What's happening in Chicago this week?

Summer in Chicago means air thick with Lake Michigan humidity. Temperatures this week sit around 28°C, but the heat index pushes closer to 31°C with 73% humidity. Afternoon thunderstorms tend to build between 2pm and 4pm. They roll in from the southwest over Midway and clear the lakefront within 40 minutes. Mornings before 10am are your window. North Avenue Beach and Oak Street Beach fill by noon on weekends, but weekday mornings you might find 20 meters of open sand. The water temperature this time of year hovers near 21°C. Cold enough to shock you on entry, warm enough to stay in for 15 minutes.

Chicago's weekly food calendar runs on two markets. Green City Market operates Wednesdays and Saturdays in Lincoln Park, 7am to 1pm, with about 50 vendors selling Midwestern produce and prepared food. The smell of wood-fired flatbreads from Publican Quality Bread hits you from the south entrance. On Sundays, Maxwell Street Market on South Desplaines Street opens at 7am. The char from elote carts and steam from tamale stalls fill the air along the 800 block by 8am. For sit-down meals, weeknight reservations at Alinea or Smyth need 3-4 weeks of lead time. Walk-in counter seats at Portillo's on West Ontario or Al's #1 Italian Beef on Taylor Street in Little Italy rarely have more than a 10-minute wait.

The blues play every night in Chicago. Kingston Mines in Lincoln Park runs two stages simultaneously, 7 nights a week, $15-20 cover. The room smells like spilled Old Style and decades of amplifier heat. B.L.U.E.S. on North Halsted, a block south, runs a single stage with a $10 cover and lower ceilings that put you close enough to feel the amp buzz through the bar top. For jazz, head to the Green Mill in Uptown, open since 1907. The poetry slam runs Sundays. Live jazz fills the other 6 nights, $8-15 cover. Thursday through Saturday, Logan Square and Wicker Park bars along Milwaukee Avenue stay packed until 2am, 4am on Saturdays with a late-night license. Monday and Tuesday are industry nights in Fulton Market, when River North bartenders drink at each other's bars and the rooms thin out by midnight.

Most of Chicago's major museums stay open 7 days a week in summer, which is unusual for a US city. The Art Institute of Chicago on South Michigan Avenue, open since 1879, runs 11am to 5pm daily, until 8pm Thursdays. Thursday evenings are the least crowded time to see the Seurat and the Hopper galleries. The Field Museum of Natural History, founded in 1893, keeps the same daily schedule on the Museum Campus. Millennium Park and Cloud Gate, both opened in 2004, are free and accessible 24 hours. Worth noting, the 6am to 8am window at Cloud Gate gives you the sculpture without 200 people taking the same photo. Willis Tower's Skydeck sells timed entries. Book a weekday morning slot, 9am to 10am, to avoid the 45-minute weekend queue.

Chicago's neighborhoods run on different clocks. Pilsen, south of the Loop along 18th Street, is quieter on weekday mornings. The murals look better then, when the light hits the east-facing walls of the National Museum of Mexican Art. Wicker Park peaks Friday and Saturday nights along Division Street and Damen Avenue. Chinatown on South Wentworth Avenue has the best dim sum on weekend mornings at places like MingHin. Arrive by 10am to avoid a 30-minute wait. The Loop empties after 6pm on weekdays and stays largely deserted on weekends, which makes it the wrong place to book a hotel if you want evening energy. Stay in River North or Lincoln Park instead for walkable dinners and a 10-minute L ride to anything downtown.