Travel

Southport Pub Crawl

Other bars on Southport:


Newport Bar & Grill
Mystic Celt
D'Agostino's

It's always frosted me that when I go to Cub games with my friends when they immediately think of piling into one of the clip joints lining Clark Street or around the ballpark on Sheffield Avenue, just like every tourist heading to Wrigley Field does. Come on guys! You LIVE in this frickin' city! Southport Avenue is only a few blocks to the west of the ballpark and while it's certainly no longer a "hidden gem" amongst the locals it's still far better than having to endure the frat house atmosphere at Hi-Tops or the elbow to elbow offerings at Bernie's or Murphy's. We touched the Southport area only briefly on our first Pub Crawl last year. Our first stop, Justin's is certainly not indicative of the type of bar you'll run across on this crawl. In fact, this crawl features all sorts of different pub experiences and Justin's is just one of many that we'll run across.

One of my favorite restaurants is at the north end of this crawl on Irving Park Road. If we so choose, we can do this crawl backward and eat at DeLeece at the very end. I'm sure the boys will get a kick out of the waitresses there. I know I do and they have a very laid back and comfortable bar area there too. But, we'll set that aside for now since the south end of this crawl also has its fair share of decent dining options.

Starting from the north, just south of Irving Park is Toon's (3857 N. Southport). Long considered the next best thing to New Orleans in Chicago, alas Toons has no live music but a very eclectic juke box to say the least. Inexpensive and comfortable, Toons is the perfect way to start a Hog Pub Crawl.

Take Five (3747 N. Southport) is famous for their 5 dollar food menu and their Grey's Anatomy Thursday and while reviewers give it a hit or miss as far as food goes, we're not here to eat, we're here to drink and watch bits and pieces of the game, not a TV show. They have quite a few microbrews on tap here, so we'll get our chance to drink some decent beer. They also feature 5 dollar Smirnoff and Lemonades, so if we want to grease the skids, this might be the ticket.

Blue Bayou (3734 N. Soutport). Unlike some of our other crawls where the Irish themed pubs keep popping up, for some reason New Orleans is a theme on Southport. Blue Bayou, with it's French Quartered themed decor and its Friday Fish Fries harken back to the Crescent City as does the availability of Abita Beer on tap.

What did I just say about Irish bars? Cullens (3741 N. Southport) right across the street is owned by the same guy who owns Blue Bayou (or so I've heard). The bars on this part of the street get noticed mainly because they are good waiting areas for an ultra-hot restaurant, Tango Sur. Consequently you'll read reviews that are all over the map when it comes to Cullens. Suffice it to say, it's an Irish bar with a green and gold sign out front and there's plenty of Harps on draft!

Hye Bar (3707 N Southport) another faux Irish bar that we can pop into if we're curious or thirsty. It's really nothing special outside of the fact that Dusty Baker was known to knock back a few here after games. If there's another Irish bar I'd rather go to, it's Messners (3553 N Southport) a block and a half down the street. Lots of big screen TVs and drink specials up the ying yang. It's also a sports bar first so that'd help if we want to check in on the score of the game.

Lange's Lounge (3500 N. Southport) is that odd bar that just doesn't belong. Yes, Southport is no longer the hidden gem it used to be. Yuppies, artists and even tourists are now heading for the area. However, Lange's is a bar that definitely doesn't cater to that crowd at all. Yes, it's a dive bar and gloriously so. The kind that'll make your nose wrinkle when you walk in. PBR me and let's have a good time!

We're going to bypass Mystic Celt, because I've had my fill of faux Irish pubs researching these crawls. Plus, I've had the misfortune of eating and drinking here on several occasions and while it isn't overly horrible, it's also not noteworthy. We can stop here if it's happening because the bar front is positively huge and will be open on a nice day.

Break out your subscription to Low Riders Magazine, you'll need it as a point of reference for this next place. Coobah  (3423 N Southport) bills itself as a "Latino Fusion" of Cuba, Brazil meeting the Phillipines. Sounds pretty interesting, or it could be a nightmare. I'm betting the food will be good for sure. They are open for lunch, so we can give this place a whirl if nothing else.

When we leave Coobah after most likely indulging in drinks with vegetation in them, we'll be primed and set to hit Southport's hottest bar. So Po (3418 N. Southport) is the place to spot hotties living in the fashionable neighborhood around Roscoe Village. Of course none of them will have anything to do with us, but it'll be fun to watch the more inebriated of our group to make fools of themselves once again.

I can just see Schpoo's eyes rolling up into his head when I suggest we walk across the street to Justin's. Justin's (3358 N Southport) used to be my favorite Southport bar. You see after a game at Wrigley all the tourists would clog up the bars around the ballpark and up and down Clark Street. Nailheads and Fratboys abound. All you had to do was walk a few blocks west and you were in a serene, laid back bar that served Sierra Nevada Pale Ale at a long outside bar that featured televisions and the best Portabella Mushroom Sandwich I've ever tasted. Best of all, I could catch the Brown Line just outside the bar and I'd be home after the mad crush had left the neighborhood. I guess Justin's looks too much like my backyard because last year we made Justin's our first stop before heading out to the madness on Clark Street. We almost didn't leave. For that reason alone, I'd imagine that Schpoo would want to by-pass this place. Hopefully saner minds will prevail.

How about something completely different? Let's walk down the street to Southport Lanes (3325 N. Southport) and throw a few frames while loading on beers? Even better is the fact that they use live pin setters instead of automatic machines! Actually, the pinspotters would prefer if you were completely trashed while trying to bowl. A real neighborhood hangout if there ever was one. There's also billiards, TVs and a lengthy list of beers to keep the Hogs occupied when we're not throwing strikes. And if that's not enough, there's the requisite dart board and the non-requisite ping pong table.

Schoolyard Tavern (3258 N. Southport) is a great place to catch the game, so if we've lost track of things while we're bowling we can catch up a bit here. This is an ILLINI bar, so if you're a U of I grad like me, you'll feel right at home here. A real laid back and casual atmosphere where we can unwind a bit from our crawl . This is the type of place that if we walked out to the patio there'd be people with from the neighborhood hanging out with their dogs along side them.

Schubas (3159 N. Southport) on Southport and Belmont is haven for live music. Probably one of the best places to see a band in Chicago.  Doubtful that we'd get there late enough to catch a band, but Schubas has plenty going for it outside of being a great place for live music. It's also got a great jukebox and Schubas has three rooms (one of them is the Harmony Grill) along with outdoor seating as well.

After completing our tour of Southport bars we can walk across the street to the Flat Top Grill actually a chain of restaurants but it has a location right on the corner. It's perfect for guys who have spent almost all of their dough, because it's cheap and best of all, it's GOOD. Or if we're really in the mood, Sapore di Napoli has some awesome wood fired pizza.

The Southport crawl has a little bit of everything: the usual Irish bars, a Latino fusion bar, a Cajun/New Orleans bar, a college bar, a bowling alley and my backyard tossed in for good measure. It's all on one of Chicago's most underrated streets, but it won't be for long. The buzz is out there because you can't keep a good thing like this a secret for too long.

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