The weekend is running on pure adrenaline.
Now that you've lived through your own economic malaise, you've earned some 1970s-style decadence. This party provides complimentary Ty-Ku Sake cocktails, air guitar and karaoke contests—plus a scintillating burlesque performer who'll bump, grind and Bus Stop you through the decade.
In Munich, Oktoberfest is basically a full season. In Chicago, we'll take it where we can get it…preferably in Federal Plaza during the middle of the day, with a sausage in one hand, a hearty stein of German-style Märzen Berghoff Oktoberfest beer in the other, while local bands rock the Loop. You can always oompah later.
It's good to have a romantic wine bar in your back pocket—preferably one that serves beer. The Stained Glass has branched out with a cozy Belgian-heavy beer adjunct, featuring 30 brews, lobster curry, fried chicken and a fancy version of a TV dinner (think real steak). And you were going to stay in...
You want oysters and beer, you go to the Publican. But when you don't want to pay for them, go to this hipster bar Monday night. You'll find samples of Old No. 38 Stout, plenty of bivalves and folk-blues rockers the Thin Man keeping time to your slurping.
In this day of boutique beaneries, finding great coffee isn't the issue—finding decent food to go with it is. So in addition to your brewed-to-order custom-roasted Intelligentsia, you'll find a chef who clocked time at NoMI whipping up delicacies like lamb-and-polenta sandwiches. That should perk you up.
