Still my favorite club in Chicagoland

Though I live hours away from Chicago Heights, I've been visiting Jimmy's for about five years and continue to enjoy every visit. Ten years ago Club O in Harvey was my favorite, succeeded for a while by Club 390 in Chicago Heights, but Jimmy's has won my loyalty with its combination of a comfortable neighborhood bar ambience, attractive dancers of various ethnicities, and reasonable prices.

This review is based on visits Thursday night from about midnight to 1:30am and Friday night from about 7 to 9:30pm. The experiences were rather different but quite enjoyable. The Thursday visit followed a frustrating time at Club 390 (see upcoming review). Cover was $5 and a very good pint of Shock Top on draft was $6. There were about 10 dancers, all but one black. In general I prefer to see more than one white dancer, but my tastes are really quite eclectic and I can make do in almost any circumstances. Almost all of the customers were black as well. I tipped two stunning black girls named London and Perfect at the stage, but they were tied up through most of my visit so I never got to do dances with them. When the DJ announced two-for-$20, another black girl took me back to the lap dance area and got me off with just two dances, which is not an easy feat these days. I was impressed enough that I ignored the 2-for-$20 deal and just gave her $40.

On Friday night I arrived at 6:55, just before the $5 cover started, and settled in with another fine $6 draft pint, this time a Belgian White. The beer selection, by the way, is much improved here compared with 3-4 years ago. I think there are some specials on pitchers or buckets of four on some weeknights, but I don't know details. The club's website -- jimmyschicago.com -- has not kept up with the increases in the cover charge and the decline in beer specials, which I believe the club has instituted in a so far futile attempt to attract a more racially balanced clientele. Early in the evening most of the customers and at least half the dancers are white, but by 11 or 12 almost all customers and dancers are black.