20 librarians in search of a bar

The American Library Association is having its annual conference in a couple weeks in Chicago and I am trying to find a bar that can accommodate us on a Saturday from about 6pm-8pm. We're a group of about 20-25 academic librarians from all over the country and believe it or not, we're pretty cool (that is, no one has a bun but yeah, some of us will be wearing sensible shoes!). Ideally, we would like this bar to be within a 15-20 minute walk from our meeting at the Palmer House, to be able to deal with a large group (we're fine with splitting up at smaller tables but would like to still be close to each other), to offer some sort of small plates/appetizers, to not be crawling with jocks/business types/crazed twentysomethings, and to have some wines by the glass around $7. I've searched Metromix and Yelp and Time Out Chicago and I've yet to locate anything. I did consider Roof, but it sounded crowded and one review mentioned velvet ropes, which is definitely not in our plans. Is this impossible? I floated the idea of taking the El in order to leave the confines of the Loop but have met with some resistance. Many thanks for your help!

lalibrarian in Chicago Area