justin Fields and the Bears to take a step forward offensively last week, the Steelers will be arguably the best defense they’ve faced. Winning in prime time in Pittsburgh is too big of a challenge at this point. Season: 6-2.

Mark Potash

Steelers 24-17

This looked like a better matchup for the Bears three weeks ago. But the Bears have lost three straight. The Steelers have won three straight. Only the unpredictability of the NFL — and Fields — makes this a tougher call. Season: 6-2.

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A Sotheby’s employee holds a pair of Nike sneakers worn in game by the late NBA player Kobe Bryant, estimated to sell between 25,000 and 35,000 Swiss francs (about $38,000) during a preview at Sotheby’s before auction sale, in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier this week. | AP

Bryant wore the sneakers in a March 17, 2004, victory over the L.A. Clippers, according to Sotheby’s.

GENEVA — A pair of high-top Nike sneakers from the late NBA star Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard who died in a helicopter crash in California last year, along with a diamond bracelet that once belonged to France’s Marie Antoinette and a sapphire-and-diamond brooch with matching ear clips that once dangled from a Russian grand duchess are among the featured items in auctions of jewelry and other collectibles next week in Geneva.

The blue, white and gold Nike Air Zoom Huarache 2K4 basketball shoes are expected to fetch up to 35,000 Swiss francs (about $38,000) during a Nov. 11 sale at Sotheby’s. Bryant wore the sneakers in a March 17, 2004, victory over the L.A. Clippers, according to the auction house.

But as usual in the Geneva fall auction season, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies and other prized gems will be the highlights of next week’s sales at Sotheby’s and rival Christie’s.

Christie’s is putting up on Tuesday an eye-popping pair of heavy bracelets from the 18th century that are studded with three rows of small diamonds. The bracelets are billed as one of the last remaining vestiges of Marie Antoinette’s rich jewelry cabinet that are still available for sale.

The auction house said the famed royal and wife of King Louis XVI was known to have carefully wrapped her jewels in cotton herself, hoping to keep them outside revolutionary France — which ultimately took her life via the guillotine. The bracelets, commissioned around 1776, were kept within royal lineage for over 200 years, Christie’s said.

AP
A Christie’s employee displays a pair of diamond bracelets, with approximately 140 to 150 carats and owned by Queen Marie-Antoinette of France, in silver and yellow gold, circa 1776, during a preview at the Christie’s, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. The jewelry is estimated to sell for over $5 million.

“Despite Marie-Antoinette’s capture in the French Revolution and her unfortunate death in 1793, the bracelets survived and were passed on to her daughter, Madame Royale, and then the Duchess of Parma,” said Max Fawcett, head of Christie’s jewelry department, referring respectively to Marie-Therese of France, the couple’s daughter, and Princess Louise d’Artois, who died in 1864.

“To see them up for auction today is a unique opportunity for collectors around the world to own a piece of French royal history,” Fawcett said.

The pre-sale estimate for the bracelets is up to 4 million Swiss francs ($4.38 million). They each weigh 97 grams (3.42 ounces), and include “old-cut” diamonds as well as silver and gold, Christie’s said.

Among the lots Sotheby’s plans to present on Wednesday is a pair of “perfectly matched” earrings, each set with 25.8-carat diamonds, that is expected to fetch up to 5 million francs ($5.5 million).

It will also showcase a brooch with a 26.8-carat oval sapphire surrounded by diamonds, and matching ear clips that once belonged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and were whisked out of Russia during the country’s 1917 revolution. The trio is expected to garner as much as 480,000 francs ($525,800).

“She was the wife of Grand Duke Vladimir, the son of the tsar, and she was really passionate about jewelry. She had a fantastic collection of jewels,” Olivier Wagner, the head of Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels sales, said.

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Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln, wearing the gown in which she appeared at the inaugural ball held in honor of her husband. The two were married Nov. 4, 1842. | Sun-Times file

For better or worse, the two would be constant companions throughout Lincoln’s rise to the presidency and the Civil War. Here’s a look at Mary Todd Lincoln after her husband’s death.

