GO Tavern & Liquors

Chicago, Illinois

Field Note

The Chicago love affair with the ‘slashie’ is one of the city’s great personality traits, the term referring to a slew of city dive bars that offer both on-premise drinking as well as liquor store-style to-go purchases. Rite Liquors and Ola’s Liquors are two of the great slashie options in the city but Logan Square staple GO Tavern & Liquors gives both some serious competition thanks in part to a surprisingly deep beer and whiskey selection by Chicago dive bar (and even liquor store) standards.

Though GO Tavern & Liquors was opened in 2012 when owner Michael Stellatos bough the space from a family member, the structure’s heritage dates back to at least 1917 when it served as a shoe store. After stints as a laboratory (the exact nature of the laboratory is unclear), machine shop and retail store, it was was purchased in 1964 by Dorothy Kasmar, who promptly named her new bar Dorothy’s Liquors.

Though it seems ownership changed hands a time or two after Kasmar sold the business (it was advertised for sale in 1967), the name of the bar was preserved until Stellatos’ purchase. The current name of the Chicago dive bar is an homage to the Go Grocer Stellatos family business that has since blossomed into a handful of locations across the city. Visitors would be well advised to take a peek underneath the corner that extends out from the building, revealing a tile mosaic-style sign that still bears the name ‘Dorothy.’

Compared to other Chicago dive bars, the GO Tavern & Liquors exterior looks downright modern with sleek black signage, the aforementioned awning and even (gasp) a mention of the bar’s web site. But inside, ceiling tiles decorated by regulars dating back to the space’s days as Dorothy’s Liquors extend from the front of the building to the rear, quickly establishing GO Tavern & Liquors’ dive bar credibility. Each piece is unique, some intensely decorated and others covered in text, offering a good reason to grab a beer or six and explore the space.

Over 200 beers are available here, complemented by a deep whiskey selection reflected in both on-site and to-go options (be warned that to-go sales end at midnight in Chicago). Most of the beers found in the long line of refrigerated coolers along the bar’s back wall can be purchased for on-site consumption with larger packs available toward the rear of the bar. The extensive refrigerated storage that comes as a result of the bar’s ability to sell to-go beer means an abundance of local and craft options to go with nearly every dive bar domestic beer staple that comes to mind.

GO Tavern & Liquors is, afterall, a fairly straightforward rectangle of a space, but the hybrid nature of the business helps it operate a bit under the radar when compared to some of Logan Square’s other, more upscale drinking options. This is a bar for locals to be sure, a fact amplified by the ongoing operation of a dive bar book club where a time is chosen each month to congregate and discuss a chosen book among an avalanche of beer and whiskey varieties.

For those so inclined, lottery tickets are always available for purchase at GO Tavern & Liquors, the luck of the establishment is well documented thanks to selling two winning tickets for a $31 million Illinois Lottery drawing in 1992. A few snacks for purchase can be found behind the bar though GO Tavern & Liquors allows for external food to be brought in. One of Chicago’s famed tamale sellers has also been known to visit the bar on occasion.