There's only one thing better than hearing the blues live, and that's slurping down a spicy bowl of gumbo while you soak up those gritty guitar sounds. Back Porch at Chicago's House of Blues allows you to do exactly that, each and every night, with its full menu of Southern fare. Dinner is served until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights and until 10 p.m. during the week, with a specialty late-night food menu available until closing each evening.

Highlights include crispy catfish nuggets with sweet potato fries, Chicago-style sliders with homemade onion rings and a selection of pizzas. If you're up for some truly authentic bites, try the Creole seafood jambalaya or calamari voodoo shrimp. Be sure to save a little (well, a lot actually) room for the white chocolate-banana bread pudding. It's just the thing to cure the blues, although you probably won't want to cure anything once you hear the skilled cats that rock this room.

A cover charge ranges from $7 to $10, but you can skip all that by dining in the restaurant before 9 p.m. Check the House of Blues website for a full lineup of upcoming shows.

Centerstage Reviewer: Stacy Warden