The Top 64 Cocktail Bars Near Hotel EMC2
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- VinePair 2025 · Food & Beverage Program of the Year · The Next Wave Awards
- The Pinnacle Guide 2026 · 1 Pin
- 50 Best 2026 · #27 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 2. NoMI Kitchen
French
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Rank 3. Three Dots and a Dash
Tropical
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 4. Z Bar
Global
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Rank 5. Kumiko
Japanese Cocktail Bar
Julia Momosé's dining bar pairs an exceptional Japanese spirits collection with sharp-uniformed servers who radiate genuine warmth across a room designed for lingering. The kitchen matches that precision—butter cabbage with ramp miso and katsuobushi, grilled Arctic char in shio koji beurre blanc—each plate calibrated as carefully as the cocktails beside it.
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Rank 7. Chef's Table at Astor Club
Contemporary New American
Ten diners share a nightly tasting menu in Chef Trevor Teich's intimate Gold Coast dining room, where oysters arrive topped with champagne foam and lobster is finished tableside with vin jaune beurre blanc. The Astor Club's private setting and luxe ingredients create an air of exclusive refinement without pretension.
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Rank 9. The Bamboo Room @ Three Dots and a Dash
Tiki Cocktail Bar
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
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- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- The Infatuation The Best Cocktail Bars In Chicago
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Rank 11. Bar Sótano
Modern Mexican
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- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 13. Acanto
Italian
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Rank 15. Potter's Lounge
Chicago
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- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
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- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
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Rank 18. Swift & Sons
Steakhouse
A converted 1920s meat warehouse on Fulton Market, now a plush steakhouse where soaring wood arches and concrete columns frame tables suited for serious eating. Prime beef arrives seared hard and flanked by three sauces, while the wine list obliges small pours and the sides—king crab, Boston cream pie—suggest no one here counts calories.
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- 50 Best 2025 · One to Watch Award
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 21. Nine Bar
Asian-Inspired
- Bon Appétit 2024 · America's Best New Bars
- 50 Best 2026 · #76 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire 2024 · The Best Bars in America
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Rank 22. Booze Box
Japanese
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- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Eater Best New Bar
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Rank 24. El Che Steakhouse & Bar
Argentinian Steakhouse
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Rank 25. Valhalla
Contemporary
Chef Stephen Gillanders holds court at a dark Wicker Park counter, sending out a globe-trotting tasting menu that pivots between Filipino, Mexican, Chinese, and Indian without apology—lobster tsukune with smoked pimentón butter lands next to white curry noodles. Dessert pavlovas and a beverage program of real thoughtfulness suggest a kitchen that plays seriously.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation #16 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Chicago
- The Banchets 2025 · Winner · Sommelier of the Year · Jelena Prodan
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Rank 27. Best Intentions
Midwestern
- 50 Best 2026 · #16 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Christopher Marty
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- 50 Best 2026 · #65 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire 2023 · The Best Bars in America
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
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- Time Out #20 · The 25 best restaurants in Chicago
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Rising Chef · John Dahlstrom
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Rank 31. Queen Mary
British-Inspired Cocktail Bar
- 50 Best 2026 · #80 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire 2024 · Martini Service · The Best Martinis in America
- Esquire 2023 · Market Price Martini · The Best Martinis in America
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Rank 32. Bar Esmé
French
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- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
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Rank 34. Schubas Tavern
Chicago
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Rank 36. Club Lucky
Traditional Italian
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Rank 37. Cariño
Mexican
Beneath the rumble of the Uptown L, Chef Norman Fenton orchestrates a tasting menu of Mexican cooking that pivots between tradition and invention—huitlacoche ravioli with fried corn silk, lamb tartare tostada styled as al pastor. The counter seats you close enough to watch his small team work, their energy matching the pace of each course.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Norman Fenton
- The New York Times 2025 · The Restaurant List
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Rank 38. Pleasant House Pub
British
A contemporary room of marble and pottery plays host to English meat pies that justify the crowds—the steak and ale arrives with a flaky, buttery crust and beef stew filling, sided with mashed potatoes and minty peas. Between pies, there's rarebit mac and cheese and a pub burger with bacon aioli that suggests the kitchen understands comfort food as something worth taking seriously.
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- Wine Enthusiast 2025 · Top 50 New Restaurants
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Rising Chef · Madalyn Durrant
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Rank 40. Scofflaw
Gin-Focused Cocktail Bar
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Rank 43. Chef's Special Cocktail Bar
American Chinese
The dining room glows with oceanic blues and vibrant art, a loud, convivial space where a U-shaped bar anchors clusters of tables built for lingering. The menu trades in Chinese-American comfort—dan dan noodles, a bone-in pork shank glazed dark with black beans, fried string beans suspended in broad bean purée—each dish settling in with the weight of something remembered.
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Rank 44. Dorian's
Italian-ish
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- The New York Times 22 of the Best Bakeries Across the U.S. Right Now
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Ben Lustbader and Sarah Mispagel
- The Banchets 2025 · Nominee · Pastry Chef of the Year · Sarah Mispagel-Lustbader & Ben Lustbader
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Rank 46. Anelya
Eastern European
In a cozy Avondale dining room, Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim honor Clark's grandmother through meticulously sourced Eastern European fare: green borsch alive with nettles, a zakusky cart of tart roe and seed hummus, butter-glazed pampushky bread. The stuffed cabbage arrives as a study in restraint—locally raised beef, deliberate flavors, no flourish beyond what the ingredients demand.
- Midwest Living 2024 · Best of the Midwest
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation #20 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Chicago
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Rank 47. Bordel
Parisian Cocktail Bar
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Rank 48. Paulie Gee's Logan Square
NY-Style Pizza
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Rank 50. Billy Sunday
Cocktail Bar
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Rank 52. The Bar at Hotel Zachary
Mediterranean
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Rank 53. The Victor Cocktail Bar
Cocktail Bar
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Rank 54. Estereo
Latin-American
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Rank 55. Parachute HiFi
Korean-American
- The Infatuation The Best Cocktail Bars In Chicago
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurant
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurant
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Rank 56. Osito's Tap
Mexican
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- The Infatuation The Best Cocktail Bars In Chicago
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Outstanding Bar Program
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Rank 61. Bokeh
Cocktail Bar
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