Player's Club
2500 N. Ashland Ave. (2500N, 1600W)
Chicago, IL 60609
(773) 477-7769

The Player's Club is an Eastern European's dream cocktail lounge with an impressive variety of European liquor, motorcycle and car racing décor, and imaginative bar fare. In 1996, current owners Mark (a former rally car driver) and Mary Jurczyk have personally transformed the place from a dive bar (formerly Manny's Place) into a nice club. Since the Jurczyks are Polish, they decided to make the Player's Club something both they and their friends would be attracted to.

The Player's Club can be spotted by the green awning on the corner of Ashland and Altgeld, just around the corner from Fullerton's HopCat, Harp & Shamrock and the Liar's Club. On that particular corner, the street caved in recently; while it has since been repaired, be sure to watch your step. What you'll find in the Player's Club is as strange as the Lathrop Homes neighborhood the bar is located in.

Step through the glass door and into this hardwood-floored expanse and one of the first things you'll see is a wooden Indian, meant to signify that cigars are available behind the bar (ranging in price from $5 to $14 per stogie). There is also a big screen television up front against the windows, which usually has some form of racing playing (usually a European race, transmitted via satellite). There is a long wooden bar on your right with high-backed black vinyl barstools, and nice table seating opposite. The bar offers all of the standard beers on tap, while the mixed drink selection offers such intriguing concoctions as the Greg Moor Martini and Michael Andretti Stoli Cocktail. Above the tables hangs a half dozen racing flags, including Porsche, and there are dozens of mini race cars and motorcycles throughout the room, including a large Ferrari model behind the bar. The bathrooms are down the green linoleum stairs and just beyond a rather loungey anteroom.

The back room offers up additional table seating and some nice armchairs by a fireplace. The windows along the side open out in the summer in addition to the sidewalk cafe. For the competitive sort, there is a small pool table and a race car arcade machine. Above these hangs what looks like an authentic Indy car suspended from the ceiling ("a great conversation piece," according to the owners), just next to a traffic light in the corner. There is also a large poster of Elvis from the movie L'amour en Quatriemi Vitesse, and a Player's Club poster depicting an orange crotch rocket superimposed over a pale woman with black hair.

The Player's Club also has a good-sized kitchen in the back, serving up escargot, baked brie, crispy baked salmon, breaded mushrooms, diablo shrimp, tilapia, pierogies, buffalo wings, and burgers. All of the food on the menu is homemade, including the sauces, salad dressings, and soups using such natural ingredients as sea salt and sucanat. For its efforts, the Player's Club was recently voted "Best Bar Food" by the Chicago Bar Fly newspaper. The only problem with the food is that it may be hard to enjoy with all of the bad dance music in the air.

The crowd consists mainly of older neighborhood types, with quite a few being of Eastern European descent. The place has also steadily attracted more yuppie types, perhaps with the lure of good food, summer beer garden or word "club" in the name. Tuesday nights feature an informal gathering of Ducati drivers capped off with a ride around town (Ducati is a high-performance Italian motorcycle).

For non-Eastern Europeans the place may seem strange unless Formula One racing is of keen interest to you. Otherwise, the racing decorations, Eastern European crowd and staff seem an odd juxtaposition. Regardless, the Player's Club is a great place for a cocktail. My recommendation, come for dinner and drinks early and either head to the Polish nightclub extraordinaire, Jedynka on the Northwest Side, or nearby Liar's Club afterwards for eclectic dancing and cocktails.

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– written by Sean Parnell