As published in the Chicago Daily News, sister publication of the Chicago Sun-Times:

On Nov. 4, 1842, a socialite from Lexington, Kentucky, married an up-and-coming lawyer from Springfield, Illinois. For better or worse, Abraham Lincoln and his new wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, would face tragedies both personal and national together.

The Chicago Daily News started publishing in the last weeks of 1875, so the couple’s marriage, time spent in the White House and Lincoln’s assassination never made the front page. But after the president’s death in 1865, the paper did report on the widowed Mrs. Lincoln, who lived in Chicago for a time following her husband’s murder, until her death in 1882.

The first mention of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, as she was always called at that time, came on March 16, 1878.

“It is a sad fact that Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, the widow of the late President Lincoln, is living a secluded life in an interior town of France, and declines to return to America, lest she may again be placed in a lunatic asylum.”

Not a very flattering brief. In 1875, Robert Lincoln, the couple’s only surviving son, asked a jury to declare his mother insane so he could move her to a sanitarium, citing erratic behavior. The jury agreed, and Mrs. Lincoln spent four months at Bellevue Place in Batavia before she and her lawyers organized her release. The following year about two months after the brief in the paper was published, a Chicago court declared her competent.

Though she came from a wealthy family, Mrs. Lincoln’s life had proved to be far from glamorous by 1875. She’d lost three of her four sons prematurely (one while in the White House) and witnessed her husband’s assassination. She’d also fled the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 and, due to some overspending, spent a good part of her life in debt. Some historians have attempted to diagnose her with bipolar disorder or other medical conditions to explain some of her more curious actions, but given all that she endured, she may have just been dealing with a tremendous amount of grief.

After 1876, Mrs. Lincoln moved abroad and spent several years in Europe away from the Daily News. Her name resurfaced in 1881 in a report from Springfield, where she was living with her sister.

“All hopes for the recovery of Mrs. Lincoln, widow of Abraham Lincoln, are abandoned,” the report said on May 31, 1881. “She daily grows weaker, and her attending physicians say that she cannot survive many days longer.”

Thankfully, Mrs. Lincoln recovered — and then began lobbying Congress to increase her annual pension of $3,000 as the widow of a former president killed during the Civil War. By this point, however, her spending habits were commonly known to be extravagant, and the Daily News had no patience for them.

“There is no foundation whatever for the sensational statements published from News York to the effect that Mrs. Abraham Lincoln is without sufficient means to secure needed medical attendance and care,” the paper reported on Nov. 24, 1881.

The Daily News cited the $60,000 Mrs. Lincoln owned in government bonds as well as her annual salary, which they quoted as $5,000 at the time. It’s unclear where the additional amount of money came from or if the paper was mistaken.

The paper then further took a shot at Mrs. Lincoln’s health, suggesting the same statements from New York also exaggerated her health concerns. “In short,” the paper concluded, “there is no occasion for alarm about Mrs. Lincoln’s financial or physical condition.”

Congress did eventually raise her pension and issue a back payment of $15,000, but she never got to collect it. Mrs. Lincoln died on July 16, 1882, in the same place where she and her husband said their vows.

“Mrs. Lincoln died at 8:15 o’clock last night, at the house of Hon. N.W. Edwards,” the paper said in a July 17, 1882 report, “and in the house in which she was married to Mr. Lincoln nearly forty years ago.”

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Just 37 miles west of Chicago, you’ll find the second biggest city in the state. From award-winning Broadway musical theater to the largest water park in Illinois, Aurora has something for everyone. After a day of outdoor activities along the Fox River or snatching deals at Chicagoland’s largest outlet mall, you’ll be in dire need of a good meal. What’s better than ordering some takeout in Aurora, IL from one of these local favorites?

