CheekyChicago

“There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of Champagne.” –Old Acquaintance. I suppose I’ve been feeling that way a lot lately, because this bubbly-seeker has been to Pops three times in the last week alone.

I clearly love this place – I gave it a rave review in the food department a few months ago. Focusing solely on the progressive cuisine, however, I somehow managed to neglect the star of the show: the futuristic-looking bar, stocked with bubble after sparkle after effervescent bottle of Champagne (not to mention wine, vodka, gin, scotch, whiskey, beer – you catch my (alcoholic) drift).

Although a huge fan of the old Pops on Sheffield – c’mon, such charm! – I’ve accepted the ultra-hip, super-sleek downtown replacement for everything its Northside predecessor was not: booming, chic, sexy and boasting a Friday night, thrill-seeking crowd (aaaah, just saying that makes me long for the subterranean, live music-playing joint where the casual jean clad crowd congregated as frequently on Mondays as it did on Fridays).

Oh well – long gone are those days. Might as well screw sentimentality and enjoy a nice glass…ahem…bottle of bubbly. In addition to the 125 Champagnes and sparkling wines ‘pop’-ing up on any given night, you’ve got yourself a fine looking cocktail list. The winner of the fancy shmancy Champagne cocktail: the High Sage, made with Hendrick’s gin, ice, cucumber, prosecco and fresh sage. For $11/glass, I’ll take…uh…four please (bubbles ain’t cheap). The Bellini Coupette with white peach foam, Jeio sparkling rosé and raspberry ran a really tight race with #1 High Sage.

After a few of these Champagne cocktails, I surprisingly (or not-so-much) begin feeling a little bit loose – my head tingling in a Tinkerbell sort of way. The sexiness of the décor and bar itself become doubly intoxicating. Intoxicating enough to ring true those quotations by intelligent men and women of days gone by. Tolstoy: “He was on familiar terms with everyone with whom he drank Champagne, and he drank Champagne with everyone.” Franz Marc: “We are staunch and true and in rather a Champagne mood.” Kurt Vonnegut: “It’s a nice glass of Champagne at the end of life.”

Audrey Hepburn famously declared in Breakfast at Tiffany’s: “Do not take me home until I am drunk…very drunk indeed!” If Tolstoy had written the beloved screenplay, his heroine would have woken up the next day with one helluva Champagne hangover (and a perfect blue and white box next to the dresser). And who am I to argue with the words (or fashion) of Ms. Audrey Hepburn.