Ballin’
A New Cocktailing Den Above Orange

We know your type.

Tall. Slender. Frequently full of gin.

So here’s some welcome news: Highball Lounge opens Thursday in River North with a finely honed slate of Moscow Mules, Dark and Stormys and other throwback cocktails just itching to make your acquaintance.

Imagine the basement bar your grandfather dreamed of building... only here it’s upstairs (right above Orange, actually). Of course, it also helps to imagine your grandfather was Charles Eames—this place goes heavy on the clean lines and low seating.

Funny enough for a cocktail lounge, a master sommelier runs the joint. (You may remember him from the Tasting Room—if you want to buy a bottle of wine to go, you’ll get two for the price of one.)

Now he’s created the perfect spot for that Mad Men–themed holiday party you keep proposing, which tends to make the faces of the folks in HR and legal go ashen. Start the party with a bowl of punch, ladled into ’60s-era highball glasses. (Or come next month, you’ll chill out during Tropical Thursdays, basically Brasil ’66 by way of Tokyo ’11... with mai tais.)

But mainly, come here for cocktails with crazy names—like a Monkey Gland (we’re assured it’s 100% monkey-gland free). Or, create your own with a mix-and-match menu of booze, mixers and bitters.

Prediction: you’re the next Harvey Wallbanger.