The Matchbox
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Named, presumably, for its size, the Mathbox is a place to go early if you want to sit. All the seats are at the bar (during the summer there are tables outdoors, but the interior is awesome and it's dangerous drinking a manhatten from a tilting, wobbly, table) in this tiny, wedge-shaped place.
Now I will make a bold claim:
The Matchbox is the best place for cocktails in the city of Chicago.
Admittedly, there are many swanky joints serving martinis that I've never had the cash or the shoes or the desire to try out; but I'll bet you that the Matchbox will give them a run for their money.
Their liquor selection is outstanding. I rarely have the opportunity to sit at a bar and wear out the bartender's ear asking "what's that?" "what's that?" "what's that?" Luckily, the bartenders here are outstanding and friendly and, when it isn't really busy, happy to chat.
The care that they put into their drinks is wonderful. A manhatten comes with black cherries that appear to be jarred by hand. A margharita comes with a dusting of powdered sugar and a long, knotted, lime peel sitting across the top of the glass.
The first time we went there, we decided to splurge. We each had 3 cocktails ("we" denoting 2 people, for a total of 6 cocktails), with call liquors. Each time, we got the whole contents of the shaker. After three, we gritted our teeth and asked for the check, expecting to stay in for the rest of the week. The bill came to a whopping... $36? We were stunned.