|
STORIES
BARS + CLUBS
Chicago Bars
Chicago Nightclubs
|  |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||||
 |
|
 |
|||||
|
|
|
|||||
 |
|
 |
Subscribe in your favorite reader using the links below. To learn more about feeds and RSS, click here.
 | |||||
|
Articles
Sections
>>
>
|
|||||
|
Oh, Cabana!
Monday Jun 04, 2007.
By Dana Kavan
|
|||||
| |||||
 photo: Dana Kavan The damage: $35. Had we come one night earlier, we could've scored the bottle at half-price.
Thousands of bars in Chicago, why this one? Right next to camping and biking, drinking lies at the top of my favorite outdoor activities list. And while I appreciate imbibing on my alley-view fire escape, I like to break up my routine with a few alfresco booze spots. Volo's back patio is one of the best I've found. Enveloped by trees, sprinkled with fountains and huddled into a row of homey buildings on Roscoe, it couldn't be a more perfect oenophile oasis than if a river of pinot ran through it.
While ample wrought-iron tables fill the patio, a few coveted cabanas (that you can't reserve, no less!) provide the late-twenties-to-thirties crowd with prime seating. It was the first near 90-degree day of the season, and I was lucky enough to have friends who were fully committed to snagging a cabana, even if it meant racing to Roscoe Village when 5 p.m. hit.
How it went down: Unlike my swift, car-driving friends, I was at the mercy of the No. 11 Lincoln bus, so there was nothing "prompt" about my arrival that evening, which was just fine. At wine bars, I usually fret over white or red, zin or shiraz, so I enjoyed walking into an already-open bottle of sauvignon blanc.
The Cooper's Creek (a New Zealand winery) Blanc tasted light and a bit tangy, though not overly fruity. With hints of grapefruit and citrus, it felt clean and had a subtle zest to its finish that lingered after each sip, no matter how thick I layered the goat cheese on my sweet raisin bread. The blend's refreshing quality complemented the high temps and confirmed my beliefs that Kiwis can do no wrong.
Would I want to become a regular? Our comfy cabana, with its grass-green cushions, silk pillows and translucent drapes, lulled us into a post-work respite. By the time we finished our third bottle, we felt too lethargic to even bother with dinner, which was regrettable since I've been dreaming about the sweet pea, parmesan and cippollini onion pizza since I first tried it a year ago. Until I sate my craving, I'll have to continue making cabana runs.
Dana Kavan scours the city for drink deals so good you'll offer to buy a round and creative libations that outshine your average on-the-rocks concoctions. Want to give Dana tips on where to rack up a bar tab? Share your finds before her next night out.
|
|||||
| |||||
