A reviewer believes Motel serves one of the best burgers in the city

Motel
600 W. Chicago Ave.
(312) 822-2900
Valet parking, $10
Price range at dinner, $4-$10

Unless you're in show business, don't bring a client here. A date? For sure. Colleagues, okay, but hang at the bar or around the pool table. The booths at this place are high-backed and curvy, perfect for a cozy cocktail and dinner.

The menu runs on for pages, but it's mostly cocktails. A single narrow page lists food choices: salads, snacks, sandwiches. Servings are generous, and the fare is far better — fresher, and more carefully prepared — than most bar food.

Caesar salad ($7) is by the book, crunchy and dressed with a steady hand. The iceberg wedge ($5) was slathered with something other than the promised blue cheese-bacon dressing, but still tasty. The classic chicken club ($8) was perfect: warm toast, recognizable lettuce, minimal mayonnaise, crisp bacon, moist chicken. House chips are light, and not greasy.

The burger ($8) ranks among the city's best, and I left not a scrap of it on my plate. Fries are wonderful — fat, square, crisp, and lots of 'em, sided with tiny pots of ketchup, aioli and gravy for dipping.

So what makes this place cool? Besides the furnishings, there's the beautiful and unflappable bartender, and our slinky rocker waitress, who was also attentive, knowledgeable and friendly. Jukebox music is great — and loud — but we had no trouble hearing each other, or our waitress. And when Sly and the Family Stone's "Stand!" came on, every person in the place, including staff, danced or swayed in their seats.