T & A Two

It takes balls to walk into a bar like this, but once you overcome that initial fear it's actually quite nice. They serve Icehouse in a bottle, which could be a plus or a minus, depending on your preference for poorman's beer. Also, they still had the 2008 Cubs' Old Style bottles (in summer 2009), adding to my already deep appreciation for the efficiency of capped bottles.

If you're a smoker, you may want to bring your cigarettes, as this is one of the few places left in the state that blatantly ignores the Smoke-Free Illinois Act.

All in all, T&A Two is a creaky old neighborhood ghost tavern that has no set hours, but if you can muster up the courage to step in for a drink or three, you'll wake up the next day with a heightened sense of fearlessness ... If you wake up the next day.

this must be what it feels like to be an explorer. i have ventured where few others have gone before... far into the depths of the t & a two. un-google-able, often closed, poorly lit and nearly unidentifiable it is easy to miss.

ever since moving to the neighborhood about a year ago i've been trying to gather a team of willing individuals to brave the bowels of the t & a with me. after months of goading and some crafty bribery on my part, i assembled my rag tag troop: myself, my mans, my cousin, and three other like-minded individuals.

it was a saturday night . it was around 9 p.m., and we were the only people in the bar. it remained that way until 2 am. not a single person came or went for 5 hours. our group controlled the jukebox, the thermostat, the lighting, and i'm sure, had we asked, the tvs. our bartender was a small and frail elderly woman from hungary who apparently didn't understand the concept of tipping and refused our monies for some time. there were two 12'' tvs behind the bar playing cheaters, and i'm pretty sure you have no idea how awesome that is. they don't serve food, which is probably a good thing, but they did have a hefty selection of stale doritos to choose from. they don't serve soda water, but they do have cold beer.

i feel we did a pretty decent job on our first t and a excursion. i never did make it to the bathroom though... i'll save that for another night when i'm feeling exceptionally brave.