Best bars in Logan Square
Logan Square is home to most of the city's best cocktail bars, plus a few great dives
If you like the variety and ingenuity of the Logan Square restaurant scene, you'll love the bar scene because it's as good or even better. Whether you prefer cheap canned beer at dive bars, big brewery taprooms or excellent cocktail bars, Logan Square has a bar for you.
RECOMMENDED: Our complete Logan Square guide
Best Logan Square bars
Analogue
Analogue, where you'll find a pair of Violet Hour vets behind the bar and a Flipside Cafe alum in the kitchen, is one of the more relaxed cocktail-focused bars in the city. The menu changes seasonally, but look out for purls, bitter beer-based beverages and cocktails with local spirits.
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Best Intentions
Brothers Chris and Calvin Marty bought the old Marble Bar and reopened it as Best Intentions. The dive bar charm remains, although the bar is a little sleeker and the drinks are much better. Settle into a table on the big back patio, or sidle up to the bar for minty Wondermint Malted shakes, shots of Angostura bitters (they're the only bar anywhere with the bitters on draft) and a list of well-made classics. Fill up on po'boys from chef Kevin Cowens.
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Billy Sunday
Who would have guessed longtime Trotter's chef Matthias Merges would find his calling checking IDs at the door of a Logan Square bar? Granted, his is not just any bar: Here, barkeep Alex Bachman combines his penchant for unusual ingredients (a syrup made from maidenhair ferns, say) with an uncanny sense of balance, turning out creations that both pay homage to and defy tradition—often simultaneously. Though Billy Sunday is squarely a bar, the food is a worthy companion to the drinks: Don't miss the banana pudding.
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Bob Inn
Nothing brings together the hip kids and blue-collar Chicagoans better than cheap alcohol, and this no-frills Logan Square dive across from the Fireside Bowl is living proof. Watch as the earnest mustaches of Blackhawks and Sox fans mingle amiably with ironically bearded Black Keys and White Stripes fans. And if that gets dull, just head to the back for a 75-cent game of pool.
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Go Tavern and Liquors
Tucked away in one of the far corners of Logan Square, this combination bar and liquor store is one of the neighborhood's best kept secrets. Formerly known as Dorothy's Liquors, manager Mike Stellatos changed the bar's name and menu while retaining some of its divey charm (including ceiling tiles decorated by regulars). Sidle up to the bar to peruse the affordable selection of craft beers or grab a six pack from the coolers and bring the party back to your couch.
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The Heavy Feather
Unlike other ‘70s fern bars, the Heavy Feather feels less like a theme park and more like a refined bar that just happens to serve drinks from the era. The restraint isn’t really surprising, given who’s behind the bar—the Scofflaw group, with beverage director Doug Phillips at the helm. There's a list of 13 balanced drinks, like a velvety amaretto sour, improved with the addition of bourbon and frothy egg white, and creamy grasshopper ice cream drink strengthened with cognac. If the fern bars of yore were half as good as the Heavy Feather, they would never have gone out of style.
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Logan Arcade
Logan Arcade was originally located in the back room of Logan Hardware, a record store and vintage arcade museum, but once that moved down the street, the Arcade took over the space. Inside, you'll find a fully stocked bar and a blinking, beeping menagerie of lovingly restored arcade games. The back room is filled with pinball tables (which account for roughly half of the available games), so flipper fanatics will be able to waste away hours setting new high scores.
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Lost Lake
The tiki revival continues with Lost Lake, a new spot from Paul McGee (Three Dots and a Dash) that opened in January 2015. The core components of the tiki style are here—drinks that double as flower arrangements, lush tropical decor, Hawaiian print–clad bartenders and Americanized Chinese snacks—but the drinks are more challenging (and interesting) than you find at most tiki bars. Hula Hips of Heaven has a double dose of agave, with smoky mezcal and tequila providing a strong base for citrus fruits and spices, while the Scotch-based Cocoanut Grove Cooler has a punch of peat smoothed out with pineapple and lemon, plus Batavia Arrack, rum’s Indonesian predecessor. Thank heaven for Thank You, the adjacent take-out spot, because you'll need the salty, greasy snacks like egg rolls and chicken wings to keep you standing upright.
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Parson's Chicken & Fish
The negroni slushie gets all the attention at Parson's, but the secret is that all the cocktails are excellent. With a well-made margarita, canned beers, the option to spike your Stiegl radler with a shot (do it), and the best patio in the city, there's no excuse to not drink at Parson's.
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The Owl
Weeknights are low-key at this retro dive from the Estelle’s folks, but the rooms fill up by midnight on weekends and stay packed until the 4am closing time (5am on Saturdays). Cheap drinks and less-cheap craft beers abound at all times, hipster tunes rule the jukebox, there’s a dance floor in back lined with mirrors and, if all that doesn’t do it for you, there’s a waterfall—a waterfall—behind the bar.
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