It's pristine (the carefully constructed cocktails are excellent), pretentious (you won’t find a sign on the door–just look for the long lines) and, ultimately, completely and unarguably gorgeous. Read more.
It’s open and loftlike, with a permanent stage set up for weekly live music. One sip and there’s no doubt that despite everything else going on here, the cocktails are the reason to stick around.
You’ll find an extensive beer list, leather booths, brocade wallpaper and hipsters shooting stick in an antler-adorned back room, but they’ve set their corner tap on the path toward longevity. Read more.
No time for dinner? Opt for the lounge, a gingery Sepia Mule cocktail and the sweet-salty-smoky flatbread of fresh peaches, creamy blue cheese and bacon Read more.
After renovations, this place is a little mod. But sitting here with an impeccably crafted Sazerac is undeniably pleasant that it’s hard not to believe that the changes were for the better. Read more.
If you’re lucky, you can snag a couch in the back by the fireplace where you can take in the cool vintage bar, sip some seasonal glogg and check out the friendly neighborhood crowd.
You can’t sit among the sparkling fountain and oversized flower arrangements, slowly sipping your perfectly shaken martini, without thinking that your mom was right all along: You are special.
Even though former Joffrey Ballet dancer Sam Franke took over this neighborhood joint in June 2008, the goal of original owners Craig Fass and Mandy Franklin to have a pub with good grub remains.
A post-work, loosened-tie set love to happy hour at this River North wine bar that side-saddles the House of Blues. Read more.
Once inside this sprawling space—which has separate areas for eating pub grub, watching the game from the bar and even reading (in the cozy "library")—you just may find yourself wanting more.
Adjacent to the Heartland Café and claiming the same delish kitchen, the Red Line Tap books small-time but usually endearing rock, folk, country and punk bands. Read more.
You’re supposed to eat fish and chips in a musty pub for ultimate authenticity, right? Not come summer, and not when this Irish mainstay has a patio that’s a dead ringer. Read more.
Soda bread? Black-and-white pudding? Not so much. This Irish bistro serves food you’d find in modern-day Dublin, which means Guinness isn’t just on the epic beer list. Read more.
If you’ve been in a train’s dining car recently, you know the menu ranges from Doritos to Ruffles and most of the clientele is passed out with cans of Bud Light at their feet. Read more.
