Chicagoans may have already erased the Bears’ season from their minds, but the playoffs are just beginning for 12 teams that either played well for the last 17 weeks or were lucky enough to play the Texans at some point. Still, since it is winter and since there is football on television, you have to pick a team to support to the Super Bowl. Once you have a team, here are some suggestions for how you can eat and cheer without leaving Chicago. Denver Broncos Although The Irish Oak's (3511 N. Clark St.) undying support for Notre Dame sports makes perfect sense, it also happens to be a home base for devoted Denver football fans. Chicago Bronco Nation—a fan group currently boasting more than 200 members—began its search for the perfect Chicago-based Broncos bar in 2004 and ended up claiming the cozy wooden confines of The Irish Oak. Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Star recently published an article praising Smoque BBQ (3800 N. Pulaski Rd.), claiming that it “does barbecue that rivals Kansas City’s best.” Just FYI. New England Patriots When the Boston Globe calls your Chicago bar “a sports sanctuary of sorts for transplanted Bostonians and New Englanders in search of a bit of the Hub in the Windy City,” you’re probably doing something right. This is definitely the case for the Massachusetts natives who founded Tripoli Tap (1147 W. Armitage Ave.). Groupon Getaways writer and Patriots devotee Lexi Costello praises the bar’s gritty spirit. “It’s a no-frills, die-hard fan’s joint,” she says. “There’s a bartender who opens beer bottles with the inside of her elbow. ... I’m always thoroughly impressed.” Cincinnati Bengals Visit Zebra’s Gourmet Hot Dogs (744 W. 35th St.), which loads Cincinnati-style chili, cheddar cheese, and raw onions onto one of its hot dogs. It doesn’t look like the hot dog includes a serving of cold, gluey spaghetti, but that’s probably for the best. Indianapolis Colts Located within staring distance of Wrigley Field, it makes sense that Sluggers World Class Sports Bar (3540 N. Clark St.) managed to earn the No. 3 spot on ESPN’s 2007 list of Baseball’s Top 10 Bars and Grills. However, the tavern also claims to be home for “Colts fans throughout the Chicagoland area,” setting aside its back bar for the blue and white–clad crowds on game days. San Diego Chargers The average January high in San Diego is 65 degrees. Even Chicago saunas are lucky if they hit 65 in January. Finding a place that feels like home may be difficult, though you can warm up in the steam rooms at Red Square (1914 W. Division St.) in Wicker Park. Seattle Seahawks Hawks Nest Chicago takes its fandom for the Seahawks seriously, arranging road trips for its members to travel together and see games throughout the Midwest. When travel is out of the question, the group gathers at Newport Bar & Grill (1344 W. Newport Ave.) and cheers on the team from afar. San Francisco 49ers  According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, milk was the state’s No. 1 commodity in 2012. Fittingly, the grilled-cheese paradise of Cheesie’s Pub & Grub (958 W. Belmont Ave.) just happens to be a haven for Chicago-based 49ers fans. It’s almost too perfect. Philadelphia Eagles  James Gottwald and Jennifer Monti—the husband-and-wife team behind Monti’s (4757 N. Talman Ave.)—bring a small piece of their Philadelphia home to Chicago by serving hearty cheesesteaks featuring shaved Black Angus rib eye, Amoroso’s rolls imported from Philly, and a choice of three cheese sauces. To round out the menu’s mid-Atlantic flavors, the eatery also serves orders of soft pretzel nuggets as well as Tastykakes for dessert. Carolina Panthers  The last time the Panthers made the playoffs was in 2008. Iron Man was released in 2008 and Iron Man 3 was released in 2013. If this doesn’t count as a sign that you need to watch the Iron Man movies before every Panthers kickoff, then I don’t know what would. Obviously, Iron Man 2 doesn’t count. Still, if you need to eat, there’s slow-smoked, Carolina barbecue at Lillie’s Q (1856 W. North Ave.). New Orleans Saints  Despite the eatery’s name, the most lauded menu item at Jimmy’s Pizza Cafe (5159 N. Lincoln Ave.) is a New Orleans delicacy: the beignet. “[Owner Jimmy Kang’s] beignets, under a cloud of powdered sugar, are light and wonderful—every bit as good as Café du Monde’s in New Orleans,” said Chicago magazine’s Jeff Ruby. Green Bay Packers Why don’t you just go to Wisconsin? It’s right there. Photo credit: Nathalie Lagerfeld, Groupon

