Cinners, a cozy place in what barely qualifies as Lincoln Square, bills itself as a “a sexy lounge in Chicago serving Cincinnati chili, cinful drinks and lots of smiles.” I don’t know if any place that serves copious amounts of chili should claim to be sexy, but Cinners does have a certain appeal. Especially if you are looking for something a little different for your weekly trivia night.
Cinners specializes in Cincinnati style chili– on hot dogs, on nachos, on pasta. You can read more about Cincinnati style chili on their website, but we didn’t find it to be that extraordinary. We were impressed, however, with their prices. Wednesday nights Schlitz beers are $2 and so are the nachos. The non-special food and drinks are all pretty cheap. It’s not a particularly imaginative menu–most of the items involved chili + cheese–but we all happily enjoyed chili cheese coneys for just $3 a piece.
The highlight of the night (for this blogger at least) was the Miller High Life I ordered. Because Miller High Life is “the champagne of beers,” Cinners gives anyone who orders a 24 ounce bottle a champagne flute to drink it in. If you’ve never imbibed a cheap beer in a champagne flute whilst downing a loaded chili cheese dog, you haven’t truly lived.
The really cool part about Cinners is that it’s all music trivia. It’s supposed to start at 8pm on Wednesdays, but last night it didn’t start until 8:45. We were a bit irked until we realized that trivia at Cinners is fast-paced and quick. Despite the late start we were out the door by 9:45.
Trivia consists of two rounds. First, we had 20 random music trivia questions. Hint: the MC admits that he often includes a question about Bjork, so study up on your Icelandic trivia. The theme of the second round was: bands that used to be cool until they came out with this song. The MC played a brief audio clip and we had to name the title and the artist. We disputed the notion that some of these bands (ahem, Meatloaf) are no longer cool, but we still found it to be a really fun round. We are actually in the midst of making a CD mix based on the fabulously cheesy songs from this round.
We had mixed feelings about the night. It started late and some teammates bemoaned the lack of questions about prog rock. But it’s hard to complain about cheap food, cheap beer, and cheesy rock music, so overall we give it thumbs up.
Another great thing about Cinners? We came in second place. Talk about living the High Life.
Cinners
4757 N. Talman Ave., Chicago
8ish to 9:45
Free Admission
3 paws (out of 4)
Here Comes Treble is a group of Chicagoans who want to share our love of trivia nights with the rest of the city. Follow us as we search for the best pub quiz in town!
