Lime Rickeys in Chicago?

I was wondering if anyone knew where one could get a lime rickey in Chicago. I enjoyed them while in Boston, and now I miss them.

I've been known to fix them, but I don't suppose that's much help.

This actually raises a broader question, which is: where do you go to get good cocktails? By good, I don't mean you go there just to get a Manhattan that's stiff enough to put you out, or where you go to get the latest trendy sakatini Cosmo knockoff whatever. What I want to know is, I have the Williams-Sonoma bar manual, which is full of fine old drinks like Sidecars and Diplomats and Sazeracs and Rob Roys and so on. Where would you go to say the name of one of these drinks and have the guy behind the bar nod and pour you one without having to look it up or wonder if you want some fruity hyperpremium vodka in it?

Gene & Georgetti's and The Drake Hotel Bar are two places that leap to mind. I'm sure there are others out there...maybe the palmer House as well.

Can't speak for the complete spectrum of drinks, but the bartenderess at Sabatino's didn't bat an eye when Schatz MacArthur, Harry V's (much) better half, asked for a Gin Ricky a couple of weeks ago. Looked so good I ordered one, actually two all told, myself. Harry V had his usual Maker's Mark Manhattan and Ellen a Cosmopolitan.

Enjoy,
Gary

Now since I personally don't live in Chicago yet, I don't have any first hand recomendations. What I can do is point you towards my favorite Chicago Website. The Chicago Bar Project I'm sure alot of the people here are already familiar with it, but I like it so much that I show it to people that don't live in, or visit Chicago. I don't know how accurate the reviews are, but I really enjoy the writing.

shhh...I'm partial to The Drake's Coq D'or. This past week I took two different groups of friends for the "executives." A good time was had by all.

Mike G wrote:This actually raises a broader question, which is: where do you go to get good cocktails?

Stating the obvious maybe, but isn't that how the Matchbox has made its reputation? I've only been a handful of times, and never really challenged them, but standards were quite well made.

Chicago magazine, or maybe it was TimeOut, recently did a "where to get the best drinks" run-down for maybe a dozen drinks.

I'm late to the party, but it's funny, Matchbox and Sabatino's both came to mind right away. The former for mixed drinks with mixers, such as the pulpy, hand made margarita mix, the latter for booze-only concoctions such as Negronii' and Manhattans.

It's been way too long since I've had one, but the Long Room at Irving Park and Ashland makes a great Manhattan. The secret ingredient is brandied cherries, with a little bit of the cherry/brandy liquid shaken with the whiskey and vermouth.

I would like the Matchbox a lot better if it didn't bring out every last bit of my latent claustrophobia.

Does anyone know anything about Motel Bar around 600 E. Chicago? I heard their gimmick was really classic, well-made cocktails, but I haven't actually been there.

This is a long shot, but does anyone remember the bartender from the California Clipper, before it underwent a controversial and very public management change sometime around, oh, 2001? I think he also managed the place. Anyway, that man made a mean cocktail, whatever old-fashioned, antiquated request thrown at him, he would respond without a blink and a well made drink. (I first noticed he was not an ordinary bartender when I saw that he always had a bottle of Chartreuse behind the bar.)

Anyway, anyone know who I'm talking about and if he's tending bar these days? If so, that's where you'll find a well made cocktail.

kl5,

His name was Max, and he was indeed a great bartender. On several occasions, PIGMON and I would go in at an off hour and have him mix up classic cockatil after classic cocktail. The last time I saw him he was drinking at the Matchbox--and said he didn't know what was next for him--at least bartending-wise. I know that his other gig was managing bands.

I haven't been back to the Clipper since he left--but I do remember the other bartender there--older, thinner, with glasses, also made very good cocktails.

The Matchbox is my favorite bar in the city--and their bartenders are as comfortable with the whiskey and beer crowd, as they are with the classic cocktail crowd--which I think is unique. Also, for such a tiny place, they have an incredible selection of premium liquor, espcially for gin drinkers.

The Green Mill's classic martini is by default, stirred instead of shaken, which is a plus in my book. Although you do get a boatload of gruff without a hint of irony from the bartenders--which if you're in the mood can be alright--but other times, too much.

And for an occasional upscale happy hour, The Bar @ the Penninsula Hotel is tops.

trixie-pea

I think the Clipper guy works at the Hothouse now, but I don't think he bartends there..

I had a girlfriend years ago that always went to some club named Lime Rickys. I'm sure that was their specialty as one night coming home she got a DUI and bit the cop's arm- and drew blood! She stayed in jail overnight. LOL. I think it was in Niles or Des Plaines IL.

grant wrote:I had a girlfriend years ago that always went to some club named Lime Rickys. I'm sure that was their specialty as one night coming home she got a DUI and bit the cop's arm- and drew blood! She stayed in jail overnight. LOL. I think it was in Niles or Des Plaines IL.

I was almost going to comment on that Lime Rickey's ... it was in Skokie, on Skokie Blvd, about a block south of Old Orchard. I always wondered how it stayed in business ... I guess your gfriend helped them a lot.

I agree with both Matchbox and Sabatinos. Horwaths too. But Millers Pub has some great old bartenders. One was actually hand picked by the owners when his old place went out of business. This place has tom and jerrys at x-mas time. Last time we were there I noticed the small bottle of rose water on the bar. It's a safe bet you can get a gin rickey there. Man i wish the Wrigley Rest. was still open. And Corona. Wrong thread.

