If a beer lover were to pass by Jimmy Greens in the South Loop on any given Sunday — or any time a Chicago sports team was playing, for that matter — they’d miss out on one of the more interesting gems in the city. The first time I went there I had a hankering for bourbon and was surprised when the waitress told me they had exactly what I wanted. I then suffered buyer’s remorse right after it came to me and on a whim I cracked the beer menu after initially ignoring it, thinking it would be the typical sports bar fare of Bud and Miller products.
It astonished me that a bar that had promotions up for an upcoming UFC event had the great selection of craft beers that it did. My waitress told me she helped come up with the list, but I am pretty sure she was just trying to work me for a bigger tip. I know they say to never judge a book by its cover, but it’s still hard for me to fathom just how deep the craft beer revolution is penetrating. Especially when you see a 300 pound Superfan lookalike delicately sipping an IPA from a tulip glass.
I feel more at home, however, just around the corner from Jimmy Greens over at Hackney’s, which has some of the best burgers in the city. The bar is quaint and often packed with intellectual types, likely professors from some of the nearby college campuses. The dining room is usually packed, and though we’re encroaching on the dreaded season in Chicago, the patio heaters make al fresco dining quite lovely.
Hackney's is at the end of the block near Dearborn Station
[...] is making its way into everything around Chicago, from craft beer going from microbreweries to showing up in sports bars to the mad science behind the soon-to-open [...]