Hungry Brain

Come for the booze. Stay to get your brain fed.
I was first introduced to Hungry Brain a few years back when an old friend did readings there every so often. It was a great place that promoted community, culture, art, and booze. Unfortunately it closed. I was deeply heartbroken and I knew that the world would surely end.
Luckily, every creative person’s favorite dive bar has since reopened and the world hasn’t ended. Huzzah! I’ve been back a few times since reopening and have had more than my share of amazing performances from local musicians. I’ve also drank my weight in Steigl beer. It’s fantastic to see that this Chicago staple has had a new lease on life.
Sadly, they don’t have draft beer anymore but they have decent can and bottle choices. I suggest ordering a cocktail because they usually make them strong, but not overwhelming. They place is still BYOF so bring in whatever you want to eat as you drink. The new staff is just as friendly and engaging as the old staff. I do miss the old look of the place with all the random chairs and string lights. However, the new look is very neat. I highly recommend this place if you want to check out live music in a very intimate environment. I’m done gushing over this place now. So now go check it out.

I am such a fan of this place. The atmosphere is always so welcoming and fun. The food and background music makes you feel at ease.
Definitely will be a returning customer.

One of Chicago’s finest dive bars. Great beer selection, and while I haven’t experienced it first hand, they have great live music.

I am so glad this place is back, I just found out! This is one of Chicago’s #1 dive bars. Very cool atmosphere, calm and laid back for a drink on a weekday. Bartenders are great. I have also seen some very cool live performances here — both music and sketch/​visual art performance pieces. I am also told they have jazz on Sundays which I will have to check out. If you are in the neighborhood, check this place out. But’ don’t tell anyone, it’s still a relatively good kept secret.

Great spot open again for real. Good atmosphere, reasonable drinks, and live jazz Sunday night. Don’t pass up this neighborhood gem.

Coat hooks: No.
Welcome Back, Hungry Brain! Get some coat hooks.

This is a love note, not a review.
2015 was coming to a close and I spotted the bartender. RA!!! It was her first night on the job and she had on these high-​waisted jeans. RA! Girl, you don’t need to make an old fashioned because you are all the sugar I need. RA! No, but seriously, where is my cocktail?
If you read this, girl of my dreams, I want to hold your hand. 2016 is already a success because I know you’re out there for me. RA!

Bar had it all. Great drafts, Music, Fiction Readings. Comfy seating. Small outdoor areas. BYOF policy. It is truly sorely missed.

O Hungry Brain! If only you had served fish…

Closed at the end of business on December 31^st. RIP forever, Hungry Brain. Hopefully the bartenders here end up at other bars, as well!

Oh, Hungry Brain, I do have feelings for you. Mixed, just like the company and drinks I enjoyed. Many a night I had caroused with people I loved, some of them gone now, within your the confines of your dimly lit warmth. You weren’t perfect, but I sure as hell wasn’t either, and who is? Now you’ve decided to leave us too. I hate change, but I know it is inevitable. It’s what happens. You’re not the first beloved bar I’ve lost, you won’t be the last. I will miss you with a woeful sigh, and without a doubt.

This is the best bar I have ever been to.
Let me share a tale with you:
I originally saw the bar on Unilocal while wandering around Belmont on a Friday night, and with the great reviews and single dollar sign and the great name decided to make it the last place I’d go for the night.
First, I wandered past the place two or three times, since there’s not really a sign or anything to tell you where it is. I finally took a look through the window on the door, and could barely make out the figure of people inside, since (at least in my imagination, I’ll have to go back and make sure) the window was too grimy to properly see through. Finally walk in, and the place smells like the cool kid you knew in high school’s basement. There is a jukebox the runs LASER DISKS, which I haven’t seen in like a decade. There is absolutely insane art on the walls, a lot of which features anthropomorphic brains. I sit down at the bar, and get a pint of 5 $ Great Lakes (and they had equally good beers for cheaper I think!). The bartender was a really friendly guy, and fills the glasses up absolutely to the rim and overflowing (none of that bullsh*t where they give you a half full glass and charge full price!). There were like 10 other people in the bar at the time, and it was the perfect volume for having a conversation.
Then the guy comes over.
This dude just sits down next to me and kind of awkwardly strikes up a conversation. I quickly gather he’s heavily intoxicated, but is generally really friendly (although does say a few offensive things that would have made me think twice about him if he wasn’t otherwise a merry guy). He proceeds to tell his life story (including his time in prison, coming to Chicago and starting a consulting gig, in true «Fear and Loathing» style his crazy night with his attorney that night, and how he met his girilfriend). He also apparently knows everyone else in the bar, and (once again mildly offensively) calls one over who seems to be a bit less amused with his condition. He buys everyone shots, throws up a bit, and zips back and forth for the rest of the evening. If anyone has seen the Miyazaki movie «Spirited Away» and remembers how that guy was the «River Spirit», this guy right here was the «Dive Bar Spirit». He truely made my evening from kinda meh to absolutely incredible. Anyway, that is the kind of place the Hungry Brain is, and I can’t wait to go back.
This is fantastic bar, great divey atmosphere/​charm, great/​cheap beer, and great company. Go here, you won’t regret it.

Chilling on overstuffed couches in dimly lit funky rooms drinking affordable beer and playing the occasional round of Galaga — with the occasional hang-​out in a relaxed back yard — is the ideal life and it’s what Hungry Brain brings to the table. They always have a couple of good local beers on tap and friendly bar tenders to help you out. The jukebox is outstanding. The collection of brain-​themed putty toys behind the bar blows the competition out of the water. Did I mention the Kate Bush clock?
But seriously, they got a good thing going here. Jazz bands play here regularly on Sundays but I haven’t been yet. I did however have the pleasure to see Two Cookie Minimum, a presentation of zine work in Chicago that is hosted here. My favorite bar in Chicago.

