Pippin's Tavern is an old town Irish tavern situated on N. Rush Street just off the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago (see map). Our friends Scott and Marcia Schroeder always stop at Pippin's for a beer or two when they're in downtown Chicago.
Scott was describing the place to me one time and I said, "Does it have a square bar?" He said it did and I said, "I think I've been there a couple times before."
When we were in Chicago recently, we were shopping not far from Pippin's so I told Cindy that I'd like to go in for a beer, just to make sure I was thinking about the same place. Walking up to the place, I immediately recognized the outside of the building. And then after going inside and seeing the square (actually more of a rectangular) bar, I said, "Oh, yes. I've been here before."
Back when I worked for Bang and Olufsen of America in the 80's, I was part of a group of people in for training. But we were stuck out in the suburbs with a bunch of guys from all over the country wanting to go see the night life in Chicago. Since I was the only guy with a car and a sense of how to get around Chicago, I was suddenly the most popular person there. I piled four guys and a gal into the car and drove into Chicago. Getting off the Kennedy Freeway at Ohio and then a left on Rush St., the first bar we encountered was Pippin's.
A couple years later, we were in the Chicago suburbs for another Bang and Olufsen training and a couple guys came up to me and said, "Hey, you've got a car. Let's go into the city to that funky little bar on Rush Street." So we did.
Pippin's hasn't changed much from the last time I was in over 15 years ago. It's a cozy little funky Irish place that serves bar food and has 16 beers on tap. The bartender said, "The Italian beef sandwiches are the best in the city." Too bad we were still full from lunch.
But if you're shopping Chicago and want to take a break to get a cold beer and a sandwich, Pippin's is a pretty cool place to go to.
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