Matchbox 770 N. Milwaukee 312-666-9292

Sabatinos 4441 W. Irving Park 773-228-8331

Horwath's 1850 N. Harlem Ave. 708-453-0413

Millers Pub 1345 S. Wabash 312-263-4988

The Motel Bar does have an extensive cocktail menu that includes a lot of favorites from the past. I have sampled a few of the offerings, but it's been too many months since I've been there to remember what I tried. (No, it wasn't too many cocktails that caused my memory loss!) I can say that I was not impressed with the dirty martini I ordered.

The food isn't too bad either. Again, nothing sticks in my memory.

The Motel Bar
600 W. Chicago Avenue
(entrance is actually on Larrabee, north of Chicago Avenue.)

-Mary

Gave wrong address for Millers.

134 S. Wabash.

I've only ever had beer(and food) at Miller's, but thought I'd chime in that their waitresses are some of the friendliest and most accomodating in the city. The bar looks pretty old school kool, too.

The concensus here http://shamelessrestaurants.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68&sid=a434ee5ac540018ae66fc114a60433d6

is that it is a horrible place to work.

bryan wrote:I agree with both Matchbox and Sabatinos. Horwaths too. But Millers Pub has some great old bartenders. One was actually hand picked by the owners when his old place went out of business. This place has tom and jerrys at x-mas time. Last time we were there I noticed the small bottle of rose water on the bar. It's a safe bet you can get a gin rickey there. Man i wish the Wrigley Rest. was still open. And Corona. Wrong thread.

Matchbox 770 N. Milwaukee 312-666-9292

Sabatinos 4441 W. Irving Park 773-228-8331

Horwath's 1850 N. Harlem Ave. 708-453-0413

Millers Pub 1345 S. Wabash 312-263-4988

Horwath's = RIP

kafein wrote:The concensus here http://shamelessrestaurants.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68
is that it is a horrible place to work.

I find shameless restaurants so incredibly sketchy. Obviously some of their gripes are probably completely accurate and founded and trustworthy, but it's an almost completely anonymous forum for people to badmouth one restaurant or another.

I know it's probably a valuable resource for some waitstaff looking for a new job, but, really, it's mostly just painful to read.

Most waitstaff sites reek with the taint of industry myopia. Same with apartment sites, actually. I enjoy Miller's Pub. For classic Loop victuals it ain't bad esp. the specials. As I said before, I haven't had a cocktail there, but the ambience leads me to suspect they know what they're doing.

Are we talking about the same drink? I find it a very unusual drink to be asking about-gin, lime, club soda, ice-easy to make, some would say hard to take. I like the drink but I like the taste of gin and dislike sweet cocktails.

Unlike a lot of drinks, the Lime Rickey is more of a generic class of drinks and generally the only common ingredient is lime juice.

That being said, there are other frequently seen components: seltzer, gin or rum, bitters, etc. These aren't required, though. The mojito is, in fact, a type of lime rickey.

Think of it as a chicken vesuvio cocktail.

Going back to The Standard Bartender's Guide by Patrick Gavin Duffy as revised and enlarged by James A. Beard, 17th printing, 1962, for section on rickeys. The spirits could be applejack, Bourbon, gin, rum or whiskey with either 1/2 lime or 1/4 lemon lightly squeezed and then dropped into the glass. One ice cube and fill with soda water. No sugar. Another guide from that period had the quick description of a collins with no sugar. However, my memory is that a shorter glass was used for rickeys than for collins. In any case a gin rickey made with lime was a bracing cocktail but did tend to destroy your taste for wine afterward. Some of the other combinations sound even more revolting to me now than they did then.

Even then there were some goofy variations on the gin rickey:

Hugo Rickey: 2 dashes grenadine and a pineapple slice added
Porto Rico Rickey: 2 dashes raspberry syrup added
Savoy Hotel Rickey: 4 dashes grenadine added

Considering what has happened to the martini since then, I have no idea what bastardization of rickeys has occured. Yes, I am old enough to have been drinking legally in 1962 and was drinking more spirits than wine then.

A martini is made with gin. A vodka martini is made with vodka. Just because it is served in a martini glass does not make a drink a martini.

On the other hand I do think there has been some bastardization of the rickey and that is the addition of sugar-think of it as a long gimlet. Regardless a rickey is a long drink. If your mojito is a long drink, it was made wrong. Saying any drink with lime in it is a rickey is absurd, rendering the word virtually meaningless. If that is being done, LTHers should be above that.

In a different vein I used to drink martinis (gin, dry vermouth, olives) on the rocks with several neighbors. Since those drinks were served in large Old Fashioned glasses, do the non-cognesenti think that those were not martinis?

I was waiting for the benighted gimlet(nee' giblet ) to rear its head. Even in the Coq D'or one has to specify a GIN gimlet. This vodka gimlet stuff...feh.

Seriously. Virtually any drink with lime is a rickey. Rickeys aren't even necessarily alcoholic. There are at least two Lime Rickey sodas available:



INGREDIENTS: Pure Carb Water, Cane Sugar, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Coloring, Sodium Benzoate (Presv).

And another from http://www.thepopshoppe.com/flash_site/main.html

You can argue that, like the martini, it has been bastardized. But that doesn't change that just saying "Lime Rickey" doesn't conjure up a specific universal recipe. Even martinis can claim that.

For what it's worth, I agree with you whole-heartedly on the served-in-a-martini-glass-aint-a-martini issue. I just don't think that the Lime Rickey, or the Rickey in general, is as cut and dry as the martini. Nowhere near.