Chicago

Between settling on a band and fronting ticket money to cheapskate friends, rounding everyone up to see live music is tough enough without the extra considerations of where to booze before and where to gorge after. Consolidate, at the LaSalle Power Co.

Housed in the turn-of-the-century LaSalle Street Cable Car Powerhouse building, the latest from the English/Grand Central crew is a vintage-feeling rock club whose 3rd-floor concert venue's backed up with two more floors dedicated to boozing like a hurricane, and eating like the winds of change. The 1st-floor bar -- serving up domestics/imports (Peroni, Newcastle, Magic Hat) and classic cocktails (Old Fashioned, Harvey Wallbanger) -- will broadcast shows from up top on a behemoth 160" plasma Frankenstein’d together from 12 smaller screens, ideal for the patron who is enthused about live music, but lukewarm on live people. Brimming with original posters, chocolate faux-leather booths and gold vinyl swivel chairs, the 2nd floor's home base for fancied-up comfort food like surf ‘n turf pot pie, sliced baked ham and manchego sandwiches, and all-day breakfasts like truffled corned beef hash and biscuits w/ chorizo gravy; the room's lorded over by a DJ booth, to keep you humming along at 128 bites-per-minute.

Not content with music, food, and drink, LaSalle also dispenses wisdom via hand-painted bathroom quotes from luminaries like Simon Le Bon, Keith Richards, Rod Stewart, and Glenn Frey, whose sage-like "The only difference between boring and laid back is one million dollars" was once uttered by your cheap-ass friend, as he refused to fork over $22.50 to see Tokyo Police Club.