The Loop Lunch Club Tournament 2

"And that is the reason this victory is great, because different players have made contributions to the win." - Sachin Tendulkar

"Victories that are cheap are cheap. Those only are worth having which come as the result of hard fighting." - Henry Ward Beecher

6 men, 16 restaurants, 1 mission

Seeing as The Loop Lunch Club Tournament is widely recognized as one Chicago's premier social events it comes as no surprise that some of the city's biggest names, like Derrick Rose, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey--and probably some white celebrities too--all had supporters in attendance on the eve of our nation's day of independence. Amazingly, paparazzi were nowhere to be found as I entered the lobby on my way to the VIP pre-party. "Please, people, please," I said as I pushed through the revolving doors, squinting in anticipation of the onslaught of greedy photographers whom I assumed had already begun phase 1 of some contrived ploy to induce an 'accidental' nip-slip from the city's foremost LLC blogger. I opened my eyes to a space empty but for the unimpressed doorman who, convincingly, pretended not to recognize me as I signed into the building's registrar under the company name "LLC, LLC."

The Loop Lunch Club met to decide on the best lunch, and while doing so were treated to a dinner that blew all sixteen restaurants away. Steve "Top Chef" Lake's glorious feast was beyond delicious, highlighted by slabs of ribs so good that, if I had been Adam and God took one of my ribs that night in exchange for Eve, I'd have said something like, "Flesh of my flesh, where the hell did that rib go? I was saving that! Pass me that apple."

By now I imagine the suspense is killing you. "Why," you must be thinking, "hasn't he mentioned any details about the tournament?" The answer is quite simple. There was a lot of booze at the party. I can tell you that the crowd was phenomenal. The LLC is immensely grateful to those of you who disregarded your sense of shame and publicly donned the Moderator's hat (below, with bracket big board) as well as those who paid close attention to the debates and provided critical tie breaking votes.

Possibly the worst picture on the internet

The upper left division of the bracket was so incredibly weak that I don't even remember which restaurant advanced from it to the final four. I believe it was I Dream of Falafel. Specialy's Bakery came out of the lower left with relative ease and put I Dream of Falafel to bed to move on to the finals. On the other side of the bracket we saw a surprise run from Belden Deli, who knocked out Taza to meet Takashi in a final four showdown. Despite a passionate performance in which I constantly wiped the sweat off my brow with a seersucker handkerchief, channeling my inner 1880's southern demagogue, I could not convince my fellow Lunch Clubbers to vote Belden into the final. Bert and Ernie simply refused to hear it, continuing down their path to Takashi's new location at the corner of Sesame St. and Stubborn Ave.

Before we reveal the champion, let's take a minute to recognize The LLC 2's worst restaurant. While I think this far from the worst we visited the votes are in and The LLC Tournament Donkey award goes to...

For a man holding two drinks Brian Lake displayed
surprisingly competent moderation.

Ronny's Steakhouse! I can see Chef Petro reading this with a sigh of relief.

The championship showdown was the stuff of legends. Years from now I'll be telling my grandkids about the 2012 LLC2 Tournament in which Rob "coup d'lunch" Anderson casted a switcheroo vote in favor of his least favorite restaurant, Takashi, in solidarity with the integrity of the tournament. Anderson's vote resulted in a 3-3 tie and gave the attentive audience a chance to make history. America voted, and The Loop Lunch Club 2 Champion is...

Specialty's Bakery!

Congratulations to Specialty's, the newest LLC Champion and thank you all for your participation in The LLC. Whether you're a member of the group, a guest luncher, party attendee, blog subscriber, or one of those random Eastern Europeans who stumbled upon this website somehow, thank you for your support. Hopefully soon we will begin The LLC's third tour. I've already begun brainstorming cool ways to write it...

LL3, 3LC, The Loop Lunch Clu3, and for you emoticon users out there, LLC<3.

Tournament Notes:

• The White Sox scored 19 runs during The LLC party. In a post game interview Paul Konerko explained, "We were so upset about missing The LLC party that we had to take our frustration out on the baseball."
• Rumors circulated that Dan Spira was seen in the bathroom pouring diet coke into an emptied out can of beer. 
• For an aggressively detailed play-by-play of the tournament please check out Danny Rubenstein's twitter feed or the Loop Lunch Club Facebook Page. I won't be offended if you don't "like" it. We aren't a real business or anything so it doesn't matter at all, though we won't hesitate to data mine your profile and sell your information.