Best Intentions — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

"I'm thinking of getting a cocktail," I say as I peek into my friend's room, returning from playing organ for three masses on Easter Sunday and a beautiful mimosa-laced brunch in Oak Park. I'm still dressed in a navy suit—standard operating procedure for my Sundays—and we cross the street not knowing that we'll be spending the next two hours there.

That's right—I used to live right across the street from Best Intentions. It was the best of both worlds, going to a bar with pungently alcoholic cocktails and not having to drunkly agree to pay 2.7x the normal fare on an Uber to get home.

Best Intentions is known everywhere now, even from from Chicago Magazine to Playboy. (There was a cocktail so appropriately named "I read it for the articles"--and yes, mother, I do read it for the articles.) The bar staff are genuinely interested in making sure you are enjoying yourself, and I have consistently had more-than-polite service every visit here. On busier nights, it can take a few minutes to get drinks, since they are hand-making every intricate cocktail on the menu.

Above the bar area, there is a 70s era lit sign showing "classic" cocktails—think manhattan, sazerac, etc.—and a very-well produced book of rotating cocktails. As frequent as I visit Best Intentions, there's always something new on the menu. Not every drink will fit everybody's palate, but for the conscious and appreciative imbiber, there is something for you on the menu that will freeze time for you, even if just for a few minutes, in the best way possible. Towards the end of my Sunday afternoon there, in addition to the cocktails I had, I finished three pints of Coors Banquet—because who has this on draft?—for only $3 a glass.

There's a bar in Brooklyn, Black Rabbit on Greenpoint Avenue, that is my first go-to memory of NYC. It had a beautiful enclosed patio with rope lighting—typical hip bar decorations—and I spent three hours there talking to this beautiful girl that I ended up kissing afterwards. Best Intentions feels like that to me, especially in the summers when the patio is full of people from the neighborhood, all coming to escape the oppressing corruption of Chicago in some small way.

The decor doesn't make much sense, nor does much of the atmosphere. It's trying to be a bar from a different era, except when you look at the details, the upholstery on the seating is good and everything is clean. Maybe that's not so bad?

We wrapped up, and I stumbled home. a mere 20 meters, and proceeded to eat several small bowls of cheese popcorn from Mariano's. Whether you celebrate Easter or not, Grace and I certainly did in good company and with delicious drinks at...

I came here with some friends after work with the intention of trying the intriguing menu. The 4 of us cuddled around the bar... and between us we tried more than half the menu in 3 rounds of ordering because everything was so exceptional. I think the favorite of the night was the root vegetables that two of the guys were practically fighting over. The drinks floored me. The bartender was happily accommodating to my requests to "just make me something". In the end my least favorite was the one I ordered myself. One friend, who I respect for his culinary skills and whiskey expertise, raved about the cocktails as the best he's found in the city. And we tried many. Ranking them was hard. But also delightful. I'd go again in a heartbeat ... and on top of all that the music and atmosphere was...

Five stars for great dive bars. The staff is friendly, attentive, and appropriately hipster for Logan. The drinks are classic and all well made, but the real gem is the burger. best intentions burger is griddled with mustard and onions and served with a melty American cheese and fresh onions. It's served in a paper hamburger wrapper inside of a paper bag. It's greasy and delicious. Classic flavors in a sack! Get the house made ginger ale on the side and French fries with house sauce

They have a great, tucked away patio and the decor inside is just classic dive bar. It's everything you would expect, yet full of surprises. I can't wait until it reopens for in person dining! (Update: It reopened and it's just as...