singley.org > blog archives > Update: The Alphabet Bar Progressive 02.05.2004

I've fallen a bit behind in my alphabet bar reviews, so I'll catch up now with a twofer special. A few weeks ago, we braved the bitter cold to spend an evening at an Uptown country western-ish pub, Carol's. When we walked in, there were three old guys sitting at the bar sort of staring despondently into their pint glasses of Bud Light. A younger guy was watching Connery woo women in Dr. No on the TV above rows of infrequently-used bottles of Amaretto, Absolut Vanilla and Midori. At a table next to an empty stage (apparently there is a great house band that plays on weekends) a couple hispters were chatting, drinking ironic MGDs.

We ordered the $2 Miller Lite bottle specials, chatted with the old bartender some, and listened to Bond trivia from the superfan. We sat, warmed up, order some more beers and a basket of fries. The food was excellent, and was made about four feet from us in a deep fat fryer by the same guy who brought us our brew. Awesome. We hope to go back for the $2.50 cheeseburgers, but will probably stay away from the spendy $3.00 veal sandwiches, also on the chalkboard menu. All in all, it was a solid neighborhood bar, definitely a place I'll go back to for music on a Friday or Saturday.

Next up, the not-a-yuppie-Lincoln-Park-bar-in-Lincoln-Park establishment, Delilah's. Apparently, it's a punk bar, with DJs spinning industrial and metal Thursday-Sunday. We were there on a Tuesday, and we walked into the dim, gothic-like but cozy main area to see a dude with big tatoos serving drinks and softcore porn playing on the TV. We ordered the fantastically cheap special, $2 Jack Daniels drinks, and tried not to watch (impossible) the adult version of Jekyll and Hyde. Premis: Jekyll drinks the mysterious potion and turns into Hyde, which is this rendition, happens to be a large-breasted blond woman who likes to take her top off. And as if this wasn't entertainment enough, we discovered that we were in the bar not 15 minutes before the start of a Judas Priest Live DVD release party. We looked around the room, noticing that this was not really a big draw, as by the time the DVD went in at 7, there were maybe 3 other people around to see it. Too bad, as folks missed out on lead singer Rob Halford in all his closeted homosexual glory. Can't really say I'm a big fan of the music, but drinking whisky to 80s metal was a good time.

We stayed about an hour then left just as the place was starting to fill up. I think they were going to give away Judas-related prizes as a DJ played obscure thrashing rock on the turntables, so we probably timed our exit about right. I think we all agreed, though, this place was a great find: nice space, excellent specials, and surprising visuals. Good times!

Atmosphere: 3.5
Food: N/A
Drinks: 4
Staff: 3
Intangibles: 3.8 (Judas!)

I'm off to London until Monday, but hopefully E bar will happen in the next week or two.