Last year, you were lured by every pretty spoonful of caviar that came your way. This year, there are a lot more burgers in your life. And if some happen to have caviar on them...well, so be it.

Introducing Toasted Ox, now soft-open in Lincoln Park. While it's currently relying on the burger-beer-wings setup, it plans a pretty auspicious menu relaunch come the first week of February.

That should give you enough time to get acquainted with the spot's timeless-watering-hole essence. As you enter, you'll sense a warm glow from the translucent, onyx-topped bar and Tiffany-style chandelier, and just enough flat screens to help keep one eye on the game, should the need arise.

Once you're firmly ensconced as a regular, you'll be in position to pounce on all the impending decadence. The 14-martini cocktail list is available beginning tonight—try the Hawaiian Quaalude, a Southern Comfort/pineapple juice/peach schnapps mélange as relaxing as, well, a Hawaiian lude—and the aforementioned Caviar Burger is in the works, as well as Lobster and Mango Salad. There's even talk of a design-your-own mac-and-cheese dish, which gets us thinking about how nice (yet responsible) a little side of caviar macaroni sounds.

It is a recession, after all.