PS: Don’t forget to check out our restaurant guide for Elgin and Woodstock if you’re exploring the burbs!

405 N Eola Rd, Aurora, IL 60502

This local cozy breakfast chain has all your morning and afternoon fixes, from pancakes and omelettes to salads and sandwiches. Blueberry Hill has been serving home-cooked meals for over 15 years in the Chicagoland area, with additional locations in Darien, Homewood, Homer Glen, LaGrange, and Oakbrook.

The cafe uses the freshest ingredients for every meal. Try the house specialties like the Banana Nut Bread French Toast or Avocado Toast.

257 W New York St, Aurora, IL 60506

Don Walker’s has been an Aurora staple for over 50 years. The sandwich stop is known for its Italian Beef, a protected secret recipe prepared by the owners themselves.

The Italian Beef may draw your attention, but the menu also includes other delicious handheld classicism, from hot dogs to burgers. If you’re craving Chicago Dog ASAP in the area, snag one for just $2.75.

1033 Kilbery Ln, North Aurora, IL 60542

If you’re doing takeout, there’s nothing as classic as pizza. Raimondo’s will satisfy all your fast-Italian cravings from garlic bread to pasta and of course, pizza.

Try The Godfather Pizza, a Raimondo’s specialty, complete with Italian beef, hot giardiniera, and mozzarella. The pizzeria also has a “Pizza of the Month” for folks who like to try something different. If you can’t decide on just one pizza, order the Pizza Flight, which includes three 7” personal pizzas.

4309 E New York St, Aurora, IL 60504

This Chicago Chinatown staple has several locations in the Chicagoland area. Known for its authentic Szechuan specialties and traditional Chinese dishes, Lao Sze Chuan is one of the most popular Chinese restaurants nationwide, thanks to Chef Tony Hu’s culinary prowess.

If you love to feel the heat, try customer favorites like the Chef’s Special Dry Chili Chicken, Mapo Tofu, or General Tso’s Chicken.

4250 Fox Valley Center Dr, Aurora, IL 60504

Feast on the aromatic spices of authentic Indian fare from Bawarchi Biryanis, an Indian chain with restaurants nationwide. The eatery brings the traditional flavors of their home to yours.

Try the Chef’s Specials, like Mutton Pepper Fry as a starter. The goat is served dry with green chilies, curry leaves, and spices. For the main course, try the Chicken Shahi Khorma, a traditional Mughalai delight that is lightly sweet and spicy, flavored with cardamom. And as traditional with Indian cuisine, there are plenty of vegetarian options as well.

33 W New York St, Aurora, IL 60506

Gillerson’s Grubbery is a great stop on the way home after a bout at Hollywood Casino Aurora. The restaurant is known for its award-winning burgers and curated craft beers.

The menu boasts a delicious selection of specialty burgers, small plates, sandwiches, and more. Try the Rebel Duck Burger, as seen on Chicago’s Best TV. It’s loaded with an 8 oz. steak patty, carnitas, bacon, white cheddar, fried onion strings, and Grubby BBQ.

55 S Commons Dr, Aurora, IL 60504

Pomegranate Restaurant specializes in American and Greek fare and serves breakfast all day—always a win. 

The family-owned eatery has sweet and savory menu items, like crepes, french toast, and waffles as well as specials like Greek-Style Chicken, Liver and Onions, and Chicken or Pork Kabob. There’s also a large selection of sandwiches, salads, burgers, and more.

1033 Kilbery Ln, North Aurora, IL 60542

This Rustic New American lounge has an eclectic menu that changes seasonally with modern flatbreads, pasta, seafood, and more. 

If you’re feeling spendy, indulge in the A5 Japanese Wagyu Filet. The meal comes with a 6 oz. Kagoshima A5 Japanese Wagyu filet, pickled oyster mushroom, and sweet corn purée. A5 is the most highly marbled and expensive beef in the world—a real treat!

Featured Image Credit: Pomegranate Restaurant

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