PRICE:
Frommer's Highly Recommended

Club Lucky seems to have been carved from a local 1950s-era corner tavern with an Italian mamma cooking up family recipes in the back. The Naugahyde banquettes, Formica-topped bar and tables, and Captain Video ceiling fixtures give the place a fun retro flair. The scene here changes throughout the evening: Young families gradually give way to stylish couples posing with glasses of the restaurant's signature martinis (be prepared to wait on weekends). You might or might not take to the scene, but the food does not disappoint. Prices overall are moderate, especially considering the generous family-style portions. The large calamari appetizer -- "for two," the menu says -- will almost certainly keep you in leftover land for a day or two. The menu offers real Italian home-style cooking such as pasta e fagioli (thick macaroni-and-bean soup -- really a kind of stew). Or try the rigatoni with veal meatballs, served with steamed escarole and melted slabs of mozzarella, or the spicy grilled boneless pork chops served with peppers and roasted potatoes. The lunch menu includes about a dozen Italian sandwiches, such as scrambled eggs and pesto, meatball, and Italian sausage.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Chicago 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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