A New Angle to the Experiment?

I'm toying with the idea of trying a new drink with each new bar.

Now, this is a somewhat scary proposition. I'm more than a little bit partial to my vodka & cran. It's delicious. It's light. It's fruity. It's even good for my kidneys.

But what if I ramped things up a bit? What if I said "server's pleasure"? I might find something remarkable. Or I could end up with something that tastes like licorice: not awesome.

What say you, Reader? What drink(s) would you suggest that I try?

January 2010 The Experiment Begins....

Our first Drink Deck Saturday night was January 9, 2010.

This was the itinerary:


8p---Citizen Bar ("Neighborhood Joint")
364 W. Erie Street at N. Orleans in River North
http://www.citizenbar.com/







10p---the fifth ("Wine and Cocktail Bar")
600 W. Chicago Avenue at N Larrabee in River North
http://www.thefifthchicago.com/


12p---Motel Bar ("Hip Hangout")
600 W. Chicago Avenue at N Larrabee in River North
http://www.themotelbar.com/




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Citizen Bar, scheduled arrival: 8p; actual arrival: 8:15p

This is what I know for sure: 8p is too early to start a Saturday night. (Note to self: next DD2010 night starts at 9p.) I did want to make sure that we got there early enough to get a table. As it turned out, we were in no danger of not getting a table: there were approximately 12 people in the place. The televisions were tuned into the Dallas Cowboys game (win) and the Blackhawks game (lose).


My girls showed up shortly after me.
This is them.

We were but three for the first event.
But a good three.

Here's what we have in common:

* We went to Oktoberfest together in 2009. We were the last ones home on any given night.
* We all lived in Cincinnati. We all escaped from Cincinnati relatively unharmed.
* We all love Chicago, its bars and its men. (You know, for the most part.)
* We don't hate fun.


At Citizen Bar, we quickly became friendly with our gorgeous server (Daniela?) and the hilarious doorman, X. I'm gonna warn you right now, ladies, X is a flirt. We loved him. He loved us. He bought us shots. One was a miraculous concoction that tasted like miracles and peanut butter. The other one was Jameson. We ordered the spicy corn chowder (delicious!) and the wings (fair!). And many many drinks. I'm partial to the double vodka & cranberry, in a grownup glass.

Soon, a group of boys (men? guys? what is the preferred nomenclature?) arrived. Adorned in Wisconsin regalia, the leader (let's call him Alex) approached our table, clearly in need of help, while his followers sat at the table next to ours. It seems, he explained, that they had managed to attract an unwanted girl (from Nebraska!) at their last location, who somehow managed to get into their cab and follow them right to Citizen. Right to this very spot! How, oh how, would they get rid of her? Honesty wasn't an option, so the passive-aggressive "let's-sit-with-these-girls-and-ignore-her" route was taken.



****Dear Reader, I'm ashamed to say that I did not stick up for the braces-adorned stranger from Nebraska. Alas, all I could think was: "hey! This cute boy wants to talk to me!" Also, he was funny. Sorry, Nebraska, you're on your own.****

We stayed and flirted and laughed with Alex & Co. until 10:30p. We were 30 minutes off schedule and it was time to move on.


thefifth, scheduled arrival: 10p; actual arrival: 10:30p

One lesson learned on Opening Night DD2010: always be sure to check the times that the bar/restaurant is open. Turns out thefifth closes at 10p. It was fully locked down when we arrived. Whoops.


Motel Bar, scheduled arrival: 12p; actual arrival: 10:31p

When this bar opened, it was THE bar in Chicago. You couldn't get in. You had to stand in line. It was jam-packed with the young and restless.

Now, not-so-much.

We easily got a table. The music was fairly lame. The clientele was Not Awesome. I will say that the double vodka & cranberry was just right.


*******************************************************************************
To sum up, let's run the numbers:

Bars visited: 2
Girls in attendance: 3
Dollars saved: 20
Dollars spent: 130
Free shots: 2
Rescued boys: 4, maybe 5
Stories & laughs: countless.

Next DrinkDeck2010 night is scheduled for February 13, 2010. Look for a post after that.

Drink Deck 2010....How it started

My friend and I bought these crazy decks of cards called "The Drink Deck." Each card in the deck features a different Chicago bar and gives a $10 discount. It is our goal in 2010 to visit each and every one of these bars in 2010, no matter how cheesy, chi-chi, crowded or lame we may think they are. Basically, we intend to pick a card at random out of the deck, find the two closest bars to that bar and visit those three bars in one night. Get it? Easy.

We will see this city.
We will drink its alcohol.
We will meet its men.

However, lest you think that this is just a "let's go chase boys" night, it is not. The key to finding boys is acting like you are not the least bit interested in finding boys. So, we'll do fun stuff other than chasing boys. Like chat animatedly. And laugh a lot. And barroom bingo. And other good stuff. That I haven't thought up yet. But barroom bingo to start.

And then the boys will come.**

This blog will tell the story of what happened.

**That's what she said.