Chicago Classics, Holiday Edition: Club Lucky

By Staff in Food on Nov 29, 2010 8:00PM

We have a tradition of occasionally saluting an old favorite bar or restaurant under the heading "Chicago Classics." With the blustery winter air descending upon us like Uncle Buck moving in to baby-sit, and the holiday-shopping season officially at full tilt, today feels like the day to remind ourselves of Club Lucky.

We stopped in recently for a couple of superb Martinis and happily found the place dressed in its Christmas regalia—wreaths and lights on the walls, oversized, glittery paper snowflakes dangling from the ceiling. The decor at this time of year strikes a perfect note of being festively over the top but in a very good way—the way you want the holidays to make you feel.

Club Lucky has been pouring the neighborhood's Martinis and Manhattans since the 1930s. Back then, the attached Italian restaurant was a VFW hall. (The very good, red-sauce-heavy food is circa 1990, when Club Lucky came under new ownership.) It's not hard to picture the big, open dining room as a gathering place for tough old guys to trade stories and knock back a few beers. But we like to plant ourselves at the still-original bar. Regulars from the neighborhood sometimes trickle in, like the 75-year-old former bar owner who sat down next to us for a spell. Stories ensued. Handshakes.

The cocktail menu certainly dates itself, but so does the whole place. (Very little has been changed since its early days.) Besides, we see no reason to stray from the Always Lucky Martini, unless to move onto the Club Lucky Manhattan. Both come shaken and in a frosty glass. The bar stocks good olives, and garnishes always come in threes. It's perhaps a small thing, but serving a Manhattan with a trio of ruby-red cherries, as a rule, is a gesture of generosity we deeply appreciate.

Club Lucky is located at 1824 West Wabansia Ave.

By Roger Kamholz