Last night we headed out to the Map Room to celebrate my 30th Birthday with a wide selection of beer and cupcakes. If I recall correctly I had the following:
The Racer 5 was my favorite of the night and the Southern Tier was no joke. Thanks for everyone who came out.
Last night I headed over to the Chicago Golden Gloves tournament that is held every year at the St. Andrew Gym. When I went last year it was one of the early rounds so some of the fights weren’t really that competitive. This year it was the first night of the Finals and all the fights were rather close. There was at least one heavyweight fight and unlike last time, after each bout a trophy or championship belt was awarded.
For those who don’t know about the Golden Gloves, it was started back in the late 1920’s by Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Ward. The tournament was considered a premiere event that propelled the career of several legendary ‘fighters’ inlcuding Sonny Liston, Cassius Clay, Michael Flatley and Rod Blagojevich.
Blagojevich is the only one still ‘fighting’ competitively today.
Side Note:
* This was the view from my seat:
Yesterday we decided to change things up since Ginger’s is under new management and we headed to Chief O’Neill’s which was a much different vibe. I got there a little before 11am and the next thing I knew it was me and about nine kids watching The Power Rangers on TV. The setup of Chief’s was two huge rooms and a giant outside tent where all the parents were eating as their kids watched tv in the bar. Clearly I was early.
Chief O’Neill’s slogan is ‘The bar you’ve been practicing for.’ At this point I think it should be ‘The bar you’ve been saving for.’ After 1p they started charging a $10 cover charge (hence why I showed up early), draft beer was $5 for domestic and $6 for imports, in other words a Miller Light was way too expensive not that I was drinking Miller Light. They did have a buffet setup for $14 but it was a one pass buffet, not the all-you-can eat variety. With this in mind you pretty much stacked your plate as high as it could go. In the picture above you can see my plate with pasta, pulled pork, fried cod, fries and a couple of rolls. The plate in the photograph below is Kilburg’s, he had at least 3 rolls in his pockets. All that being said, the food was great and the atmosphere, though older, was much more professional. Seasoned veterans one might say.
A good time was had by all.
