Spending the night at Victor Hotel By Kate S

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Date: February 23/ 2006

By Kate S

While I'm generally pretty good about checking out Chicago 's latest and greatest, I've fallen sorely behind when it comes to Jerry Kleiner's hotspots. So me and mine headed to Victor Hotel , 311 N. Sangamon, on Tuesday for Room 311, a night packed with house music directed by host Marcus Smith. The space is a mecca for the hot-and-we-know-it (my Kenneth Cole flats and Anthropologie garb seemed pretty fuddy-duddy alongside the stilettos and backless halter tops...) and a cavernous one at that, though the massive main room and its 30-something-foot ceilings manage to feel surprisingly inviting.

Our reserved table was actually a whole sitting area, complete with low-slung couch, chairs and coffee table (an Isamu Noguchi, no less). Though the cocktail menu caught my eye (especially the Wall Street, with Level Vodka and Hendricks Gin, plus olives), we went with $11 glasses of Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and a smattering of maki: the Caterpillar, basically a dressed up unagi roll (at $16); the Mango, a fruit-topped roll with hamachi, shiitake and avocado; and a spicy scallop roll.

While everything was good, the way it was served made it even better, like we just so happened to be eating chi-chi sushi to a DJed soundtrack in our own living room… except our furniture isn't quite this nice.