If you want to know where the latest and greatest nightlife is in Chicago, there are a few people you should follow. From the owners of Wrigleyville bar and grill Trace and Ukrainian Village tavern Boundary comes Sweetwater. At the corner of Michigan and South Water street, a road so new it was only created within the past few years, Sweetwater is there to soak up the newest Loop neighborhood residents while they do a littler soaking themselves.

The bar gives them plenty of options to do so. More than 70 different beers are available, most of them bottled, but a good number on tap. You know you're looking at a decent beer list when it's as big as a legal pad, and the section for stouts and porters as well as whites is as big as the section for lagers.

Food here, too, is in abundance, and the upscale bar eats are worth their upscale price tags. Appetizers alone hang around the $9 range, but when mac & cheese bites are offered, who’s complaining? Burgers and sandwiches top out at around $12, though, shockingly, there's no bragging on the menu about using trendy types of beef. If you feel like eating with utensils, entrees such as the lamb chops and garlic mashed potatoes are the way to go for $17.

Like the neighborhood it's in, Sweetwater is brand new, super polished, bright and shiny. The oversized booths, visible from the street through floor to ceiling windows, do as much to look inviting as the beer list or attractive waitstaff.

Average cost: $10-$20

Centerstage Reviewer: Bill Burman