Andersonville

For our second adventure, Megan and I hopped on the northbound #22 bus and headed up to Andersonville. After our first expedition into the bar-less wonder that is Albany Park, it was comforting to be back in a neighborhood that celebrates beer as much as our native Lakeview.


Andersonville is a small, vibrant neighborhood on Chicago's north side. Born an affluent Chicago suburb in the 1880's, Andersonville's original Swedish immigrant population has melded together with Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Gay, and Lesbian cultures. This diverse mix of people is well-represented by a line of hip, eclectic storefronts along Clark St, stretching from Winnemac to Bryn Mawr. In recent years the shops, restaurants and bars here have seen a remarkable renaissance, transforming Andersonville from a gritty north side residential area into a bustling shopping, dining and nightlife destination.

Megan and I arrived in the heart of Andersonville around 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon. The blizzard that was due to hammer the Chicago area was already coating the streets and sidewalks in a sheet of white. We wandered our way north on Clark, stopping in a few shops before settling in at Simon's Tavern for a drink. Simon's is a friendly neighborhood pub that proudly flies the Swedish flag next to its neon sign. Even though it was before 5 on a Saturday, the place had a good crowd. There were only a few scattered seats available at the long bar running the length of the tavern, so Megan and I plopped down at a small table near the back. As we stood at the bar studying the beer list, an older man sitting nearby reminded us, "don't forget, it's glögg season!" Sold. "2 glöggs please." Glögg is the Scandanavian version of mulled wine--basically, red wine seasoned with cinnamon and raisins and served warm. It was the perfect warm-up drink for a snowy night. After the glögg, we took advantage of Simon's modest, but well-chosen selection of beers on tap and ordered a round of Rogue Hazelnut Brown.



We headed back out into the blizzard and up the street a few hundred yards to Charlie's Ale House. I'll admit, we weren't sure about Charlie's at first. In our neighborhood adventures we try to stick to the must-see attractions and the smaller unique shops, avoiding the chains. In this case, the weather made up our minds for us. It was too cold and windy to walk any further. Once we saw the beer list we were glad we stopped. Charlie's has 25 beers on tap and another 50 or so in bottles. Unable to choose from the massive list, I went with the Bottle Beer of the Month: a Left Hand Brewing Co. Deep Cover Brown Ale, while Megan chose a Unibroue La Fin du Monde. Our waiter, a recent transplant to Andersonville, chatted with us about beer and the neighborhood, gave us free bread, and offered us samples of one of the craft beers on tap. Not bad service for only ordering two drinks.

We had noticed what we thought was a Lebanese restaurant on our way up to Charlie's and decided to double back and have dinner there. The Icosium Cafe turned out to be an Algerian restaurant...run by Russians...that only serves crepes... They made a mean crepe though. I had a Crepe Marrakech, and Megan's had the Cheka Chouka. Both were crammed full of fresh spinach, veggies, Algerian sausage, and cheese, and were surprisingly filling. Since it was only 7:00 and we already had a few drinks in us, we decided to head up to a hookah lounge to relax before meeting up with friends for a few more beers.

At the very north end of Andersonville we found Basement Hookah Lounge. The "basement" lounge turned out to be at street level and seemed to be run by teenagers. When Megan and I entered there were 7 or 8 high school age kids sitting on couches around a flat panel tv watching an episode of Charmed. Upon noticing us, one of them jumped off the couch, seemingly surprised to have customers, and fetched us some menus. We decided to spend the extra $2 for the StarBuzz tobacco and ordered the apple flavor ($12) along with a Hawaiian Punch ($1). As we sat there puffing on the hookah on comfy couches in the corner of the lounge, the Charmed episode gave way to late-90's hip hop music videos (was this for our benefit? like us putting on a Run DMC album for people 10 years older than us?) and more teenagers began to fill the remaining couches. We never did ask (solid journalism), but the name of the place started to make sense to me -- this was like hanging out in your friend's basement in high school. All of the kids seemed to know each other, and Megan and I both had the feeling that we were crashing a high school party. That said, it was a solid hookah bar. The tobacco was absolutely top notch, the decor was comfy, the tunes were good, and the non-alcoholic drinks were dirt cheap. The kids all seemed friendly too, and happy to have us join their party. I'd go back if I were in the neighborhood.

After an hour of hookah, we found our way through the cloud of smoke and back out into the blizzard. As we waited for the bus in the snow, a woman waiting at the stop noticed Megan's choice of footwear (pumps) leaving the tops of her bare feet exposed to the elements. "Ooooiiiiee, child! You gonna freeze!" Megan assured the woman that we wouldn't be outside for long, but she persisted as we boarded the bus. "If I was your momma, I would beat you! Is that your boyfriend? [looking at me as she steps onto the bus] Do you beat her? I would beat her!" The woman later assured us that "you should beat her" is just an expression, but I don't think anyone else on the #22 bus knew that either. After a quick, but interesting bus ride down the street, Megan and I hopped off the bus at the corner of Foster and Clark for our last stop of the night.

Megan had already been to the Hopleaf Bar several times and was a big fan. This was my first time there, and it didn't disappoint. Any guess why? Yeah, the beer. This place put Charlie's selection to shame. They specialize in Belgian beer, but I doubt I could think of a single beer from any country that they didn't have. Lucy and Andy met up with us in the small upstairs room since the downstairs was already packed at 9:00. The four of us spent the next two hours imbibing a wide variety of delicious brews like Brewery Riva Lucifer, Unibroue Maudite, Allagash White, and Lauginitas Imperial Red Ale. I was disappointed to see that the vintage jukebox upstairs with honkey-tonk songs from the 1940's was broken, but the atmosphere in the whole bar was lively.

Overall, Andersonville was a friendly, energetic, interesting place to spend an evening. All of the locals we met were friendly enough and seemed happy to show off their little stretch of Clark St. The food was good, the beers were plentiful, and the hookah was smooth. Can't ask for much more than that. Chalk up another successful weekend for the Chicago Challenge. Next stop: Altgeld Gardens! ....okay, so we skipped that one. We'll be heading to Archer Heights next, and then Armour Square just before the New Year.