Simone's

NileGuide Expert tip:

Pilsen is a little off the beaten path, but Simone's daily drink and food specials make the trek worth it.

Description:

• When an establishment goes with a "sustainable" decor theme, it typically raises your awareness...that you could care less about sustainability. Giving sustainability balls, Simone's. From the Danny's/Northside/Black Beetle team and housed in a 100-year-old building, Simone's is a sprawling, laid-back bar & grill whose eco-friendly credo actually plays out cool, with a wire-fence-wrapped elevated DJ booth, barstools made from old doors, booths constructed from vintage pinball machines and old seatbelts, and a J-shaped bartop made from wooden bowling lanes -- so you can throw back Turkeys where others have thrown them. Further in's "Simone's Lab", a 1,000 sq ft bar-within-a-bar, event space, and art gallery, housed in a former mechanic's shop sporting graffiti-scrawled chemistry desk tabletops, dusty lab equipment displayed in lofted cases, random machine parts, and church pews (the only non-reclaimed thing is your jaunty soul). Booze includes 40+ brews, from cheap staples ($2.50 PBR tall boys) to micros (Founders' Dirty Bastard, New Holland Dragon's Milk, etc); the 10 specialty cocktails run from traditional-exotic (Pisco Sour) to the Grey Goose La Poire "Double Bubble", with OJ, champagne, and a Pop Rocks-encrusted rim -- far classier than a gummy tarantula garnish. Elevated bar grub includes four burgers (e.g., the blue cheese-stuffed "Simone's"), four empanadas, and five different pizzas, with some ingredients sourced from a rooftop herb garden -- which is super-responsible, and should heighten your awareness that you don't care about herbs.
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