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These are a few of my favorite things -- on the South Side

As you read this, they're probably just cooking up the Eisenberg brats that will be trucked in, rewarmed and served soggy all summer in the Wrigley Field bleachers.

To that, all a devoted White Sox fan can say is, "Fah!" Take your sun and put it where it don't shine. Just give me something good and hot and freshly cooked to stick in my gullet while watching a ballgame.

Sox Park has always had the better food, if not always the better baseball, and the choice of eats is far more extensive and far better on the South Side. I can still remember a Thorn Apple Valley Polish cart at the old Comiskey Park that had been seasoned like a chef's wok over the years and cooked up the tastiest, greasiest sausage and grilled onions in the city.

Unfortunately, it didn't make the trip across the street to the Sox's new digs in the early '90s, but at this point the Beltin' Bill Melton stands are almost as good: brats and Polishes cooked fresh and served up with your choice of grilled onions, peppers or kraut -- or all three -- with brown mustard and giardiniera on the side.

My only complaint is they deserve a more substantial bun; after all, it ain't ratty, reheated Eisenberg brats we're dealing with here.

Sox Park replaces Old Style with Miller alongside Budweiser in the standard beer offerings, but really why settle for anything less than the vast selection at the Beers Around the World stands? On an ounce-by-ounce basis, the pint-size can of Tecate is the better bargain -- and they serve lime wedges with it to boot. Top that, Wrigley.

All right, I'll admit, the surrounding neighborhood is more festive on the North Side. Sox fans have never recovered from the razing of McCuddy's, right about where the Sox administrative offices are now located on the ground floor of the new stadium. Yet it's not as if there's no place to meet. The Skylark Tavern at 2149 S. Halsted St. makes a fine rendezvous en route, although my favorite watering hole within walking distance of the stadium is Mitchell's Tap, the former Puffer's, at 3356 S. Halsted St..

While Wrigleyville might have more restaurants, I'm not surrendering on quality. The hole-in-the-wall Ramova Grill, 3510 S. Halsted St., serves one of the best bowls of old-school chili in the city (that'll give you a warm foundation to help weather the early season cold), and my favorite area restaurant is Cobblestones, 514 W. Pershing (39th Street to you tourists), which has muffalettas large enough to fill the biggest gut and a nice array of pastas, including a steak Vaccaro mixing rib-eye slices and freshly grilled green pepper over penne.

My favorite thing about Sox Park is fans watch and talk about the game. They don't make time with chicks in tube tops or get on their cell phones to tell friends where they are. They're already there, and they enjoy the baseball experience. Yet, there is also something beyond baseball. Leave the upper deck on the north side of the stadium, down the third-base/left-field line, and at the top of the ramps you get a panoramic view of the Chicago skyline unlike anywhere else in the city. Win or lose, it's a beautiful way to end the day.

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