Scott Adsit on his favorite Chicago hangouts
Seth Olenick
Welcome to Ringing Endorsement, wherein Decider speaks to a famous (and therefore more interesting) person of note to get their hearty recommendation of an event, restaurant, or whatever strikes their fancy. This week, Northbrook-born Second City alumnus Scott Adsit of NBC’s 30 Rock (the third season of which premieres on Oct. 30) and Adult Swim’s Moral Orel (the third and final season of which premieres Friday) recommends many places in close proximity to Second City.
Scott Adsit: Tina [Fey] and her husband Jeff [Richmond], and [Rachael] Dratch and I would generally go out after the show and go eat at the Golden Apple up on Lincoln pretty much every night. There’s a documentary about that time with all of us there. I like Schubas for its tiny little venue. I saw Eef Barzelay perform there. I love that tiny little space…Golden Apple, too. Where else would I go? There’s this little Thai place called Tiparos on Clark and Wells. It was close to Second City, so I would go there between shows on the weekends. And they were just real nice; they knew my order before I sat down and quick and also just a pleasant atmosphere with friends. It’s like a really clean apartment. A lot of my life centered around Second City and that neighborhood around there because I spent all my days and nights there.
The Old Town Ale House is the best dive bar in the city as far as I’m concerned. In that bar was a pinball machine that Kevin Dorf And I worked on. We wrote all the dialogue for it. Tina, Dorf, and I did the voices for it.
Decider: What was the theme of the pinball game?
SA: It was called Medieval Madness. It was voted one of the best pinball games ever made. Not because of us; because of the designers. But we added, I don’t know, five, six voices each. And the thing talks to you. It talks through our mouths. And Tina’s on there as all the princesses. But it’s a lively, action-packed journey through medieval war. I just bought one from Germany and sent it to my sister. She’s got it in her basement. Very hard to find.
D: How did you track it down? eBay?
SA: Yeah, eBay. Got this enormous crate from Germany on a tanker.
D: Hopefully you got some positive feedback out of that, at least.
SA: I did. It’s one of the best machines they’ve ever made, apparently. I also like Penny’s Noodles. I love it. I haven’t lived in Chicago since ’97. See, I come see my mom if I’m lucky, twice a year. And they’ll come to me or go to my sister’s, but Chicago, it’s hard. It’s hard to get out there because I work in New York and Los Angeles, and usually working so it’s hard to get away. And there’s very little reason for me to be in Chicago unless I’m working. That sounds terrible. The reason being is that my mom, but I’m busy, and she’s just not that important to me.
D: Well, who has time for their mothers, really?
SA: Yeah, c’mon. I’ve got [Law & Order Special Victims Unit] to guest star on. I can’t go home and see my mom.
The Old Town Ale House is the best dive bar in the city as far as I’m concerned. In that bar was a pinball machine that Kevin Dorf And I worked on. We wrote all the dialogue for it. Tina, Dorf, and I did the voices for it.
Decider: What was the theme of the pinball game?
SA: It was called Medieval Madness. It was voted one of the best pinball games ever made. Not because of us; because of the designers. But we added, I don’t know, five, six voices each. And the thing talks to you. It talks through our mouths. And Tina’s on there as all the princesses. But it’s a lively, action-packed journey through medieval war. I just bought one from Germany and sent it to my sister. She’s got it in her basement. Very hard to find.
D: How did you track it down? eBay?
SA: Yeah, eBay. Got this enormous crate from Germany on a tanker.
D: Hopefully you got some positive feedback out of that, at least.
SA: I did. It’s one of the best machines they’ve ever made, apparently. I also like Penny’s Noodles. I love it. I haven’t lived in Chicago since ’97. See, I come see my mom if I’m lucky, twice a year. And they’ll come to me or go to my sister’s, but Chicago, it’s hard. It’s hard to get out there because I work in New York and Los Angeles, and usually working so it’s hard to get away. And there’s very little reason for me to be in Chicago unless I’m working. That sounds terrible. The reason being is that my mom, but I’m busy, and she’s just not that important to me.
D: Well, who has time for their mothers, really?
SA: Yeah, c’mon. I’ve got [Law & Order Special Victims Unit] to guest star on. I can’t go home and see my mom.
