Best of Chicago Bars 2003

Created January 5, 2003

© The Chicago Bar Project
Written by Sean Parnell

Best of Chicago Bars 2003

Drum Roll, Please:

Best Bar

Best Bar By Locale:

Best Bar By Type:

And Finally:

Most Notable Incident

HotHouse – avant garde music in a seriously cool venue
Green Mill Cocktail Lounge – oldest bar in Chicago offers top-notch jazz
bw-3 – best wings in the country and great place to see the game
Billy Goat Tavern – can't be beat on personality
Goose Island Brew Pub – excellent brews in a very warm environment

Special Mention: Safe House (Milwaukee) – how can you not love a bar with secret passages?

Best Downtown – Greektown – Printer's Row – Little Italy Bar

HotHouse
Miller's Pub
Trader Vic's
Velvet Lounge
Bullpen Bar (Comiskey)

Best River North – Magnificent Mile – Gold Coast Bar

Best Bucktown – Wicker Park – Ukrainian Village – Humboldt Park Bar

Best Lincoln Park – Old Town Bar

John Barleycorn's Memorial Pub
bw-3
Mickey's Snack Bar
Olde Towne Ale House
Liar's Club

Honorable Mention: Prodigal Son

Best Lakeview Bar

Best Wrigleyville Bar

Honorable Mention: Pepper Lounge (considered a restaurant in the eyes of the CBP)

Best North & Northwest Side Bar

Honorable Mention: Lincoln Lodge – unique secret space

Best Suburban Bar

Hala Kahiki (River Grove)
Tommy Nevin's Pub (Evanston)
Pete Miller's (Evanston)
Purple Palace (Lincolnwood)
Muldoon's (Wheaton)

Bars We'll Miss The Most

Best Airport Bar

Reilly's Daughter – Midway
Gaslight Club – O'Hare Hilton
Illinois Bar & Grill – Midway
O'Brien's – O'Hare
The Bar – O'Hare

Best Alternative Music

Best Anglophile Pub

Best Bachelorette Party Central

Roadhouse
Hangge Uppe
Spike's Rat Bar
Slow Down! Life's Too Short
Hogs and Honeys

Honorable Mention: Glazed Expressions – make your own pottery, locations on Armitage (formerly Kaput Kapot) and Lincoln

Best Bar Tradition

Friar Tuck – shots out of an inflatable sheep's ass
Rich's First One Today – getting Shirley to get up off her ass and away from the video poker machine, to get you a $0.75 draft of Old Style
Prodigal Son – free bacon on Wednesday nights
Goose Island Brew Pub – MBA program (Master's of Beer Appreciation)
Underground Wonder Bar – crowd interaction with Lonie Walker's Bad Ass Band

Best Barbeque

Best Beer Garden

Special Mention: Hala Kahiki (River Grove)

Best Beer Selection

Best Booze Selection

Duke of Perth – Scotch
Delilah's – Bourbon
Southport Lanes & Billiards – Scotch
Stanley's Kitchen & Tap – Whiskey and Bourbon
Twisted Spoke – Bourbon

Best Brunch

Best Burger

Moody's Pub – "Moody Bleu"
Jury's – the best burger you never heard of
JT Collins (gone) – filled with gorgonzola cheese
Billy Goat Tavern – "Cheezborger! Cheezborger! DOUBLECHEEZ!!!"
Twisted Spoke – "Fatboy"

Honorable Mention: Belly's – topped with a fried egg (no longer served in 2004)

Best Cocktail Lounge

Leopard Lounge
Long Room
Ten 56
Get Me High Lounge
Tiny Lounge

Best Dive Bar

Best Folk Music

Best Former Speakeasy

Best Former Whorehouse

Best German Bar

Best Irish Pub

Reilly's Daughter
Cork & Kerry
Cullen's
Tommy Nevin's
Irish Oak

Best Jazz Club

Best Late-Night Bar

Best Lodge

Grizzly's Lodge
Will's Northwoods
L Woods (Lincolnwood)
The Lodge

Best Neighborhood Joint

JT Collins (gone)
Ten Cat
Charleston
Jake's Pub
Gingerman

Best Piano Bar

Redhead Piano Bar
Zebra Lounge
Underground Wonder Bar
Hugo's Frog Bar
Davenport's
Back Room

Best Place to Find Framboise Lambic

Map Room
Hopleaf Bar
Subterranean
Riverview Tavern
404 Wine Bar

Best Place to See a Cover Band

Cubby Bear
Joe's Sports Bar & Grill
HiTops
Hog Head McDunna's
Lakeview Links
Castaways

Best Place to See a Fight

Kincade's
Liar's Club
Wrigley Field
Brewbaker's
Border Line Tap

Corner Pocket
Southport Lanes & Billiards
Gingerman
Lucky Strike
Dave & Buster's on Clark

Best Pub Game

Cody's – bocce ball
Toons – shuffleboard
Marie's Riptide – electronic skeet shooting
Local Option and J&R Tap – shuffle puck bowling
Rich's First One Today – Golden Tee (free)
Ten Cat – Pennant Fever (baseball pinball)

Best Pub Grub

Best Renovation

Grafton Pub & Grill
My Bar
Cabo Bar & Grill
Celtic Crown
Lion Head Pub

Best Slam Poetry

Green Mill Cocktail Lounge
Weed's Tavern
Funky Buddha Lounge
Joy Blue
Estelle's Café & Pub

Best Sports Bar

bw-3
Joe's
ESPN Zone
Murphy's Bleachers
Brew & View (for big games)

Special Mention: Purple Palace (Lincolnwood)

Best Sunday Night Bar

Best Tuesday Night Bar

Hideout – authentic bluegrass by Devil in a Woodpile at 10:00 p.m.
Cafe Bolero – free flowing Latin jazz
HotHouse – often host special events featuring free wine and cheese
aliveOne – $2 drafts and bootlegged music
BLUES – North Siders get in free

Biggest Tourist Trap

Blue Chicago
House of Blues
Buddy Guy's Legends
Kingston Mines
Green Door Tavern

Farthest Back in Time

Funkiest Bar/Club

Most Fun Cheeseball Palace

Hangge Uppe
Irish Eyes
Burwood Tap
Butch McGuire's
Spike's Rat Bar

Most Underrated Beer Garden

Most Underrated or Unknown Bar

Quencher's
Toons
Hopleaf
Burgundy Inn
Ten Cat

Most Unique Bar

Weirdest Crowd

Last But Not Least...

Most Notable Incident

"Blue Moon Incident" – John Barleycorn's Memorial Pub and Deja Vu
"The Mini-Corn Dog Chunder" – bw-3
"The Seventh Slap" – Deja Vu
"The Jameson Heist" – Slow Down! Life's Too Short
"Super Bowl Sunday 1998" – J&R Tap and Marie's Riptide Lounge
"Transatlantic Christmas Party Adventure" – House of Blues
"Puke Button" – Justin's
"New Year's Eve 1997" – Lakeview Links

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