South Loop night out

Establishments keep coming, but neighborhood has a ways to go

by Barry Pearce

The Velvet Lounge, 67 E. Cermak Road

Six or seven years ago New Homes ran a “South Loop night out” story that, to no one’s surprise, was fairly short. Since then, thousands upon thousands of new homes have been constructed in what has become the city’s fastest-growing community, and thousands more are on the way. How has the boom in residential development affected neighborhood nightlife? That was the question we pondered as we recently set out, sober and hungry, for a night on the South Loop.

The first thing that struck us, before we even left the office, was that the number of options here clearly has expanded. Back in the day, about the best dinner you could get was a basket of wings at The South Loop Club, a grungy sports bar at 701 S. State St., and the most lively nightlife was at Kasey’s, 701 S. Dearborn St., a neighborhood tavern in Printers Row that’s comfortable but not exactly hip.

In planning this jaunt, the names of places we’d never heard began to surface – always a good sign – and we actually had to consider which options to eliminate.

We started our evening at 13th and Wabash, a block that’s become something of a restaurant row, at least by South Loop standards. For dinner, we considered Jerry Kleiner’s Opera, 1301 S. Wabash Ave., whose modern interpretations of Chinese dishes include Maine lobster spring rolls, Peking duck and crisp orange beef with lotus, scallions, snow peas and a sweet orange-sesame glaze, but we’ve eaten there before, and it was a bit much for the budget on this night (entrees run $16 to $26 on average). Gioco, 1312 S. Wabash Ave., also is owned by Kleiner and offers a nice mix of pasta, pizzas and steaks (including the gut-busting 40-ounce porterhouse), but we’ve eaten there too.

Instead, we opted for Zapatista Cantina, at 1307 S. Wabash Ave., directly south of Opera and the newest of the dining options on the South Loop’s hottest culinary corner. Physically, Zapatista is a nice place. The ceilings are high, colors are festive and there’s a long comfortable bar with a stone back. You can get a burrito for $9.99 and a rustica margarita (Mezcal, GranGala orange liqueur and fresh lime juice) for $8. The food was good if not great, and the salsa – smokey like the rustica – was terrific.

Several places on the 1300 block of South Wabash have outdoor seating, which dramatically improves the character of this famously dingy street in warmer weather. Alas, on the chilly October weeknight we ventured forth, no one was eating outside.

Zapatista had two or three tables of customers at 8:30 p.m. This was a Wednesday night, granted, but still, a number of South Loop restaurants and bars we checked out were all but empty from 8 p.m. to midnight. Sick of our own company, we headed south.

Tantrum, 1023 S. State St.

We passed the Chicago Firehouse, 1401 S. Michigan Ave., a restaurant that stands up to any in the city for steaks and service. Restaurateur Matt O’Malley, who also owns Zapatista and the Wabash Tap, 1233 S. Wabash Ave., opened the Chicago Firehouse well before the current construction boom, and South Loopers are fiercely loyal to him for believing in the little neighborhood that could when others doubted that the population here could support anything new. O’Malley also runs Grace O’Malley’s, the cozy Irish pub named after our favorite Irish pirate across the street, at 1416 S. Michigan Ave.

This night, however, we decided to skip Grace O’Malley’s in favor of the Weather Mark Tavern, a three-month-old nautical-themed bar serving pub food at 1503 S. Michigan Ave. So, if you’re watching these addresses, it’s not as if there’s a bar or restaurant every 50 feet in the South Loop, but the neighborhood is working toward having something to hold your interest at regular intervals. It’s a far cry from River North, but a vast improvement over the choices here in the mid- or even late ’90s.

The question is how some of these places will do in the short term. The Weather Mark, a sizable place that didn’t skimp on the renovation, had just five or six patrons sitting at the bar when we walked in, and one woman in a booth typing on a laptop. We couldn’t make our minds up to the whole nautical theme. I liked the multi-toned blue walls (waves, get it?), but the actual sails separating booths seemed a little over the top. One observer noted, “It’s less yacht club and more Supercuts than I thought it would be.” Maybe this place will get the best of both worlds, game watchers before 10 p.m. and club-goers late night, but it’s just as likely to turn off both sets for being neither rowdy enough as a sports bar nor chic enough as a lounge. One thing it has going for it is Chef Craig, who owns the joint and is a friendly, affable fellow.

The Weather Mark, 1503 S. Michigan Ave.

Still searching for signs of South Loop nightlife, we headed to the new Velvet Lounge, 67 E. Cermak Road. We were thrilled when the old Velvet Lounge, a divey mainstay of the old South Loop known for its eclectic jazz, found new digs in the neighborhood. We want to like the new space. Really. But it isn’t easy. The location is in a new single-story brick building that has the look and character of a strip mall with banquet hall chairs. Once again – you’ll be shocked by this – the bar was nearly empty. The sound is good, though, the quartet played their hearts out, and Fred Anderson, who owns the Velvet Lounge and was collecting the $7 cover, is a Chicago legend. If anyone can make a go of this space, it will be him.

We finished up the night at Tantrum, a bar that like the Chicago Firehouse, won the hearts of many a South Looper when it opened at 1023 S. State St. at a time when the neighborhood pickings were very slim indeed. Tantrum was the first place we came to that was almost crowded – plenty of seats available, but plenty taken too, and a smattering of dancers in the back of the bar.

Turns out, Tantrum was crowded because the special was $3 drafts for college kids. We were bemused enough to sit for a couple of beers through the hoopla, which included two college boys removing their shirts to give their female friend a disturbing lap dance in the middle of the dance floor.

Our bartender, Nazaneen, took good care of us, and had perhaps less patience for the craziness than we did, though she only recently left Columbia College herself. Most of the students here seemed to be from Columbia.

College night at Tantrum, by the way, does not do the bar justice. It’s both chic and comfortable – exposed brick, comfy arm chairs and couches, glazed walls, funky lighting and a well-dressed but unpretentious crowd, mostly from the neighborhood. Give it a try on a night other than Wednesday – unless those $3 beers are sounding irresistible.

Leaving Tantrum, we determined that South Loop residents who complain that commercial development and conveniences still lag behind residential building here might have it backwards. The trick here will be for the population to catch up with the still small but growing number of restaurants and bars.

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