A Swedish tavern since 1934 in the heart of Andersonville, the neighbourhood that was Chicago's Swedish enclave before it became the city's most welcoming LGBTQ community. Simon's has navigated every wave of change without losing its identity — the neon ship sign still glows on Clark Street, the wooden bar is original, and the glogg (Swedish mulled wine) served from November through March is a winter ritual that draws the entire neighbourhood. The room is small, dark, and warm in the way that only bars that have absorbed decades of conversation can be.
Location
Andersonville, Chicago
Map
Insider Intel
Glogg in winter — the Swedish mulled wine that is Simon's signature, served warm with raisins and almonds floating in the glass. It is sweet, spiced, boozy, and tastes like the antidote to a Chicago January. The rest of the year, cheap beer and well drinks in the dive-bar tradition. The aquavit selection is serious, as befits a Swedish bar, and a shot of aquavit with a beer is the correct Scandinavian protocol.
Winter weeknight from 7pm for glogg by the window while Clark Street freezes outside — this is Simon's at its most essential. The holiday season (November through New Year) is prime glogg time and the bar is warmest, busiest, and most communal. Summer evenings are pleasant but lack the seasonal specificity that makes Simon's special.
Andersonville is far north — CTA bus 22 on Clark Street or the Red Line to Berwyn plus a short walk. The neighbourhood is charming and walkable, with Hopleaf a block south and a strip of independent shops and restaurants along Clark. Cash preferred, cards accepted reluctantly. The glogg is seasonal (roughly November through March) and is the primary reason to visit. The bar's history as a Swedish immigrant gathering place is visible in the decor and the aquavit shelf. Open daily, late.