Nightlife

Bars

Cocktail temples, a jazz landmark, corner taverns and one very good rooftop — the twenty rooms that define a night out in Chicago, in order. Pull up a stool.

20 rankedNo. 1 — Kumiko

Filter · Neighborhood20 / 20

1
Kumiko
West LoopCocktail bar$$$
Julia Momose’s Japanese-inflected cocktail bar is the most thoughtful drinking room in the city, full stop.
2
The Meadowlark
Logan SquareCocktail bar$$$
Beverage director Abe Vucekovich’s 28-seat apothecary bar off Palmer Street earns its place on any serious Chicago list.
3
The Green Mill
UptownJazz club$$
Chicago’s premier Jazz Age relic has been playing live music seven nights a week since before Prohibition ended it the first time.
4
Delilah’s
Lincoln ParkDive bar$
Eight-hundred-plus whiskeys, $2 bourbons every day, and a DJ spinning punk and hard country: Delilah’s is the Lincoln Park bar that defies its zip code.
5
Bisous
West LoopCocktail bar$$$
Peter Vestinos’s ‘60s Parisian fantasy on Fulton Market is the most considered pre-dinner room on the West Side.
6
Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar
BridgeportNeighborhood bar$$
Half liquor store, half tavern, all Bridgeport: Ed and Mike Marszewski’s shrine to craft beer and South Side community is in a class of its own.
7
Best Intentions
Logan SquareNeighborhood bar$
The Logan Square neo-dive with Angostura on tap and a $6 smashburger that makes the ten-dollar cocktail taste even better.
8
La Licor Panamericana
Logan SquareCocktail bar$$
Javier Arroyo’s Logan Square bar routes the Pan-American Highway through a mezcal-and-pisco cocktail list and a kitchen built around Latin American small plates.
9
The Aviary
West LoopCocktail bar$$$
Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas’s Alinea-group cocktail laboratory treats every drink as a culinary object, and usually succeeds.
10
Scofflaw
Logan SquareCocktail bar$$
Danny Shapiro’s gin-forward Logan Square stalwart has been quietly one of the city’s most reliable cocktail rooms since 2012.
11
Sportsman’s Club
Ukrainian VillageCorner tavern$$
A former Polish tavern near Western Avenue that Heisler Hospitality preserved rather than renovated, right down to the 1940s bar.
12
Billy Sunday
Logan SquareCocktail bar$$
Matthias Merges named his cocktail bar after a Prohibition evangelist, which tells you something about his sense of humor and his relationship to whiskey.
13
Lazy Bird
West LoopCocktail bar$$$
The cellar bar inside The Hoxton hotel pulls off the rare trick of being a hotel bar that feels like it belongs to the neighborhood.
14
Moneygun
West LoopCocktail bar$$
Donavan Mitchem’s Essential 30 classic cocktail list at West Lake Street is the most democratic serious bar in Chicago.
15
Hopleaf
AndersonvilleBeer bar$$
Michael Roper’s Andersonville institution has been a mecca for serious beer since 1992, with 62 taps and the CB&J sandwich as its non-negotiable accompaniments.
16
Cindy’s Rooftop
The LoopRooftop bar$$$
The 13th-floor terrace above the Chicago Athletic Association hotel delivers the definitive view of Millennium Park and a cocktail list that earns its price.
17
After
West LoopCocktail bar$$$
Curtis Duffy’s post-Grace cocktail bar on Fulton Street brings Michelin-level technique to drinks without the formality or the bill.
18
Three Dots and a Dash
River NorthTiki bar$$$
Paul McGee’s subterranean tiki room in River North, reached via a torch-lined alley, is the most committed tropical bar between the coasts.
19
Friends of Friends
West TownNeighborhood bar$$
The former Schlitz tied-house on Grand Avenue reunites the Meadowlark’s Abe Vucekovich with Heisler Hospitality and One Off in a bar that is more than the sum of its resumé.
20
Culebra
Logan SquareCocktail bar$$
Diego Garcia-Gonzalez’s Puerto Rican and Caribbean basement speakeasy under the Lonesome Rose is Logan Square’s most exciting new room.

Bars

Kumiko

The Meadowlark

The Green Mill

Delilah’s

Bisous

Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar

Best Intentions

La Licor Panamericana

The Aviary

Scofflaw

Sportsman’s Club

Billy Sunday

Lazy Bird

Moneygun

Hopleaf

Cindy’s Rooftop

After

Three Dots and a Dash

Friends of Friends

Culebra