Eat Right at a Sports Bar: Rocks Bar Lakeview

So if you're looking for a neighborhood bar that has decent food and the game on, you may fall upon Rocks Bar in Lakeview.  In your search, you'll see that MetroMix Chicago has mixed reviews, although mostly very positive, but none of them saying, "wow, so nutritious!".  Given that I showed up for my first Blue Dolphins Masters Swim practice on a day that was canceled, (ya, had my swim suit on and goggles in hand...oops), I decided that a quick bite at a sports bar made perfect sense since I looked like I just rolled out of bed - and Rocks Bar seemed like a good place to try.  

Rocks Bar in Lakeview is the sister to their location in Lincoln Park, but as they say on their website, they wanted to "kick the food up a notch".  This means that their menu has items like, White Trash Nachos, Mac & Cheese Wedges, Black & Blue Chili and ginormous burgers slathered in multiple cheeses, fried onion strings and laden with bacon.  Many of the items on the menu are designed to secure your future bypass - if you eat them frequently and in excess - or in the short term, create a bulging belly.  If you can resist the dripping grease, you can still enjoy a night out at Rocks without destroying your diet. 

The menu has a creative list of salads to choose from that only require gentle modifications - dressing on the side, hold the bacon or skip the fried tortilla chips.  I'm not one to skip the dressing and at Rocks, they have interesting options with yummy-sounding dressings, so I recommend having it on the side and dipping your fork before each bite.  That way you'll consume minimal calories but get that tangy flavor of the House Whiskey Cranberry Dressing.  I had this flavorful dressing alongside the Whiskey Cranberry Chicken Salad (spinach, dried cranberries, shaved almonds and diced chicken). It wasn't magical, but it was good and I didn't have to wipe greasy hands on anything.

Rocks achieves an Eat Right Rating of:  Eat Right with Options for my night out.  Sure, it's mostly salads to choose from, but you could choose a wrap if you modify it (although I don't like to do that), but at least you can enjoy a game night with friends and you can't beat the beer specials.