New Line Tavern

Movies would suggest that after the apocalypse cities are left scattered with reminders of a once thriving industrial past and future non-mutated citizens have no other choice but to drink in them, and possibly eat mildly spicy wings. Fulfilling that dream for today's non-mutants, New Line Tavern.

Opening up Tuesday in the southern half of the historic Chicago North Western Railway power plant, (vacated earlier this year by previous tenant Powerhouse), NLT is the latest effort from the Daily Bar & Grill/Southport Lanes team, who cozied up the space with plush booths and vintage photos recalling the building's powerful past, like your tee-ball trophies. The kitchen is staying open late and serving up starters like their Tavern Wings (fajita marinade with avocado cream dipping sauce), sliders (bacon cheddar burger, beef tenderloin w/truffle butter, crab cake) and Tavern Fries that come coated in asiago and kicked with a garlic butter sauce, ensuring that when your heart attack comes, your EMT won't be interrupted by vampires. More substantial fare comes in the form of burgers like the hand-formed Pullman (spiced up with cayenne, fennel, onion, and rosemary), a smattering of paninis, plus rotating daily specials like Southern fried chicken, braised lamb shanks, and prime rib that's divisible only by one, itself, and a knife.

Because you're painfully dull without a few drinks, they offer 20-plus beers, including nine drafts (Allagash White, Matilda, Tripel Karmeliet), plus cocktails like a SoCo/Absolut/Midori/Amaretto combo with sour mix and a splash of Sprite called a Boxcar Charlie -- so chickish that if any non-mutant girl sees you drinking one, it'll be an apocalypse onto itself.