Tag Archives: Chicago

Irish Pubs of Chicago.

Last night I went with Julie on my second Chicago History Pub Crawl organized by the Chicago History Museum. The theme was ‘Erin Go Beer! Irish Pubs of Chicago’. Unlike the first tour we went on there was no trolley service but all the bars were in the same neighborhood so walking wasn’t an issue.* The pace of this tour seemed much less frantic with two of our bars being right next to each other. Once again Liz Garibay from the Chicago History Museum was our guide. Towards the end of our tour she asked the group ‘What is the difference between an English Pub and an Irish Pub?’ Which I of course replied ‘Oppression’. Liz’s answer was the Irish name their pubs after people where as the English don’t.

I liked my answer better.

Paddy Longs

Paddy Long’s is currently known as a ‘Bacon Bar’ due to their copious amounts of bacon on the menu. The building was built in 1894 and the bar was originally a grocery store and then in 1917 it was Mrs. Marie’s Deli. It didn’t transition into a bar until 1937 when it was purchased by Lawrence Fry who owned and operated Lawry’s Tavern until 2007. In 2007 the current owners rehabbed the entire space only maintaining the original bar. The bar is currently known for it’s craft beer list and endless supply of bacon.

Harrigan’s

The building Harrigan’s is in was built in 1917, from the 1930’s on it was a shady bar until a couple of Irishmen from Dublin fixed it up in 1988. It’s name has changed a couple times since then as the bar has changed hands amongst friends. One of the more interesting features is the bar that is covered in Irish Pennies. Of all the bars we visited on the tour Harrigan’s was by far the most legit Irish Pub. The bartender (singular) wasn’t the wee bit overwhelmed by a random crowd of 30 people on a Thursday night. Guinness & Smithwick’s kegs needed changing after the first group ordered and this didn’t phase him at all. In between a crowd of people waiting on their Irish beer he had a pizza delivered for himself and he proceeded to card everyone on the tour. We were not changing the pace of his evening and I respect that.

Trinity

The building that Trinity is in was built in 1910 and was originally a meat market (it still holds this distinction on certain nights). In this space in 1980 Peg Leg Sullivan’s opened which is named for the true spark behind the The Great Chicago Fire. In 2005 the bar was purchased by three firemen of Irish decent and renamed Trinity. I was a little disappointed to be going to Trinity, it’s the only bar on the list that I’ve been to on more than one occasion and it’s not really an Irish bar. They didn’t have any Irish beer at the upstairs bar (not sure about the downstairs bar).

Hidden Shamrock

The building the Hidden Shamrock is in was also built in 1910 and was originally a Draftsman’s office. In 1960 it became Chasin’s Tavern and in 1970 it was renamed Pat O’Brien’s. In 1985 the bar was purchased by three men from Belfast who named it the Hidden Shamrock after fact that all three men have shamrock tattoos on their butt. One of the owners is friends with legendary Newsman Bill Kurtis and there are pictures throughout the bar of scenes from Belfast during a trip they took for a story Kurtis was working on.

Sidenotes:
* Previous Chicago History Pub Crawls: A Tour of Chicago Dive Bars.
** All of the bars were on either Diversey or Halstead. Diversey was named for Michael Diversey who was an early brewery in Chicago.
*** Julie and I both earned the ‘Luck of the Irish’ badge on untappd during the tour.

Blackhawks – Penguins at the UC.

Yesterday was our Semi Annual Blackhawks – Penguins game at the United Center (I say semi because for some reason the NHL thinks it makes more sense to play teams in your division 6 times a year than play a home-and-away with every team in the league). The depleted Penguins forced Overtime with a Brent Sterling goal late in the 3rd period but weren’t able to put away the game while on the power play. The Hawks won the game on a Patrick Kane shootout goal with all other shooters getting stopped. For the game being the only matchup all year of the past two Stanley Cup champions there was little hype for the game and it didn’t really feel like a big event. Nonetheless it was good to see the Pens go down to the wire even if they didn’t get the full two points.

The Shootout:

A lot of people aren’t a fan of the NHL’s use of the shootout to settle tie games, I’m not one of them. I like the idea that a regular season hockey game has finite amount of time and the Shootout is always entertaining. I’m just hoping since Patrick Kane won the game he celebrated at Stanley’s agin.

BlizzNasty.

BlizzNasty began yesterday around 1pm and continued until about noon today. With nearly everyone in Chicago with a snow day we decided to throw together a last minute cookout.

Foraging

Julie and I headed out into the neighborhood for supplies. We made our way to Dinkel’s Bakery which was packed considering the 18 inches of snow on the ground. We picked up a couple donuts for our neighbor and got a batch of pretzel buns for our cookout. Then we headed back up Lincoln to Paulina Meat Market which was also open. We were their first customers of the day, so we scored some burgers and charcoal. It was great to know that with all the snow both places with in walking distance were open.

SnowBBQ

At around 2pm we started the cookout, we used the snow as a cooler and we setup the chairs and table in the middle of the snow. We spent about two hours in the yard as the burgers cooked. The sun was out and the weather was really good considering all that has occurred in the past 24 hours.

Train Football

After our cookout we headed down Marshfield in search of a suitable football field. We ended up playing under the Brownline Paulina Stop for a little one-on-one Train Football. I’m pretty sure we’ll all be feeling this for the rest of the week. A running game is probably the best option in this weather. As you can see in the video above I’m pretty sure I blew my knee out.