Quote:
Originally Posted by
ld111134 
- Hop Leaf - A ridiculously large beer list with a focus on Belgian specialy brews. The Belgian-inspired menu is great, but the buckets of mussels are especially tasty.
- The Map Room - another beer connoisseur's paradise
- Ed and Jean's - Tiny pool table, check. Elderly owner who's owned the place since 1946, check. Cheesy bar tchotchke (including a lit Schlitz can), check. This place (near the Map Room) is the ultimate in Chicago old man/dive bars.
- The Hideout - On a dead-end industrial street, this place has a great dive-y, hipster bar up front and a performance space in the back that has the feel of a 1950s rumpus room and features music ranging from alt-country (Neko Case used to perform here regularly when she lived in town) to avant-garde jazz.
- Webster Wine Bar - Quiet, cool and staffed by servers who really know their vino.
- The Lodge - Amid the craziness of Division Street this tiny place is (in Richard Roeper's words) "an Old Country Buffet for players".
- Simone's - A bit off the beaten path in the Pilsen neighborhood on the South Side, this place is frequented by artists, musicians and various other bohemians, and its decor of neon lights and pinball machines has to be seen to be believed.
- The Duke of Perth - Since the demise of the Red Lion, this place is the best representative of a British (as opposed to Irish) pub in town.
- Sheffield's - Of all the Wrigleyville joints, this is the best place to soak in the pre-/post-Cubs game experience - plus a friend of mine now runs the place
- Small Bar - A great soccer-oriented sports bar serving killer cheeseburgers.
I've excluded lounges and other "see-and-be-seen" places as well as places that are primarily restaurants or performance spaces (e.g. the Velvet Lounge).
This is the best list I've read so far, I see we have similar tastes. Another couple good beer spots to add to the list would be Long Room, The Fountainhead, Revolution Brewery and even Goose Island has a decent selection and pretty good grub. Roof at theWit is the best rooftop lounge in the city, Bar DeVille is another great place for handmade cocktails, if you love beer and pork you can kill two birds with one stone by checking out The Publican over on Fulton. A couple other good wine bars are Enoteca Roma and Juicy Wine Co. (although the name might have changed), best burger hit up Kuma's who also has a very respectable beer list. Dives you have way too many, but Goldstar, Happy Village, Lemmings, Rainbo, Club Foote and Tuman's are some of my favorites. Cleo's has great bar food and so does Five Star (I am being kinda bias because I live in the area and can walk to all of these places.) One beer ya gotta try is Three Floyd's Gumball Head and Two Brother's Domaine DuPage, if you have any questions snag my number from Mauro and I can help ya out if ya need it...
