Best Chicago Restaurants for Holiday Hoopla

Chicago has many wonderful restaurants, and throughout the year but especially during the holidays, many of the city’s best restaurants serve spectacular beverages. Carefully curated craft beer selections, handcrafted cocktails, and rare spirits are all laid out for your pleasure at some of Chicago’s finest restaurants which are also home to some of Chicago’s finest bars.

 

Here are five of Chicago’s best restaurants which also happen to serve some of the best beverages to fuel epic holiday hoopla.

 

 

Dos Urban Cantina.. With the word “cantina” in the name, Dos Urban Cantina is the kind of place to go when you want to enjoy a superior beverage. Many of their masterful cocktails use Mexican spirits, like mezcal and tequila, including classics like the Paloma and intriguing inventions like the Oaxacan Sunset (mezcal, tamarind Jarritos, lime and crème de cassis) and Machismo (mezcal, piloncillo syrup, mole and serrano bitters and lemon). PS, you can order Margaritas by the half gallon; you get the idea.

 

Bub City.. Beer is usually the paired beverage of preference when dining at BBQ places like Bub City, where there’s a terrific collection of classic American brews (Miller High Life, Lone Star) as well as craft beers (Bell’s, Revolution). For your holiday party, get a bucket of five beers and save a few bucks. BBQ-friendly cocktails include Seasonal Sangria and the Memphis Mule (small batch Bourbon, ginger beer, lime and mint). You can also get the Memphis Mule as one of the many Group Drinks suitable for large gatherings.

 

Replay Beer and Bourbon. Amidst flat screens and arcade games, you’ll find a lot to imbibe at Replay Beer and Bourbon. As the name implies, this place prides itself on outstanding beers and American whiskey, but there are also some interesting cocktails, value-priced at $10 a pop. You can go with the classics, but we’re amused by the more original, citrus-forward creations like Ecto Cooler (Stoli orange, yellow chartreuse, orange cordial, lemon juice and San Pellegrino orange) and Bourbon Blossom (Larceny bourbon, St. Germain, orange juice, simple syrup and ginger beer).

 

 

Broken English Taco Pub. If there’s better drinking food than a taco, we don’t know what it is, and at Broken English Taco Pub, there are a lot of tacos…as well as some of the most thoughtful cocktail concoctions this side of the Rio Grande. My Sister’s a Horchata is a mix of rum, cinnamon, toasted coconut and the namesake milky rice beverage from Mexico. We also recommend Rosemary’s Baby, with mezcal, lemon, blood orange and toasted rosemary (get it?!). For added chillness, you can have a dash of CBD with any cocktail.

 

Elixir.. In Boystown and Andersonville, Elixir serves up the beverages that get the holiday party started. Bitter Lad is a mix of naval strength gin, bitter lemon cordial and lemon; Bad Touch is rum, Benedictine, Bitter Queens Eucalyptus bitters, rosemary and cherry. As with all the bars on this list, there are also delicious bites to be had (and you really should lay down a solid foundation for the drinking to come); we suggest the Basil Pesto Flatbread, Deviled Eggs or some other foods you can eat with one hand (the better to enable you to drink – always responsibly! – with the other).