Giant pretzel and big beer at Prost!

This raucous German restaurant and beer hall is worthy of the exclamation point in its name. “There’s nothing like it in the city,” says Vincent Baratta (formerly of Old Town Social), the general manager. Following a two-year closure, Prost! recently reemerged with six times its former capacity. Picnic-style seating now accommodates 290 revelers, and a collection of two dozen Austrian and German brews—the most interesting, Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen, smacks of Scotch, campfire, and bacon—ensures constant clinking and prost!-ing. Ian Flowers (LOKal) serves Chicago’s (and quite possibly the world’s) most humongous soft pretzel—an eye-popping 20-ouncer, which, without fail, elicits something to the tune of “Holy shit!” when plunked down on the table. Naturally, there’s a three-liter beer-filled boot to help wash that sucker down. 2566 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-880-9900.

Photograph: Anna Knott