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Like many on LTH, I'm as much of a wine person as I am a food person and think they go hand-in-hand. Having my own cellar, I prefer to go to a good BYOB restaurant whenever possible, but sometimes it's hard to find out the BYOB rules of any particular restaurant. There are some resources that have tried to keep up on it, like "Go BYO" or the BYOB book that came out a couple of years ago, but I've found them both lacking.

A group of us is maintaining a list of BYOB restaurants in Chicago on the WineBerserkers wine forum. There's a list of restaurants in the first post, along with some other information throughout the body of the thread. The restaurants in the first post are ones that are primarily BYOB with no liquor license, but there is information about other restaurants that do have a liquor license but have a corkage policy. We try to keep it up to date for openings and closings along with changes in policy, but if you see something that should be noted, please let me know. A link to the thread is below.

BYOB RESTAURANTS IN CHICAGO

Moderators, if this is in the wrong place on the board, my apologies and I ask that you move the thread to the appropriate category.

Thanks!

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John Danza

I don't know if you want us to send these to you on this board or a PM, but I just can't get involved in another board..but yours does look good..
The ones that I frequent that are missing from your list are Kin Sushi, Sushi Para, El ideas, Irazu, Butterly Sushi, Habana Libre. I'm sure there are a ton more, but these are the ones that I have been to mostly in my neighborhood.

You can send them to me back-channel if you like and I'll add them to the list. I completely forgot about EL!

Thanks much.

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John Danza

Assuming your first post is edited & contains the complete list (ie, I didn't read through all four pages), you're missing TAC Quick and Coast.

You're correct, neither of those were on the list. I can add them however. One of the things I need to know however is how good their glassware is, so that we can advise on whether stemware should be taken as well. Can you tell me that for these two?

Thanks.

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John Danza

They both have decent-sized, stemmed, white wine-ish glassware.

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You're missing Lao Hunan who has no corkage and smallish glasses.

Careful with this one Tony says yes, but last time I was there with my bottle I was told no.

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Ava-"If you get down and out, just get in the kitchen and bake a cake."- Jean Strickland

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Is their policy set on a case-by-case basis? I'm trying to keep the list populated with places that have a consistent policy, so anyone using it gets the response they expect.

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John Danza

Can anyone think of a good place that has a private room, decent food and BYOB option? Something like [k}new. I like that place but been there too many times. Anything else similar to that?

Thank you.

Welcome! See the list in original post link above (which has knew annotated), and also these useful threads:

viewtopic.php?p=386743#p386743

viewtopic.php?p=358434#p358434

Hi Don,

Of the restaurants noted in the Wine Berserkers list, the only options with private rooms would be Restaurant Michael on Tuesday, Sabor Saveur, and Anna's Asian Bistro. Anna's has a nice room in the back that will seat about 20 comfortably.

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John Danza

John, you may want to amend your list that Sabor Saveur is actually no longer in business.

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DearestChicago on Twitter

And neither is Prairie Fire.

Not to nitpick, though; it's a very useful list. Thanks for keeping it up!

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"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

I didn't know they went under, but I'm not surprised. I'll amend the list.

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John Danza

Thanks for letting me know. And it's not a nitpick at all. I'm glad to have the info.

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John Danza

A couple more to add:

Surprisingly Maude's Liquor Bar has BYOB for no corkage with the caveat that you have to share a glass with your server or a nearby table. This was mentioned on the Chowhound Forum and apparently the poster there called and confirmed - but I have no direct experience with this.

Not sure if you are taking restaurants that are only BYOB for no corkage and specific nights, but Socca on Monday has no corkage (not sure what they charge on other nights). They have good stemware.

Also Ay Ay Picante is everyday BYOB no corkage. Fairly poor stemware.

And Los Nopales is everyday BYOB. I forget what stemware they had; vaguely recall it was adequate - not good, not bad.

Thanks for the additional restuarants. I'm having a hard time editing that thread on WB right now, but am working with the site admin to get it worked out. I'll get these added.

As far as which ones I'm taking, I'm adding any to the list that are BYOB at any time with little or no corkage. So Socca on Monday's would be great (you'll see Browntrout noted as BYOB on Thursday). You'll see some places suggested where they'll allow BYOB but have a stiff corkage fee. To me, those places aren't really BYOB and don't warrant being on the list.

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John Danza

Cool; two others that would fall into the low corkage would be Sun Wah BBQ ($5 per bottle of wine everyday; when I went there it was waived). Stemware nothing fancy, but adequate. And Kendall College Dining Room ($10 per bottle everyday, pretty good stemware).

Try Tre Kronor @ 3258 West Foster Avenue and DeColores @ 1626 S Halsted. I just hosted a party of 30 in their upstairs room.