Playing The Trump Card – River North

Chicago is a a city of neighborhoods.  Not that anyone knows all of them, and the real estate agents keep inventing new designations all the time.  But since I spent a decent amount of time in River North last week, I thought I'd cover this neighborhood that is very tourist friendly, and definitely a place you should hit on your visit.

Since it is north of the river, the Trump is in River North neighborhood, just across the river from "the Loop."  A very tourist friendly neighborhood with tons of shopping (the Magnificent Mile runs through it), tons of theme restaurants (Ed Debevick's, Hard Rock, P.F. Chang's, etc.), and lots of bars.

This week, I hit the following establishments:

The House of Blues:  As part of the Trump weekend, we had a reservation at HOB.  I've eaten lunch here a few times, and always had good food.  I'd never been there for dinner.  When a blues band was playing on the stage.  I know there are other HOB's around the country, and no one is going to confuse it with Kingston Mines, but it is probably a lot easier on the casual blues listener.  My group had a good time, the food was very good, and the music was just right.  And while it may be called "the blues" these guys were really rocking the joint.

Rossi's:  A dive bar that we hit after HOB.  No.  Serious.  A fucking DIVE.  How much of a dive?  When I went to the washroom, there was a condom hanging from the urinal handle.  (That's the ACTUAL picture, not something I lifted from the webs.) I opted against flushing.  Later in the evening, a rough looking version of Owen Wilson pass out on the bar, and then get to be the middle man in a struggle between a rough, short, round bleached blond thinking she was a 1980's Madonna and an androgynous  emo kid.

Rock Bottom Brewery:  Thursday after work, a professional organization that I'm in was supposed to meet at Rock Bottom for a presentation and free beer and food.  Very few people showed, and the panel discussion was lame and ill-prepared.  But the beer and food were pretty good.  But, the group was a dud, and not worth staying for that 6th free beer.  Let me stress, this had nothing to do with Rock Bottom, I like the place, especially their rooftop in the summer, but with the dud of the event.

Crimson Lounge:  So, after the Rock Bottom bottomed out, I met up with some co-workers who went the the Crimson Lounge.  Located in  the Hotel Sex Hotel Sax, the former House of Blues hotel, the Crimson Lounge is a pretty posh hotel bar.  It offers $3 draft beer, wine, and champagne on Thursday.  Which is why people had picked it for their after work frosty beverages.  The bar staff didn't seem that good.  And one of the "surgically enhanced" cocktail waitresses in a short black dress must have put on high heels for the first time that day.  She walked a little more like a lumber jack clomping through the woods vs. a new born giraffe, but either way, totally destroying the look she was going for.

So, if you're looking for a good place to hang while you're visiting, skip Division St.  Skip Rush St.  And if you are more than a few years out of college, you may even want to skip Lincoln Ave.  Make River North your play ground.

Oh, and during the day, you may want to hit up the highest concentration of art galleries outside of Manhattan.