Hungry Brain is one of the higher rated bars in Chicago for a number of reasons:
— Quality craft beer selections, including some Three Floyd’s beers you don’t see very often.
— Said quality craft beers are also silly cheap. Last time I was there they had Dogfish Head for 4 bucks. I almost thought it was an error.
— Solid juke box.
The location is off the beaten path, but that’s also a good thing because you don’t have an overly crowded place. Do your best to visit this dive bar. It’s worth the effort.
¹²⁰⁄₃₆₅

With a name like «Hungry Brain», you’d think that they’d cater to the likes of the undead, or the Walking Dead, you know, ZOMBIES.
Not true!!! Everyone who was there when I stumbled there on a recent Saturday night was very much alive, with their very human activities of breathing in air and blood coursing through their veins. At least, I assumed that they were, I didn’t get close enough to anyone to feel them breathe on me or check their pulses.
Anyways, I loved this dive bar which was suggested by a friend. It was chill, yet had plenty of energy on a Saturday night, but not too loud or crazy, perfect for divin’ with friends. And they had couches! So comfortable and awesome to sit on a couch, chatting with friends. But be warned that the couches are from the 60s and 70s, so you might fall into one of them and not get out because they’re broken, but hey, I’m not complaining!
Jukebox — check
Comfortable seating — check
Sweet lighting — check
Meet me there next Saturday night, friends?

This is my boyfriend and his friend’s favorite bar — so of course every time I have been in Chicago, we go here. It’s known to frequenters as ‘The Brain’ It’s a dive bar that reminds me a lot of my favorite dive bars back home in Seattle. It has never been crowded — which I find to be a lot of places in Chicago. Low lights — I think this Christmas lights might be the only thing keeping the place lit? They also have random things on the walls and shelves, which is a better thing to keep your eyes occupied than a blaring television, which they don’t have, thank god. They don’t accept cards here but there is an ATM.
I am very ignorant when it comes to beer outside of the west coast — but I have always been pleased with what they have on draft. Both my boyfriend and the bartender have made excellent reccomendations to accomadate my PNW (Pacific Northwest) tastebuds. I’m not much of a hard A person — but they seem to have a decent selection of stuff. The staff has always been very friendly (I am assuming it’s because the people I was with frequent the Brain). It is never too loud so you can carry on a conversation with not only the person next to you, but the person two seats down from you.

Don’t blink while you’re going down Belmont looking for this place, or you’ll miss it. With it’s very dim lighting and random assortment of furniture, The Hungry Brain feels more like a lounge than a dive bar, in a good way. Unlike most dive bars, they have a nice beer list, but with typical Lakeview prices.
The music selection on the jukebox is far from typical, and the Pacman/​Galaga game provides added entertainment. If you’re looking for something off the beaten path with a laidback atmosphere, then check out this bar. My only complaint about The Hungry brain is that they’re cash only; so be sure to stop an ATM before arriving.

Well I was neither hungry nor angry when I went there; actually, I was simply coaxed by friends I had gone to visit in Chicago. It is a chill place with a rather mixed crowd, so regardless of which social group you belong to, you are bound to feel comfortable.
On entry I spotted the Pacman machine close to the stage, rushed to it with an aim of beating the prevailing high score. But bah!!, I failed miserably. My consolation target the jukebox wasted my 10, only to be told by some cutie that it accepted 5’s and 1’s only. However the jukebox has a variety of good music, so regardless of your genre of choice you are bound to find something that suits you on it.
Well we hit the couch with my newfound friend, hit off with small talk. The seats were rather comfortable. In addition, gladly the amiable bar attendants did not have me waiting when I sought drinks from them. Talking of drinks, the thing I liked about this place are the really affordable drinks. Plus there is the Tamale guy, he popped in at around 10.

«Hungry…Brain…»
That sounds like zombie dialogue to me.
But it’s not the theme of this bar. Maybe a hungry brain; one that craves knowledge or culture. While this isn’t a high brow salon, this dive bar does host a lot of eclectic events from shows, to open mics, to readings and has a lot of character. It’s quite dark illuminated by different colored strings of Christmas lights, candles, and a few interesting lamps. A hodge podge of old or shabby chic furniture. Lots of posters of local events and entertainment on walls. An intriguing collection of art that each invite a closer look. And a Galaga/​Pac Man machine in the front by the stage (and most of the time seating area) and an Arachnoid machine in the back. All of this doesn’t seem insincere or self consciously odd but inviting. Like we were in a true blue place.
They have a neat beer list and the bartender was a pip. The jukebox is fantastic with a great selection of classic rock, Motown, 90’s alternative, new music, movie soundtracks.
We found the atmosphere, music, and games a delight.
Now. Much ado has been made about the cozy couches. On the stage there’s 2 couches, a sturdy arm chair, a coffee table, and a stool. These couches either are different than the ones mentioned in other reviews or I’m descended from the Princess and the Pea because one couch is goofy. It’s like one enormous mushy pillow. We sat in it and instantly sank to the center swallowed up by the marshmallow couch; our asses were ’bout 4 inchs from the floor. The other red velvet one was better but had a couple wonky springs.
The ID checker guy who also clears tables was downer. We left a beer and glass of water on a stool by us and our coats. He started taking them and I said we weren’t done and he was curt.
The crowd is mixed you’ll see big groups and even a guy reading a book alone with a Guinness at a table. A tamale guy came. Fun, chill place.
«Hungry Brain!» — no zombie.

dope.