An inviting little neighborhood bar, the Windy City Inn can make a regular out of anyone. Loyal regulars refer to it as the "quicksand" because once you're in, you won't be leaving anytime soon.

With Guinness, Harp and Magners on draft, plus plenty of domestic and import bottles, you won't have much of a reason to leave, anyway. When you get hungry, choose from the simple bar menu of wings, poppers, tenders or pizza. Everything is cheap and pretty tasty after you've had a few. If you get bored, three televisions pipe in everything from the Cubs game to the E! Channel, and a touch iTunes machine pumps country or hair rock all night long.

Windy City's interior looks like a cross between a neighborhood bar and Irish pub. Beer mirrors and vintage sports pendants line the walls, along with a choice selection of Irish kitsch. Two walls of French windows look over Irving Park Road, with antique lighting fixtures sprinkled throughout and a fireplace lounge area tucked near the back bathrooms. You can sit in a booth or at a cocktail table, but locals know that the bar is the place to be—this is the kind of place where patrons just pile their money on the bar-top and settle in for the night. Added bonus—those sitting at the bar buy each other drinks so often that the place has instituted a chip system. If someone wants to buy you a drink, and you can’t stomach it at the moment, you take a wooden chip to use for later that night or any night afterward. With free trivia on Thursdays and $2 Miller bottles on Monday, the week is filled with reasons to stop by. Our favorite? The bartender always remembers your drink.

Centerstage Reviewer: K. Tighe