ABOUT

Hi there. It’s Joe Arendt 👋

I’m the founder of Burbs Explored. I was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs. Post college, I lived in the city for over a decade and helped grow popular media brands like Eater, Curbed, and Inman. Like many, my wife and I started a family and moved back to the suburbs for more space, better schools, and proximity to family. While we don’t have the same free time we used to, we still love exploring our town, having a date night at a good restaurant, and finding interesting things to do with our kids. However, since we moved back to the suburbs, we have found it difficult to find quality recommendations. Most local guides and lists are focused on the city (we still love Chicago but not the traffic) and we simply don’t have the time to look through hundreds of social posts and search results each time we want to do something. So after years of wishing the suburbs had a better resource for discovering the best places and things to do, I launched Burbs Explored as an attempt to change that. 

Our goal is to be a curated guide on where to eat, drink, live, and play in the Chicago suburbs. Our focus is on quality recommendations, highly curated content, and being a useful resource for people who enjoy eating, drinking, and living well in the suburbs. While we hope you enjoy this site, the best way to follow us is by subscribing to our free weekly newsletter. 

We are just getting started so please do share feedback and let us know your favorite local spots, events, and things to do around the Chicago suburbs. You can contact us here or shoot me an email at joe(at)burbsexplored.com.

See you around town,

Joe