birthday group dinner/drinks?

Hello!
Forgive me if this is a redundant topic, but....

I am looking for a location for my birthday. Last year, we all went to Big Star. Haven't ruled that one out for this year just yet.
The ideal would be a place where my freinds and I could hold court at a large table and eat come yummy food (sharing is fine) and have drinks (not too expensive). I have friends from all different places, so I don't want some formal thing where everyone has to sit down at once and those who float in later feel awkward. Clearly, this means some place that's more of a bar than restaurant. But I'm sure there's a happy medium.

I apologize if this is unclear. Sometimes it's tough to figure out your birthday plans!!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I did something like that one year at Webster's Wine Bar and it worked out pretty well. I would imagine there, or someplace similar would work for you.

Webster's Wine Bar
1480 West Webster Avenue
Chicago, IL 60614-4275
(773) 868-0608

I spent some time a couple of weekends ago @ The Twisted Spoke for Chiditarod. The food is nothing fancy but pretty good for what it is (upscale bar). There's a good selection of brews and some fancy cocktails. It seems you folks could commandeer the back room if you wanted to--it might be nice to give them advance notice.

The typo in the 5th line of the OP led me to immediately think of this place as your best bet for that particular delicacy.

Ahhh....
I guess that would be the second typo in that line.

yr friendly anal compulsive