Maritime capsule

THE HOT SEAT Club Lago’s Naugahyde booths get Raphael in an Evie-wooing mood.

Hair and Makeup: Sharon Casey/Ford; 2nd Photo Assistant: Brian Guido; Raphael: All items from Night & Day Vintage; Evie: Dress: Silver Moon Chicago; gloves, purse, fur: Store B.

Club Lago (331 W Superior St, 312-951-2849) may have a nautical name—lago means lake in Italian—and maritime knickknacks blanket the place, but the owners are in no way married to the sea. When Gus and Ida Lazzerini opened Club Lago in 1952, they decided they might as well keep the previous owner’s name and the sailboat cutouts adorning the walls. They even got in on the theme, posting a photo of Gus’s son-in-law Francesco Nardini dressed like the Skipper from Gilligan’s Island over the bar.

“I don’t think any of us has ever owned a boat,” says GianCarlo Nardini, Francesco’s son and co-owner with his brother Guido.

Along with the nautical theme, the terrazzo floor, red Naugahyde booths and tin roof all came with the restaurant when Gus and Ida took over from the Lago Cafe (which opened in the ’40s), as did the enormous wooden backbars.-

GianCarlo regards the scuffs and dents on the backbars fondly. “I want to see the scars of having been used for years and years,” he says.

According to Guido, the Lago is a “bourbon bar,” where drinking is reduced to the basics. There are no beers on tap, and ordering a cosmo or a lemon-drop shot is like asking for a glass of milk in a biker bar. “Tell me what liquor you like, and I put it in a glass,” he says with a smile. “To me, that’s what a shot is.”

Black-and-white Ron Seymour photographs of family and staff lend a nostalgic feel to the space; above the bar, one image shows the three generations together: Gus, Francesco, GianCarlo and Guido. There’s also a ghastly, garish oil painting of Richard J. Daley that makes the portrait of Dorian Gray look like the Mona Lisa—GianCarlo found it on eBay and had to hang it because “it’s terrifying.”

Don’t expect your cocktails to come in fishbowl glassware at the Lago, either. Martinis are served as purists prefer: in smaller, ornate glasses that date back to when Gus and Ida ran the joint, perfect to sip from while listening to cabaret music, jazz, Italian-American singers like Sinatra, and the ’50s and ’60s Italian music GianCarlo brings back from his trips to the homeland. And sipping is a good idea, considering Club Lago’s cocktail heritage. “The old-time drinkers who came in here were flat-out boozers,” Guido says. “A martini was just a glass full of booze.”

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