Decadent desserts. Elaborate cocktails. Allusions to bondage.

Yep, we’ve got all the pre-long-weekend email essentials today...

Actually, they’re at Spirited, part cocktail spot, part bakery, all alcohol. It’ll open soon in Prospect Heights. Here’s what you need to know...

It’s got the charm of a friendly 1930s neighborhood watering hole.
Because that’s what it was. Cigarette machines (sadly nonfunctioning), old cash register, nearly full-length bar. Here, we’ve taken photos as evidence.

If you’re on a teetotaling diet or something, turn around now.
The chocolate chip cookies are made with the ingredients of an Old Fashioned. There are five types of marshmallows, and none of them are dry. And the cocktails—well, yeah. (See the menu here.)

They’ve got secret specials.
That applies to both the pastries and the cocktails. They change every day, and you need a password to get them. That password can either be guessed at randomly until insanity sets in, or, soon, you’ll be able to obtain it quite easily here.

Coffee’s covered, too.
In the form of... wait for it... cocktails. Check out The Safe Word—espresso, gin, crème de cacao, cream and nutmeg.

Funny: your usual safe word is “nutmeg.”