The Chicagoist will be launching later but in the meantime please enjoy our archives.

Properly Priced - Cocktail Deals at A Mano

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jan 15, 2010 5:20PM

AManoLogo.jpg Back in 2007 when Chef John Caputo (of Bin 36) opened A Mano, we were big fans. We went for the homemade gelato, the Italian wines and the great seafood. A Mano had an unfortunate flood that closed the restaurant until early 2009 and, to be honest, we hadn’t been back since.

Like the rest of the Bin 36 restaurant group, A Mano has great dining deals. Anyone who isn’t already on all of the Bin 36 email lists should sign up immediately - and they’re not paying us to say that. A Mano’s deals are particularly good - $5 pizzas on Wednesday nights, 1/2 priced bottles of wine on Sunday. Last Wednesday, we were looking for a place to grab a drink and a snack and saw that A Mano’s Wednesday night deal was $5 cocktails. We’ve ranted, loudly, about overpriced drinks in the past and were not in the mood to spend $14 on a glass of exotic liquor - we just wanted to sip a drink and talk to a friend. Unfortunately, these deals usually have string attached; either the drinks are terrible or the deal only applies to a very limited selection.

This deal couldn’t be simpler. The waiter brought over their martini menu (which had somewhere between eight and ten options) and informed us that all of them were just $5. To our surprise, they were quite good - certainly not mixological masterpieces, but tasty and interesting cocktails. The Bellinitini, a peach concoction topped with prosecco, went down nicely, and their standard dirty martini was salty and satisfying. We also grabbed a wood-fired pizza ($12.50) made with wild mushrooms, caramelized onions, hazelnuts and truffle oil that was more than enough to feed 2 people.

Were the drinks knock-you-down strong? No, but they were more than worth the price. Plus, with a bill totaling $50 after 7 cocktails and a pizza? You can’t really complain. The same deal works with their non-martini cocktails on Saturday night, and we’ll have to stop in soon to try it out.

A Mano is located at 335 N. Dearborn.