Friar Tuck

Chicago, Illinois

Field Note

Chicago does not lack for notable dive bar entryways, from Lodge Tavern’s ski chalet exterior to Sky Ride Tap’s famous old-school sign. Friar Tuck earns a spot in that conversation thanks to the tipped over beer barrel that serves as the Chicago dive bar’s front door, a wood-lined portal to a scuffed floor single room space that has served Lakeview drinkers since 1970.

Located on the heavily trafficked Broadway corridor in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, ample foot traffic is no doubt stopped cold on a regular basis thanks to the thin circle of wood around the Friar Tuck front door that has long been its calling card. Two long, narrow windows that might otherwise offer some glimpse of the space within are caked in string lights, every surface of the Friar Tuck exterior painted brown to really drive the barrel theme home.

A more ornate sign can be seen above the front door, but all of the bar’s vital information can be found on a handful of sandwich boards usually perched out front describing the monthly beer special and weekly slate of events that includes Sunday Bingo, Monday board game night, Tuesday karaoke and Wednesday trivia. This long string of events has over time developed a strong sense of community inside Friar Tuck, most of the patrons regulars and hyperlocals.

In addition to signage communicating typical dive bar information like featured shots and available beers, a long list of birthdays of friends & regulars is maintained and updated monthly. The Friar Tuck devotion to celebrating birthdays dates to a tradition born out of the discovery of an inflatable sheep and the realization that a particular section of the sheep (toward the…rear of the animal) made for a convenient shot delivery mechanism.

After serving its unique purpose for a period of time, the original sheep was retired and is now displayed inside Friar Tuck. Those patrons who visit Friar Tuck on their birthday (not their birthday weekend, not the day before or after) can enjoy a shot delivered out of a fresh, inflatable sheep as a Lakeview dive bar rite of passage. Thankfully, free popcorn is available inside Friar Tuck to wash away the plastic-tinged taste of the birthday shot in question.

So ingrained is Friar Tuck to its surrounding neighborhood that most of the non-birthday wall space inside is dedicated to long strings of pictures of bar regulars. Most of these images are slightly faded, honest-to-goodness pre-digital pictures collected over the many years Friar Tuck has served its community. Keep an eye out for the easy-to-miss stained glass sign perched above the door depicting the name of the bar.

The floating bar in the center of the room is no doubt the hub of Friar Tuck’s activity, but prime seating can be found in the form of built-in, wooden tables that jut out from the walls opposite the bar. This old school seating is interrupted in one corner of the bar by a fireplace that at very least was working at some point, evidenced by the smoke stains along the wall above the gas fireplace logs that sit on the elevated pedestal that supports this makeshift fireplace.