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Where's the Party?
Monday Aug 22, 2005.
By Erin Brereton
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I put on my most comfortable heels and my best hankering for cake and headed out on Saturday night to an all-you-can-drink private birthday party at Ta'Too (say it like a sneeze), the newish Irish bar plunked down on an otherwise desolate strip of Fullerton near Southport. A private wristband bash is one of the cheapest nights out you can muster in this city. Go to a bar and you'll easily rack up a $40 bar bill after sipping on those three martinis. Yet for $30, Ta'Too offered the guests their choice of top shelf liquors for the duration of the party. Like many bars, Ta'Too even generously roped off a private area with some tables in back for us to use. And although we shared the bar with the rest of Ta'Too's drinkers, the lines were short and there was plenty of space in which to mingle. They even let the birthday girl's fiance bring in a very yummy tiramisu cake and an inflatable monkey. (And everyone knows Irish bars hate inflatable monkeys.) But really, it doesn't have to be your birthday to host a private party. You just need the will to play host, a phone and, possibly, a deposit. Chicagoans with small apartments (or ones you don't want to mark with spilled drinks and salsa) take note: Chances are, there's a bar in your neighborhood that would be thrilled to host your next shindiggity dig. Here are some contenders (all of which I have been to parties at and can vouch for): Black Duck Tavern Descend to the surprisingly cozy basement of Lincoln Park's Black Duck and feel like you're back at a high school kegger. (At least, I did two years ago when my friend's ex-girlfriend showed up sobbing at his birthday party, wanting to get back together. It was like the OC had come to the LP.) Quiet and ambiance-filled on weeknights, Black Duck can feel like a free-for-all on weekends. Still, for $20-$25 a head you can get three hours of unlimited drinking in a private room; for slightly more (around $30), add food to the package. Durkin's Offering one of the cheapest party deals around (just $10 per person for three hours of beer, wine and soda), Durkin's, located in that in-between area of Lincoln Park and West Lakeview, also throws in a free private room with its own exclusive bar so you can make good on the "private" facet of the evening. Seating is very limited (be prepared to stand), but Durkin's has been known to throw in free pizza in some cases. Kitsch'n Hands down the best eats deal in town (where else you can get twinkie tiramisu?), Kitsch'n's Roscoe Village spot is a surprisingly rocking party space, with two big, crazy rooms, open bar packages and a ton of food taken right from the restaurant's tasty menu; a scant $10 per person will get you goodies like goat cheese-stuffed artichoke hearts (drinks incur a separate cost). I helped plan a New Year's Eve fundraiser there last year and the owner and staff could not have been nicer (they even let us play our own tunes). Also, Kitsch'n offers year-round patio access because its back area, complete with a tiki bar, is enclosed. Grace O'Malley's The South Loop doesn't have a ton of party spots, but it does have a ton of condos, so if you're living there and looking for an evening-out location, Grace O' Malley's is it. The quaint Irish pub with a mean Irish coffee offers up three second-floor private rooms that fit up to 250 people. Grace O'Malley's is happy to help arrange flowers, decorations and other details for your bash. Prices are reasonable, starting at around $35 for basic food and drink packages, but you'll need a considerable amount of money up front (and after) because there's a room minimum of at least $475, depending on what day you host your event, and a 25 percent deposit due when you book. Lincoln Tap Room Looking for a little edge and no deposit? Lincoln Tap Room is happy to block off its back section, including several banquettes and a pool table, for your next bash. The bar's four drink packages range from less pricey well drinks, wine, Goose Island and Miller bottles to the top shelf "D" package, which includes everything the bar serves, and run $15-$40. Bonus: A photobooth provides hours of drunken, commemorative party fun. It's also a fun place to throw back enough that you don't even notice that while you hugged one of your friends you accidentally poured your entire drink down his back. I mean, I hear.
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I threw my first-ever baby shower on Saturday afternoon. It's pretty sobering to realize that your friends (and therefore you, in theory) are old enough to be having children. It's also pretty firm evidence that I'm getting too old to have birthday parties. But, as it turns out, there's one way to blow out the candles that's adult through-and-through: the private party. 
Erin Brereton is our resident urban cowgirl on a bi-weekly search for life on the cheap.