Sometimes when spinning around on this big glittering disco ball we call Chicago nightlife, you crave
something simpler.
A dive bar. A taproom. A place to drink cheap beer surrounded by complete strangers.
And... a lot of deer heads.
Welcome to Sportsman’s Club, a reinvention of an old Polish dive, opening Friday on Western Avenue.
This is from the guys behind Bar DeVille and Lone Wolf, who are working with a pair of mixologists who have the Barrelhouse Flat and Aviary on their résumés. They’re doing things like gin-and-allspice cocktails, but they can pour you Old Style if you’d like.
See, when they took it over, they kept the name, the well-worn art deco bar and a pervasive downscale vibe. The rest: vastly improved.
Booth tables are hand-carved chessboards. So you can order the Sportsman—a bartender’s choice cocktail—then settle in with your favorite chess or checkers foe. Also, they’ve secured a packaged goods license. So you can pick up a fifth of Old Grand-Dad on your way out. Loser buys.
And true, they’ve gone a little crazy with the taxidermy. Deer, antelope and various unidentifiable creatures all stare at you from every corner.
Try not to get paranoid.
A dive bar. A taproom. A place to drink cheap beer surrounded by complete strangers.
And... a lot of deer heads.
Welcome to Sportsman’s Club, a reinvention of an old Polish dive, opening Friday on Western Avenue.
This is from the guys behind Bar DeVille and Lone Wolf, who are working with a pair of mixologists who have the Barrelhouse Flat and Aviary on their résumés. They’re doing things like gin-and-allspice cocktails, but they can pour you Old Style if you’d like.
See, when they took it over, they kept the name, the well-worn art deco bar and a pervasive downscale vibe. The rest: vastly improved.
Booth tables are hand-carved chessboards. So you can order the Sportsman—a bartender’s choice cocktail—then settle in with your favorite chess or checkers foe. Also, they’ve secured a packaged goods license. So you can pick up a fifth of Old Grand-Dad on your way out. Loser buys.
And true, they’ve gone a little crazy with the taxidermy. Deer, antelope and various unidentifiable creatures all stare at you from every corner.
Try not to get paranoid.
