CULTURAL FLICKS: It's a different type of movie experience Wednesday nights at the South Loop's new Showplace Icon Theater as they present "Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD" -- encore screenings of the six most recently performed opera shows. Share the experience with fellow opera lovers as the same shows are transmitted into movie theatres worldwide. Through July 28. 6:30 p.m., 150 W. Roosevelt Rd., $15.
CHEFS ON THE GRILL: Eight Chicago chefs from the "Millennium Valley" -- names like Philip Foss of Lockwood and Michael Fiorello from Mercat a la Planxa -- join forces for the third annual benefit for the Grant Park Conservatory. Trust us, it'll taste better than anything you'll be throwing over coals anytime soon. 6 p.m., Park Grill, 11 N. Michigan Ave., $55 in advance, $60 at the door.
SINGLE MINGLE: Who says you can't find that special someone at a bar? Prove them wrong by heading to Joe's Bar on Weed Street tonight for the Love Lockdown party. All the sexy single women get a necklace with a lock and the dashing dudes get a key. Then the goal is to unlock as many hearts as you can. Sounds better than those tired old pickup lines. 7 p.m., 940 West Weed St, $15
GET YOUR POPCORN: Young filmmakers from Buffalo, NY and Chicago came together to create a documentary about understanding one's self and exploring the struggle in finding identity. "The Experience," premiers tonight at The Portage Theater.8 p.m., 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., $10.
