Any recommendations for where to watch the Hawks game that will be showing it, but won't be a ****show?

Certainly gonna bump this if the finals happen because I'd like to know too. Gonna check out printers row or Clark st possibly during or after

First draft was packed but really good time

I was there too. I've never seen it that packed before. Great atmosphere. Lots of fun.

Tried Tapworks, which I thought might be reasonable because there were like 12 total people there for the NCAA finals. It was packed (every seat taken, but not packed with standers), when I got there at 6:40 for the 7pm game. I didn't think it was worth it to make a fuss about the number of people who were just holding seats for friends coming later, because I'm not an ass. But I was surprised, I guess.

Wound up at Kaiser Tiger, which had a few open seats when I got there just after 7 (I didn't check upstairs, maybe had even more open seating up there). Really impressed. Huge (even with the patio closed). Good beer list. 3 sizes of pours for most drafts, which is always nice. Good food, from what I could tell. Place isn't exactly covered in TVs, but more than sufficient to watch the game. Someone was doing a wedding in one of the event spaces, which was pretty cool. Bride and groom ducked out during reception and played ping pong. Because the place has ping pong, foosball, and some pinball. Pretty great. Will be going back.

Yeah first draft was great. A ton of beers on tap and we got 5 drinks and it was somehow under 30 dollars. I'm still in shock. I had a mixed drink and IPAs.

Great atmosphere. Great music after. Was a lot of fun. I'll definitely go back for a few finals games

It's good to go somewhere that isn't so active and crazy sometimes for those games IMO but I really enjoyed it

went to summerhouse. Food was good but service was meh at best. I would go back though.

A bit random but I want to recommend a couple of surgeons.

For back/orthopaedic issues Dr. Jason Savage at Northwestern.
For Ear, Nose & Throat Dr. Elizabeth Blair at U of Chicago.

Both established great rapport and made me trust them but most of all both did great jobs!

ot recs like that are great. Should be a lot more.

on the topic of off topic:

If anyone is interested in custom made suits/shirts, there's a guy in Chicago today thru the 5th.
Full disclaimer: Everything about the situation seems shady...
-suits are made in HongKong
-you meet in a hotel and he takes about 2000 measurements
-he has hundreds of swatches of materials to choose from, no full shirts/suits to try on or see other than his personal wardrobe
But, my good friend has ordered from him twice in Chicago and had tried to get me to go with him but, I never had the chance due to schedule conflicts. I'm now in Denver and just met with the guy and put an order in two weeks ago. I was told it would take 4-6 weeks for delivery but everything arrived last Saturday (exactly 2 weeks).
I ordered a suit and 6 shirts for <$900. The suit crushed expectations, considering I picked the least expensive option (~$500).
website and facebook:
http://www.voguetailors.com/
https://www.facebook.com/VogueTailors
If anyone is interested, DM me and I'll send the contact info.

Continuing the trend of slightly OT posts...figured this would be an ok place to get some ideas.

I'm getting married soon and have a conundrum regarding my best man. The issue is that he is 'wealthy.' And by that, I mean more wealthy than I could ever hope to be, which kind of leaves me at a loss when it comes to the customary wedding party gift stuff. There are no other groomsmen.

I want to get him something different than the normal flask, engraved whatever, blah blah. Curious if anybody that browses this thread had any ideas or things that worked out well for them, or that they thought was more meaningful. We are both mid-late 20's if it makes a difference.

Thoughts?

If he's into sports, an autographed memorabilia item of favorite player/team. Or a nice framed picture relating to the player/team. Or have something created custom for him that he's into.

This company does the same: http://www.wwchan.com/ and were also just in Chicago

I met them in 2010 when they came, but didn't end up getting anything. I actually didn't think it was shady at all and I think it's a great/good value idea.

Any recs on a place to have a birthday? Would probably want to invite friends from a few different groups and probably best to have no fixed starting/stopping times.

Does this basically just leave a bar as the only option?

Pretty typical/classic thing is Whirlyball (they also have lasertag) but this really depends on the group. Its a big bar and you can kind of rotate teams while people not playing can drink, hang out, play pool, etc.

You could also do something like a Headquarters Beercade type thing. Other than that, yeah, bars seem like the most obvious option.

Went to Momotaro a couple weeks ago and its the best overall restaurant experience I've had in Chicago. Went downstairs for a drink before dinner and thought the place looked awesome, service was great, and fantastic drinks. Ate dinner upstairs and let them pick the majority of our food and was very impressed.

Has anyone been to Fulton Market Kitchen? Taking friends to Aviary and need to pick a place to eat prior.

edit: just saw others have talked about it. Yes its amazing.

Anyone know a good place to watch the hockey downtown/rivernorth tomorrow?

Have a friend coming into town, both of us are Australian so we are not that into hockey but will be fun to watch at a bar. Probably eating at the Gage beforehand so food not that much of an issue.

I know public house has decent drinks and screens not sure how the atmosphere will be though. Might check out kaiser tiger too as per citanul's review.

Any suggestions would be great.

I think Public House would be a good bet.

I used to live a few blocks north of there and it would typically draw a good young crowd for sporting events. Basic as far as drinks and food go but good atmosphere.

I'd also recommend Parlor which is in the West Loop. Great patio and was by there a week or two ago and it was mobbed with people ready to watch a hawks game (was a weekend daytime game though for comparison). www.parlorchicago.com/

Other river north options to consider would be:

American Junkie
Rock it
Municipal

Disclaimer: I've never actually watched a Hawks game at any of these places.

Pretty much any bar in River North, or anywhere for that matter... is going to be packed for the hockey game tomorrow. I'd get there at least 30 minutes before puck drop for any chance at getting a table.

I should've posted this a long time ago, but if people are getting into wine and want to try more than your normal steakhouse type stuff, Table, Donkey, and Stick has had a cool by the glass program on Tuesday nights. Last night was Pierre Moncuit champagne and if you got at least a half pour of their 3 offerings, Matt (part owner and somm) also poured some of the 95 too (also helps that we're friends and he knows I'm ITB too). The prices are extremely reasonable and they pour some very hard to get stuff (I barely saw any Moncuit in champagne on a recent trip).

If you are into Cougars, RPM Steak is your Nirvana

Any good doctor recs? Relatively new (<1 yr) to Chicago and would like a good doctor who isn't an idiot and halfway personable.

Anyone here going to The Grateful Dead this weekend?

interested in a couple of single day passes for Lolla next Friday the 31st...

I also have two tickets to Cold War Kids at Park West (Thurs
Day 30th) which I am looking to sell at face value

PM if interested

I have (2) 3-day passes for North Coast Music Festival Labor Day Weekend if anybody is interested.

Looking for $150 total.

This is kind of specific, but does anyone have a recommendation for where to watch an NFL game? I'm looking for a place that is laid back and not overwhelmingly crowded, hopefully with a good beer selection. We are having brunch before and dinner after, so food isn't too important. We're staying at the Park Hyatt, so we are open to pretty much everything in terms of neighborhood.