Prodigal Son Bar and Grill
Maybe it’s just the bar’s proximity to the old Lounge Ax that makes us a little nostalgic when we go there, or maybe it’s just the presence of an underground live music club in sports-bar-saturated Lincoln Park. Either way, if the shows aren’t good, people won’t come, and ever since MP Shows (the entity behind shows at the Fireside Bowl, among others) started booking talent into the Prodigal, the shows have been good, so people have been coming. Everything from doom metal to shoe-gazer indie rock to hip-hop might play at the Prodigal during any given week, and in a town that often suffers for lack of small venues, it’s been a godsend.
2626 North Halsted
(Prodigal Son is closed)
Audience choice: The Abbey Pub
3420 West Grace
(773)478-4408
Best of Chicago 2002