Game Day Diaries: The Spot

Since I moved to Chicago I have been taking Game Day very seriously. Every week I watch the Packers, get drunk and eat unhealthy food. I'm kicking off our new series "Game Day Diaries" with a post about what happened yesterday at The Spot in uptown.

There are a handful of Packer bars in Chicago. My old favorite is a place called Will's Northwoods (I'll post about this place another time). Jake and I decided to go out to a Packer bar because it's his last week in town for a while and the bears were playing at the same time which makes it hard to see another game in Chicago. We got to Will's and there was a line out the door. I couldn't believe it. The game had just started and I knew that anyone inside the paradise that is Will's wouldn't be coming out of there until at least halftime. We looked up another bar just a couple stops north on the red line call The Spot.

We were greeted by a young man in a Packer jersey (Greg Jennings, I believe). He directed us upstairs and mentioned something that instantly piqued my interest: tot'chos. We headed up to a room with green walls full of packer fans and found 2 stools at the end of the bar. Jake ordered 7&7s.

We made our food choices without reading the descriptions of anything because we're adventurous. Obviously we got tot'chos. I also ordered something called man wings and mini tacos. We finished our first drinks just in time to get 2 for 1 halftime shots of rail whiskey. I told the bartender I wanted a "big beer" and he produced two man cans of PBR. Then the food arrived.

Tot'chos are exactly what I wanted them to be. Nachos with tater tots instead of tortilla chips. Someone explained to me how they were invented. "We just ran out of chips one day and the chef decided to try something crazy!" Of course that's how it was invented. How the fuck else would it have been invented? I was excited enough at the time to think that was an interesting story.

Man wings are not, as I had hoped, the deep fried wings of a man. Instead they are chicken wings dusted with habanero powder and covered in nacho cheese. This solidified The Spot as my new favorite game day destination. So perfectly decadent and disgustingly classless.

After a couple more 2 for 1 shots and "big beers" I began telling the bartender that he was the only one who "gets" me. We were really in the game day spirit. I think the packers lost. I've had to take a higher than usual number of bathroom trips today, but it was all worth it. The Spot is really raising the sports bar ...bar with their forward thinking menu and unique culinary creations. I'll be back.