The spot: While showering your loved one with affection on Valentine’s Day is expected, you should really treat your sweetheart like a king or queen every day of the year. A good place to start is Treat, the delightful and sometimes overlooked eatery on the border of Humboldt Park and Logan Square. Chef-owner Tamiz Haiderali describes the cuisine as “contemporary American with Mediterranean and Indian flavors.” The seasonally changing menu always serves the perennially popular chicken tikka masala ($12.95), and Haiderali says he can barely keep up with the daily demand for the lamb burger ($8.95 with a side). Art lovers will dig the works by local artists (all for sale), which rotate on and off the bright yellow walls monthly. Neighborhood diners enjoy the outdoor patio in the summer and live jazz in the casual indoor space on Thursday nights.

The bottle: Plan ahead the day before you dine at Treat by placing a call to Logan Square’s Provenance Food and Wine. Owner Tracy Kellner is familiar with Treat’s menu and is happy to make wine recommendations. Provenance will even deliver the bottle to Treat for you at no charge (with a $15 minimum order). Kellner suggests the 2006 Brandborg Or Blanc, a dry blend of riesling, gewurztraminer and pinot gris ($15) as a match for Treat’s spicier dishes. She says the 2004 Kana Barbera from Horse Heaven Hills, Wash., ($16) is an excellent red to drink with the Moroccan lamb shank prepared with preserved lemon and saffron oil ($16.95). If you make your plans at the last minute, don’t fret. Foremost Liquor (3301 W. North Ave. 773-772-2200) is just around the corner from Treat. Pick up a bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne ($15.99) to make your own mimosas at Treat’s weekend brunch. Orange juice is $1.50.

-- Emily Hiser Lobdell is a Metromix special contributor.  metromix@tribune.com

If you can't wait until Lollapalooza for a big, huge, massive Midwest music festival (or just can't afford to head to Bonnaroo in Tennessee) you're in luck. In Rothbury, Michigan, the just-announced Rothbury Festival (July 3-6) will feature more than 70 bands on eight stages, with the lineup including John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Widespread Panic, Modest Mouse, Snoop Dogg, The Black Keys, Of Montreal and lots, lots more. Tickets for the environmentally friendly fest--which includes a "Think Tank" and "Energy Fair," according to the press release--go on sale 11 a.m. Feb. 27. No info on prices yet.

More info here
http://www.rothburyfestival.com/

Hurry and get tickets for the final week of "Good Boys and True" at the Steppenwolf, playing through Feb. 16. Sort of an American answer to Alan Bennett's "The History Boys," which shares the same '80s time frame, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's tale of sex, revenge, class, gender politics, and morality within the hallowed halls of -- where else? -- a boys Jesuit  prep school offers plenty of rewards. But the chief reward isn't a boy at all. It's ensemble member and Steppenwolf artistic director Martha Lavey. She plays Elizabeth, a doctor whose golden child and Dartmouth-bound son (played by Stephen Louis Grush, pictured above with Lavey) is implicated in -- what else? -- a sex scandal (and that's not the half of it.) As the plot layers unravel, Levay conveys the conflict of a protective mom and outraged humanist with rawness, refinement and restraint.

But if that's not enough reason to get you in a seat, Steppenwolf is hosting a send-off party, featuring 2-for-1 tix, specialty cocktails, and a DJ spinning '80s retro. (Use code "3927" by phone at 312-335-1650 for 2-for-1 tickets and access to the party).

Click here for Metromix details on the play, Chris Jones review and more.

I'm partially ashamed to admit I call myself a "theater person" since I've never seen "Rent." Until last night, that is. The nationally touring production is currently staging at the Cadillac Palace Theatre (through Sunday) with a couple of reality TV graduates in tow. Heinz Winckler (pictured above with co-star Jennifer Colby Talton), the first winner of "Idols" (the South African version of "American Idol") stars as Roger Davis. In case you didn't see that version of the series, you can sate your celeb-etite with the talented vocals of Season Four "American Idol" finalist Anwar Robinson, who plays Tom Collins.

As expected, "Rent" is a big blowout show, but the production seems to favor the (mostly) powerful vocals of the cast, leaving the acting at a bit of a disadvantage. In other words, it's a cast of singers who can dance, rather than dancers who can sing (or actors who can do either thing really well). Maybe this isn't a bad thing. There are nearly 20 songs in act one alone (with about 10 more to follow in act two) and who wants to be assaulted by off-key singing for more than two hours? The singers, however, could have channeled their inner actors a bit more for the emotionally charged script. Winckler seemed more comfortable belting rock ballads than expressing rocky emotions.

Overall, "Rent" is an enjoyable production with a young, energetic and fresh-faced cast. Yet a little seasoning would have gone a long way here.

Want to see it yourself? Tickets range from $22.50-$70. Ticketmaster.com. More info here:

http://chicago.metromix.com/theater/theater_event/rent-loop/172314/content

So bitter about Valentine's Day you feel like aiming an arrow at that stupid Cupid’s head? We feel ya.

Don't boycott the day by staying home alone—shove your fabulous single self into the faces of saccahrine, cavity-inducing couples by celebrating your own way, at an anti-Valentine’s Day party or pub crawl.

Tune in to Q101.1 WKQX-FM at 8:50 a.m. Thursday, when I’ll be talking with morning show hosts Alan Cox and Jim Lynam about alternative celebrations for people not into candy hearts and flowers.

>>> Can’t resist being lovey-dovey? Check out our Valentine’s Day guide:
http://chicago.metromix.com/home/producer_guide/chicago-valentines-day-guide/284752/content