After a December 23 Christmas rush one year at HoneyBaked Ham, Don Clements tallied up the receipts. The total? $180,000 worth of hams sold. That would give any manager a holiday high, but not Clements. “It was difficult for me,” Clements, 34, said. “That was wrong on a lot of levels.” One of those given levels is the fact that Clements is a vegan. That means he abstains from all animals products—or in his words, “Nothing with faces, nothing with parents.” The Road to Veganism It’s a story that started many years ago, long before his days of selling hams and even longer before his current job as the owner of the vegan eatery Kitchen 17 (613 W. Briar Pl.) in Lakeview. When he was 16, Clements lived in Columbus, Ohio, where he worked at a chicken-wing joint, learning the basics of cooking from a helpful chef. That job catapulted him into a career in the restaurant business, including work at a Jewish deli and as a manager at a Noodles & Company, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, and HoneyBaked Ham. His breakthrough moment for veganism came at Ohio State University, where he studied political science and volunteered for Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign. Kucinich, a longtime vegan, spoke to Clements and the rest of the volunteers about his life as a vegan. “The speech stayed with me for a very long time,” Clements said. He went through what he called “levels of cognitive dissonance” for 18 months before breaking that thought process and becoming a vegetarian and eventually a vegan. Clements made the leap into his new lifestyle as an informed vegan. He can spout off facts about the meat and dairy industry’s effect on the environment. He also addresses moral issues and health reasons to not consume animals. “All the animals we eat eat a plant-based diet,” he said, extolling the diet’s simple logic. “Why don’t we just skip the middleman and go plant-based ourselves?” His Own Humane Kitchen On the day I met Clements at Kitchen 17, the lights were out. It’s how Clements likes to work: cooking in the scarce light until it’s time to open shop. Kitchen 17 is his first venture as an owner. Its opening in May 2013 signaled the realization of a dream and the chance to finally do it his way as a vegan. He describes the menu as “eclectic” with a Mediterranean feel, blending influences from his Israeli wife and his childhood Pennsylvania town, which had a large displaced Lebanese population. Clements makes nearly everything from scratch. For the philly cheesesteak sandwich—by far the most popular item on the menu—he bakes seitan, which mimics pepperoni, italian sausage, and other meats. Rather than creating and recreating dishes through trial and error, Clements is able to visualize each recipe in his head. “I just kind of know if it will work out or not,” he stated matter-of-factly. That is how he came up with the seitan base recipe of “equal parts dry and wet ingredients and a low bake temperature,” he said. His personal favorite creation is the rosemary veggie burger, an agglomeration of quasi-puréed veggies mixed with ground soy protein and wheat gluten. When I was at Kitchen 17, Clements prepared hummus with pita slices, loaded nachos, and a philly cheesesteak sandwich. The hummus was creamy, and the nachos offered a nice crunchy contrast to the chips with a soft burst of flavor from the beans, salsa, and cheese. The philly cheesesteak left a tinge of spice on the tongue. Clements smiled with each praise-worthy bite I took, and he talked about how the benefits of veganism have not been limited to his kitchen. They’ve also leapt onto his beard. His close-cropped mass of brown is flecked with small gray hairs, which sprouted in his mid-20s, then stalled when he went vegan. He hasn’t seen a new strand since. “Going vegan seems to reverse the aging process,” he said with a laugh. He feels a thousand times better since switching lifestyles. “I haven’t gotten sick since I became vegan. It is amazing what is does to your immune system,” he said. “I am in constant contact with a community that is like-minded,” Clements mused before I left. “I feel like I am living the life I am supposed to be living.” Kitchen 17 houses a cozy 18 seats and a mishmash of vegan artists’ work on display and for sale. The menu includes vegan sandwiches, salads, pizzas, and the creamiest hummus around. Clements offers free beverages, including iced tea and lemonade, and no corkage fee for patrons who BYOB.

