Current Time
Currency
nightlife
Chicago nightlife
Chicago's reputation for unadorned, hard-drinking bars has softened in recent years. A taste for lush, nighttime revelry has brought in swish cocktail lounges and baroque hybrid venues, such as the Violet Hour and Sepia, a Fulton River District lounge-and-restaurant combo in a 19th-century printing shop (123 N. Jefferson St.; 312-441-1920; www.sepiachicago.com). And while the city's premier blues clubs still draw the country's best blues and jazz musicians, a growing alternative music scene, centered in Bucktown and Wicker Park, has begun jockeying for Chicagoans' attention.
If you can't snag a table at Grant Achatz's Next restaurant (and you can't if you don't buy a ticket online, far ahead of time), the second best thing sits...more
Don't be fooled by the name: This unpretentious uptown bar caters equally to lesbians, gays, and straights of all sizes (many are students from nearby Loyola...more
The classic Saturday Night Live skit where native Chicagoan John Belushi played a harried Greek line cook—shouting, "Cheezborger, cheezborger,...more
Chicago blues music is justifiably famous; some of the best-known living blues performers—including Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Koko Taylor, and Junior...more
If we had to pick one place in all of Chicago that epitomizes the city's rich and gritty history, it'd have to be the Green Mill. Al Capone used to hang out...more
Formerly called the Improv Olympics, the I.O. is the city's "other" famous comedy club (it plays second fiddle to the better-known Second City). Upstairs you'll...more
As advertised, the latest offering from local nightlife maven Billy Dec and his savvy band of successful associates (together they have given Chicago several of...more
RSS Feeds