Ok, I’m back from Chicago, and I just have to say that it’s a GREAT city. While I didn’t get to hit any of the places suggested to me, I found this great irish pub down town called Fado (with an accent over the “o”). The name apparently means “a long time ago” in Gaelic. My friends and I went there on a Saturday night, and it was PACKED! It surely beats any irish pub we have here in New Orleans. The Guiness there was Incredible, the Boddington’s was excellent, and the band playing was an excellent Trad. group called DonnyBrook. These guys (and one girl) were great! If you get the chance to see them play, I strongly suggest going. The band members were really cool too. They let me play a tune with them–naturally I used my rusty sweetone D whistle.
Glad you enjoyed Chicago and got to see Donnybrook. I didn’t think to mention Fado because it is in the touristy part of town but it sounds like that’s not hindering it at all.