The Red Lion, Lincoln Ave, Chicago
Best Brit food in the city. Fish & chips, meat pies, cottage pie, Welsh rarebit… the works. Also decent beer: ales and bitter. When I lived there, we’d go to the Lion about twice a month for dinner.
The pub burned down several years ago, but it was rebuilt and, I’m told, is even better since the rebuild. It’s located in rather a shitty area, but it’s a block or so up from the Biograph Theater, and the alley next door is where the cops wasted John Dillinger after he’d seen Manhattan Melodrama.
I’d call before going there, just in case it’s since closed — I have no idea how the Covid lockdown affected it.
YAIIT The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, which offers lodging if not very Brit chow.
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Apparently, it is still open, Kim:
https://redlionchicago.com/
My wife and I dined there back in the late ’90s, an unfortunately aborted invitation-only shooting trip. We were headed to Michigan for a message-board-sponsored event, but my Grandma’s (third) husband had the bad grace to croak on the Tuesday prior; significantly changed the plan, but we took the time we had left to get as far as Chicago.
The Red Lion’s F&C were the best I’ve ever had, the beer was fantastic and the atmosphere was special. No question, it was — and apparently still is — in what the Limeys are pleased to call a “rum district”. In truth, the entirety of Chicago felt that way when we were there. Given the period, I didn’t take a single firearm (would’ve been the 1911s) with me on the shortened weekend, and I’ve rarely felt more naked. Wished my eyeballs grew on stalks, situational awareness was at a premium. I’m still mystified at why you thought it was good place to land after The Great Wetback Episode of 1988.
We stayed downtown at the House Of Blues and saw several blues acts both there and in the bars in the immediate vicinity, took a trip up to Lincoln Park and caught a Cubs’ game at Wrigley, knocked off a bucket-list item there, though I do agree that the Cubs are largely, as you so aptly described, The Marketing Exercise Known As The Chicago Cubs. The venue was what I was wanting to experience and it didn’t disappoint.
I’m no longer tempted to return the The City Of Broad Shoulders; I’ve no desire to use my wherewithal to support a failed state.