Though Logan Square denizens of hip (and cheap) mark the opening of this sports bar as one of the many death knells of their burgeoning hood, before a kind of Bucktown yuppie implosion occurs, they still frequent the joint for $5 pints of Bells (or Kalamazoo Amber Ale), as an excuse to drop business hints for management.

Management actually has direct Bucktown ties, as the proprietors of Northside Bar and Grill are one in the same, and employed the use of the same layout – a fleet of flat-screens, a sizeable beer garden. Likewise with the pub grub menu of $8 burgers and sandwiches, with few diner-type outliers like a New York Strip steak and asiago cheese-tossed linguini that hit prices in the teens.

Paired with a Golden Tee machine, a DJ who has too friendly a relationship with the upper registers of his volume knobs and no permanent specials on drink or food, it is not hard to understand the sneers the new joint is receiving. Though it means well, the waitresses are attentive and it's not a bad last-stop before a night of boozing's home stretch, situated directly under the California stop on the Blue line.

Centerstage Reviewer: Gavin Paul