After a long and arduous permitting and building process, Chicago-based entertainment venue Headquarters Beercade finally opens to the public tonight at 114 Second Ave. S. After taking possession of the lease on the property in September  2015, the team has spent the intervening time building out the former location of dance club/ultra-lounges Bar Nashville, Indulge, Seen and Fuel into a whimsical spot for adults to play like kids again, and their efforts are definitely evident in the resulting design and decor.
Owners Brian Galati and Chireal Jordan knew what they were taking on in the old block building, but they also knew it had good bones. However, an operating restaurant and bar requires more inspections than just a dance club, and heck, it probably took quite an electrical-system upgrade to power the transformers for the cool neon accents, plus the 35 videogames and 10 pinball machines. Galati is the primary design guru of the team and admits he had trouble stopping once he got started buying fun little design elements for his new Headquarters location, from a massive old 19th century mansion front door frame that acts as the backdrop for the 12-tap craft beer serving system to a wall of vintage hand mirrors and living plants that decorate the ladies room. (They checked for occupancy before letting me in to see, I promise.) Smaller details like a little garden of succulent plants on top of that big wooden door frame are lagniappes that may be visible only from the mezzanine looking down at the bar, but they still demonstrate a commitment to style that is unexpected in a video game emporium for adults.
The video games are all set to free play, except for a brand-new Aerosmith pinball machine and a bubble hockey game that has been customized to have tiny avatars of Predators and Blackhawks players squaring off. Yeah, so about that Blackhawks thing … The owners of Headquarters Beercade are unabashedly Chicago homers, and you have to respect their dedication to their own home team.
Unlike other bars that appeared a bit more opportunistic in their support of the Hawks during Round One of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Headquarters is proud of their Windy City heritage all the time. The elevated bar menu includes a legit Chicago Dog with the requisite neon-green relish and sport peppers, and a pretty darned passable Chicago Beef Sandwich with giardiniera and plenty of roast beef jus. A row of Sun-Times newspaper boxes lines the wall next to the stairs up to the mezzanine, just in case there’s any doubt about their allegiance.
However, Jordan did tell me that they intend to support the home teams of their new location as well, and that it’s not really a sports bar anyway. During my preview visit, there were sports programs on the televisions, but true to the kitschy retro theme of the joint, they were old episodes of American Gladiators and WWF wrestling. A huge 205-inch projection screen will be used to show some games occasionally, but Headquarters Beercade would rather focus your attention on the food, drink and games or on the DJ booth bedecked with a huge portrait of Prince, and set off by a wall covered with 13,000 cassette tapes.
The drinks menu is still being finalized, but it is crafty at its core. You’ll find no mega-breweries represented on the beer list, with 35-plus craft beers available in cans and the promise to rotate as many as 60 kegs constantly through the dozen taps. You’ll have to check the board to see what’s currently being poured, but they promise they will have some rare single-off kegs whenever they can find them.
On the cocktail side, the menu features cheeky takes on classic cocktails with fun options like Rose All Day, a vodka-based drink, and The Motts, a Stoli Apple cocktail that will remind you of the greatest juice box ever! The addition of actual cinnamon apple sauce adds a textural component to The Motts as well as some spice, and I think it will become especially popular this fall when the leaves start to change. Or hell, maybe bachelorettes will love it immediately. I’ll never figure them out.
It will be interesting to see what demographic flocks to Headquarters Beercade. The games and the decor certainly call to patrons of a certain age (mine) as nostalgia. Floppy disks and cassette tapes and pages from Shel Silverstein books are a genuine part of my history, and I was entertained to see them as part of the decor. (Some younger friends I was with claimed that these items were part of their childhood too until I asked them how many computers they had owned that didn’t have DVD drives and how many tapes they had purchased compared to CDs, much less downloads or streaming music.) Hopefully, nostalgic old folks like me will be able to coexist with the whippersnappers ironically enjoying the same video games I once pumped full with the equivalent of a pretty decent start to a 401K in years past.
Regardless, we can all enjoy those hot dogs and a nice craft beer together. Just don’t wear your Blackhawks gear.
Headquarters Beercade
114 Second Ave. S.