In Joe Meno’s Chicago novels, characters often find solace in unloved corners of the city. A trashy South Side arcade welcomes teen punks in Hairstyles of the Damned (2004). An empty Field Museum exhibit comforts a disgraced professor in The Great Perhaps (2009). The frigid winter Chicago streets serve as a bike route for a pair of hipsters in Office Girl (2012). When the Nelson Algren Award–winning author is out and about near his East Village home, however, he often opts for places a little more bustling. Fresh from finishing his seventh book, whose title and plot are still under lock and key, Meno—who was a professor of mine at Columbia College Chicago—let me in on a few of his favorite spots from around the city. GROUPON: Do you have a favorite bar, café, or restaurant to go to and write? JOE MENO: I write in my office at home. But I do [go out] when I have a meeting when I am working on a book. Like this last book I did, Office Girl. There were two different artists involved, so we would frequently meet at this place, the Birchwood Kitchen over on North Avenue (2211 W North Ave). It’s a great little place with artisanal sandwiches and really beautiful burgers and stuff like that. They have art on the walls. It just has a very great energy. And a lot of design people and musicians and folks you run into seem to turn up there. So if I have to do a meeting for some project, I end up going there. G: You’ve said your favorite author is William Faulkner. Where would you bring him to eat or drink in the city? JM: Longman & Eagle (2657 N Kedzie Ave) in Logan Square has this awesome, just really incredible, bourbon list. I actually think they started bottling their own bourbon in small batches. I know Faulkner was a fan of whiskey—and bourbon in particular. It might be a little noisy for his liking, but that would be the place to go. G: You are also a professor in the Fiction Writing department at Columbia College Chicago. Where do you go to eat in between classes? JM: I go to Tamarind on Wabash (614 S Wabash Ave), if you have time to actually sit down and have a human meal. That place is great. It’s Pan-Asian and they have these great bento box lunch specials, and the miso soup is really, really good. G: Where do you go to people-watch? JM: Well, we [Meno and his wife] live in East Village, and they opened just in the last couple of years all these different cafés and they all have outdoor seating. So one of my favorite restaurants is the place Mana on Division (1742 W Division St). We are vegetarian and they serve all vegetarian dishes that are all small plates so you can order a bunch of different stuff. They have these amazing vegetarian sliders. And they have this happy hour where you get a couple of sliders and a beer or wine or something. So we go and we take our kids up there, and there are tons of people walking around, coming home from work or going out to eat. G: Where would you most likely go to run into another author? JM: The obvious one would be The Book Cellar (4736-38 N Lincoln Ave) in Lincoln Square. It is the only bookstore that I know has a bar and a café in it where they actually sell booze. It’s just one of the best bookstores in the city, but they also have drink specials. And it’s one of my favorite places to do a reading because it is intimate and quiet and it’s not like doing a reading in a bar—where sometimes you feel like you are fighting against the audience—but you can still get drinks there, so it’s the best of both worlds: a bookstore and a bar. G: You have written quite a few novels and collections of short stories. Where do you go to celebrate when another piece of writing is published? JM: So when I have something really special, something interesting happen, we get a pie from this place on Chicago Avenue called Hoosier Mama Pie Company (1618 ½ W Chicago Ave). They have a couple of seats where you can sit down and eat a slice of pie. They have every day something like 15 different pies and they have coffee and stuff too. We just go there and buy some pies and they have this awesome banana cream pie. I had this story on NPR Selected Shorts a couple months ago, and that was like a milestone, so we went and got some pies. We’re easy. Also, there is this awesome, awesome place on Taylor Street—Davanti Enoteca (1359 W Taylor St)—it’s Italian, small plates, and really, really good. We end up going there for my wife’s birthday or Father’s Day or something like that. And they just started having brunch on Sundays and they have this bloody mary bar where you make your own bloody marys, which is perfect for a dad on a Sunday morning with two kids. Just go make your bloody marys and enjoy your breakfast. G: Do you have a favorite character that you have created? Where would that character go get a bite? JM: Well, my most popular book is the Hairstyles of the Damned book and there is this kid in it, Brian, who is the narrator—a high-school kid. And it’s set on the South Side of Chicago. It’s actually set at the high school I went to and there is this hot-dog place across from that high school called Wojos (9851 S Pulaski Ave) and they have like a hundred different kinds of milk shakes and it’s perfect after-school teenage food, you know what I mean? In that neighborhood and on the South Side, it is kind of like a landmark. G: Where did you grow up? And when you go back to visit family, where do you go out to eat now? JM: So I grew up in Evergreen Park. My mom still lives there and we go visit her every couple of weeks and we bring the kids. There is this place on 93rd and Kedzie called Snackville Junction (9144 S Kedzie Ave). It’s kind of like a diner. They have hamburgers and hot dogs and grilled cheese and milk shakes and stuff, but there is this train track that goes all the way around the restaurant and the train brings your food out. That was a place I went to as a kid, and now my kids—it’s like going to Disneyland for them. It’s their favorite, and I still get this odd thrill of going there. It such a really simple idea and I don’t know why it gives me so much pleasure to have a toy train bring your plate out. It’s just that as a parent you have these opportunities to revisit these things you did or these places you went with your kids, so it’s part of that nostalgia. G: When you were a kid, where did you beg your parents to take you? JM: There is this place Rainbow Cone (9233 S Western Ave). It’s an ice-cream cone made of like seven different layers. They are not scoops of ice cream. They are more like horizontal slabs in seven different flavors. It’s hugely famous on the South Side. In the summer, that was the place to go. So anytime I have anybody, like a friend, come in from out of town, and they have never been to Chicago, and it’s summer, we will drive down there to go check it out. His new novel won’t be released until next fall, but Meno still has much to keep him busy. This summer, at the prestigious Lincoln Center Directors Lab, he worked on adapting his novel Boy Detective Fails into a musical; he hopes to find a New York production for it soon. He will also help a new trove of writing students polish their words in his classes at Columbia College Chicago. Photo: © Joe Wigdahl