The Gold Standard
Cocktails and House-Made Pasta in River North

You have a big weekend ahead. From chocolate and free-flowing champagne to carelessly flung teddies hanging from chairs, ceiling fans and the occasional cat (always in the wrong place at the wrong time)...

But let's look beyond your Presidents' Day plans for a moment.

We bring word of Gilt Bar, your new stronghold for dinner and cocktails, opening next week in the former Aigre Doux space.

On first glance, it's a square-jawed throwback, the kind of place you'll escape after work, elbows on the 100-year-old brass bar top, slurping fresh briny oysters and drinking strong craft brew or, better yet, a stiff martini made with handcrafted organic vodka imported from a strange, snow-covered land (which you know as Wisconsin).

Though when you're entertaining someone with elbows that demand softer surfaces, the plush front lounge awaits with a pastiche of antique tufted chairs, brass mirrors, turn-of-the-century lighting and vintage folding seats reclaimed from an old theater.

But since the chef has worked everywhere from the Ritz Paris to the French Laundry, you will want to give one of those tufted Chesterfield couches in the center of the dining room a spin, indulging in the singular joys a 16-ounce pork porterhouse or house-made pasta like ricotta gnocchi can provide.

Yes, this might be love.