The best bars in Rogers Park

Craft cocktails abound at this trendy green-walled bar. Friendly bartenders pour fun drinks and killer margaritas while indie tunes play overhead. Drop by for a cocktail or a craft beer and hang out with the locals.

Newspaper articles declaring the end of Prohibition hang on the walls and the clock is graced with Mayor Daley’s mug—the first Mayor Daley. So it’s no surprise that this place is as friendly, neighborly and comfortable (did we mention the La-Z-Boys?) as bars used to be back in the day, you know, before velvet ropes and vodka Red Bulls.

Adjacent to the Heartland Café and claiming the same delish kitchen, the Red Line Tap books small-time but usually endearing rock, folk, country and punk bands. And when the music is good, you don’t even notice the CTA’s Red Line roaring overhead.

At first glance, this place looks like your typical yuppie sports bar, but the vastly male clientele, plum and ochre walls adorned with abstract art, and Kylie Minogue soundtrack reveal it to be Rogers Park’s straightest-acting gay bar. It’s also dog-friendly and offers a nice selection of retro cocktails like sidecars and lime rickeys.

The Bears season is best expressed by a poster of a 3-year-old wearing a Bears sweater and flipping the bird in this conversation-friendly oasis in Rogers Park. Swinging saloon doors open into a vast room where a miniature Dale Earnhardt Jr. No. 8 car revolves in a slow orbit over the Formica bar, and pretzel rods in big bowls on the bar beckon to the adventurous. Tuck a pint, grab a pack of cigs to go and walk a block or so to Giordano's to pick up your nightcap pizza.

Sinking the eight ball without scratching and the siren song of a second biscotto are perhaps the only real pressures at this Rogers Park café. There's a cocktail list and bar bites, and it has a neighborhood rec-center vibe. Check out the open mic night on Tuesdays, improv comedy on Fridays and free Wi-Fi every day.

Affable bartender Dr. Don is Keeper of the Flame at this homey, nautical-themed sports pub frequented by a close-knit family of neighborhood regulars. Enjoy a mai tai or a margarita under a Mylar palm tree, peruse the lending library of paperbacks, or join the gang for a tailgate potluck after a Bears game.