Category: Chicago

Neighborhood: Ukrainian Village
Restaurant Name: Old Oak Tap
Address: 2109 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60622

After eating a delicious dinner at The Cheesecake Factory on Michigan Avenue, I ventured to UK Village to try this place out with a few friends. I noticed immediately that in the summer this place would be great to go to with its outdoor setup. The inside of the restaurant was dimly lit and you could tell it was designed to give off an intimate vibe. I.e. Take your significant other here.

On a cold Friday night, the place wasn’t too busy and it was easy to find a table. Since we had already ate, we just looked at the drinks menu in which there was a fine craft beer selection and even 10+ beers on tap. The beer menu even offered my favorite beer: Youngs Double Chocolate Stout.

As I’m looking to find a good Gluten-Free beer, I got the Original Sin Cider which was decent.

Service was good and the decor of the restaurant was simple but elegant.

Neighborhood: Avondale
Bar Name: Jagiellonia
Address: 3634 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL

Met up with a buddy today and we decided to try out one of the bars in his neighborhood since we always go to my neighborhood to explore the different bars in Wicker Park. We grab a quick bite to eat at a local Mexican restaurant and have some really good tacos and then decide to try out a bar we always pass by when I’m in his neighborhood… problem is, this bar just happens to be closed for some reason even though the bar hours clearly state M-Sun 7:00 PM to 4:00 AM. My buddy mentions he knows of another bar closer to Milwaukee but as we begin walking there we see a red sign that says “Sports Bar” and we decide to try this bar out instead. We walk in and at first we see absolutely no one in the bar and then we look to the left and there are 3-4 people huddled in the corner quietly chatting with the bartender. We grab a seat by the pool table and notice there’s a Blackhawks game on and Spring Training baseball game on, however no one is paying attention to the TV’s. The bartender asks us what we’d like to drink and we notice there are 3 choices on tap, Okocim, Carlsberg and PBR. I’m about to order a PBR but I change my mind at the last second and decide to go with an Okocim, some sort of Polish beer according to the bartender. My buddy gets the same. Okocim ends up being fairly decent.

Anyway, my impression of this bar is that it reminds me of the kind of bar you find at a bowling alley, it’s fairly old and it has really dim lighting and has the cliche pool table and jukebox in the corner. Can’t say I’ll ever actively decide to go back to this bar with plenty of other options available in Chicago but maybe if I happen to be in Avondale again and want to go to a bar I’ll try this place out again.