Sportsman's Club

The story

You wouldn't know it from the low-slung brick exterior on Western Avenue, but 948 North Western has been serving drinkers since the 20th century. For decades, it was the original Sportsman's Club—a no-frills haven for Ukrainian Village's Polish immigrant working class. When new operators took over the space in late 2013, they made a calculated choice: keep the name, keep the 1940s Art Deco wooden bar, and keep the neighborhood tavern bones intact while layering in a distinctly eccentric atmosphere.

Inside, the dimly lit room feels less like a modern mixology den and more like a secret hunting cabin from another era. Deer heads, mounted fish, and jackalopes stare down from dark walls, a reel-to-reel tape player hums in the corner, and the wooden booths come carved with built-in checkerboards. But the real twist is behind the bar: rather than settling on a static cocktail list, the bartenders write a four-drink menu from scratch every single day, paired alongside a dedicated amaro machine pulling chilled herbal digestifs.

The tavern also holds a package goods license—meaning you can buy a fifth of spirits off the shelf to take home—and maintains a famously irreverent house favorite known as the 'Spaghett': a cold bottle of Miller High Life unceremoniously drank down an inch and refilled with Aperol.