10 Best Bars in Logan Square, Chicago

With its giant dance floor, craft cocktails, and dim, red-hue lighting, Slippery Slope has brought a cool, clubby vibe to Logan Square. (It gets bonus points for the Skee-Ball machines located next to the door.) This place gets especially crowded on the weekends, when the dancing gets serious.

Bungalow by Middlebrow wears a lot of hats---brewery, natural winemaker, sourdough bread bakery, pizzaiolo, all-day neighborhood third place---and looks darned good in all of them. There’s a relaxed, come-one-come-all feeling to the dining room and patio here; indie folk types play mellow sets while friends sip wild ales and families linger over pizza. Fun one-off events, like block parties and collaborative pop-up dinners, are frequent; check in with the house Instagram account ( instagram.com/middle_brow) to find out what's upcoming.

On a given night at Rosa's Lounge, you'll find Tony, the owner, working the crowd. He moved here from Italy out of a pure love for the blues, and what makes his club special is a gritty authenticity that some of the sleeker city center blues establishments lack. Stop by and partake in Rosa's winning mixture of big-name and local talent, stiff drinks, and friendly service—the same since it opened in 1984. Take a rideshare after the show, as this corner of the neighborhood can be a bit rough around the edges at night.

This Logan Square cocktail go-to with an impressive catalog of vintage spirits focuses on elevating classic drink recipes by using unexpected ingredients. The Charlie Trotter's alums who opened Billy Sunday cheekily named the bar for the Prohibition-era temperance evangelist.

Mexican spirits like mezcal, sotol, and raicilla are the focus at petite Estereo, which has an unusual triangular shape due to its position on an angled corner lot. When the garage-style windows that surround the room are rolled up and the vintage Latin tunes are pumping, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d been transported to a city much nearer to the equator.

Although it's a 30-minute schlep west of downtown Chicago, FitzGerald's draws crowds from all over the city and suburbs with its mix of folk, jazz, blues, zydeco, and rock. This early 1900s roadhouse has both great sound and sight lines. There's a menu of fantastic barbecue fare from Babygold, the adjoining restaurant. During the family-friendly Sunday brunch, it's paired with live acts that run the gamut from classic country to New Orleans funk.  

It's probably just our imaginations, but somehow the sunlight that streams over the vintage tiles and velvety banquettes in this easy-going Humboldt Park cocktail bar seems to glow. An equally dreamy side patio has a second bar and a brick fireplace flanked by lots of low seating for basking in the firelight once the sun sets. Dogs are very welcome here.

Chicago has evolved one of the country’s best craft-brewing scenes, but back when the pickings were slim, Revolution was here, satisfying drinkers thirsty for something more interesting than watery macro brews. The Milwaukee Avenue location is a good place to work your way through a flight of the house beers---the offerings skew toward classic German styles and hop-forward IPAs---while lining your stomach with unfussy pub grub like burgers and fried cheese curds. (There’s also a taproom in nearby Avondale with a less-polished vibe and a limited menu of nibble-y things.)

That the once-shabby stretch on which the Scofflaw sits grows hipper by the month is no coincidence; the cozy, brick-walled cocktail bar, which boasts a huge collection of gin, put the intersection of Kedzie and Armitage Avenues on the map. The kitchen—which turns out one of the city's best burgers—stays open till 1 am.

This long-running cozy, candlelit bar is a romantic place for a date. It stocks more than 500 bottles of wine (at least 20 are available by the glass) plus ports, sherries, single-malt Scotches, a few microbrews, and a menu of small tasting entrées at reasonable prices. At $20 for 3 pours, the Monday evening self-guided blind tastings are a hit with neighborhood oenophiles.