Blackthorn Tavern

Culled from: Drury, John. Dining in Chicago, New York: The John Day Company, 1931, pp. 191-192.

Note: The Newberry Library holds the personal papers of author John Drury.

BLACKTHORN TAVERN, 51 East Chicago Avenue

An old English tavern in the basement of Younker's retail and wholesale grocery store, "west of the water tower." Rough walls, hewn oak beams, leaded glass windows, benches around the walls, Windsor chairs, and rough-topped oak tables. Pieces of old china, brass, and copper, as well as sporting prints and trophies of the hunt, adorn the walls. Open for luncheon and dinner each day, and also for Sunday dinner. There are 50 and 65 cent luncheons, and $1.00 and $1.25 dinners, in the Tavern. Steaks and chicken dinners are a specialty. The foods derved here are a credit to the establishment. Alice G. Crane, president and manager of Younker's, is to be complimented for the service and for her skill in picking out alert and polite waitresses, who, by the way, are trim enough in their tight bodices and full skirts. Whitehall 5300.