Buddy Guy's

Noelle Michaels, the bubbly chanteuse on the Odyssey II, strolls among revelers on the boat's crowded dance floor. "Hi," she says to one particularly happy-looking couple. "You must be celebrating something." The two look at each other, pause, clink their champagne glasses and say in unison: "A night away from the kids!"

Sound tempting? Maybe it's time to give the remote a rest and remember what weekend nights are all about. Here are four numbers you can leave for the babysitter: a romantic bed-and-breakfast winery; a rowdy speakeasy; a dinner cruise; and a blues joint where sultry sax riffs hang like a siren's song in the night air.

On weekends, crowds of couples -- all ages, races and genders -- spill out of the narrow door that leads into this South Loop hot spot. Buddy Guy's Legends is renowned for consistently outstanding music, from locals as well as real "legends," and the kind of get-down-and-get-funky atmosphere that can make a hot summer night even steamier.

It's a no-frills club, with a blue-and-white linoleum floor and blues memorabilia on the walls. Once you wedge inside, get a table as close to the stage as you can -- you'll want to get the full effect of the wailing singers and the musicians' facial expressions.

Don't give up your seat, or you could spend the rest of the night standing (the club gets crowded and really starts hoppin' after about 9:30 p.m.). If you're feeling lucky, try your hand in a game of pool at one of the four tables in the back.

Buddy Guy's food is as famous as its blues. The bucket of hot sauces on each table clues you in to the menu: New Orleans po-boy sandwiches with fried shrimp or oysters, okra pickles, and jambalaya loaded with chicken and andouille sausage.

The best bet is the house specialty: "smothered" catfish (get it fried, not grilled) covered with crawfish etouffee and served with buttermilk corn bread and peppery collard greens. Finish your meal with a big slab of Buddy's peanut pie, if you have room.

If you haven't warmed up by the time you finish dinner, you will during the first blues set. Nationally acclaimed musicians such as Big Bill Morgansfield, Cash McCall and Roy Hytower regularly take the stage and play long, soulful sets that pull patrons out of their chairs shouting tent-revival choruses of praise. You may even see Buddy Guy himself -- he occasionally sits in.

"Moonpie" Mason, one of the club's regulars, eyes a bottle of the hot-pepper sauce at his stage-side table. "The blues is all about lovin'," he says, between bites of corn bread, dabbing at his chin with a fistful of red-checked napkins. "And sometimes you just need a little mo' hot stuff." At Buddy's, the "hot stuff" isn't just out of a bottle. You can find it in the sultry wail of a saxophone or the plaintive twang of a melancholy guitar. It's the blues place to find great music, mouthwatering food and, if you're lucky, maybe even a little love.

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