Hitting the Strip: A Guide to Carbondale’s Bars and Clubs
Note that in order to enter a bar or club, one must be at least 19 years of age or older and that there are at least two bars, PK’s and The Cellar in which one must be 21 or older to enter.
Pinch Penny Pub & Copper Dragon
700 E. Grand Ave.
www.pinchpennypub.com
The bars and clubs closest to campus, not surprisingly, are the most popular in Carbondale. Pinch Penny Pub is without a doubt the most crowded bar in town any time of the year. During the late spring, summer and early fall, Pinch’s beer garden is the place to be with outside island bars dealing out everything the bar inside does.
On the weekends, Pinch has live music in the garden, typically cover bands or musicians who play Top 40-style rock music. Every Sunday the bar has live jazz performed courtesy of Mercy. For those who want to take the party home with them, Pinch also has an adjacent liquor store where you can pick up everything a well-stocked liquor store typically has to offer. Pinch also offers a full menu with some of the most top-rated Buffalo wings in town, as well as a popular cheeseburger basket deal.
During the late fall, winter and early spring, the adjacent venue, Copper Dragon, is in full operation with a wide variety of live music. From blues to jazz, hip-hop, heavy metal and alternative rock, Copper Dragon draws crowds from around the region. Copper Dragon also houses Pinch Penny Pub’s award-winning brewery and is named after the large copper dragon fountain in Pinch’s beer garden. During select times of the year, the dragon is rigged with propane to spew out flames from its mouth at certain times of the evening.
Carboz & Callahan’s Irish Pub
760 E. Grand Ave.
Located behind Pinch Penny Pub in the same parking lot is the popular nightclub, Carboz. Noted for being the premier venue for European trance, techno and house dance music, this is the place people go to if they want to do some serious dancing and maybe even hook up with someone.
The club is outfitted with a large dance floor as well as a railed terrace for more up close and personal dancing. The club features a full service bar, an island bar for speed rails and beer, as well as a martini bar. There is a strict dress code of no sports jerseys. Button-down shirts or polo shirts are required for men and dress-casual attire is required of women. This past spring, the club hosted an evening with MTV’s DJ Skribble at the helm.
In the same building, but with a separate entrance from the outside, is Callahan’s Irish Pub. Named after owner Brian Callahan, the pub offers a full menu of appetizers and pub fare, along with a variety of high-end whiskeys and scotches. Although it has the look and feel of an Irish or English pub, you’ll still be able to catch the game, as the pub still has a certain sports bar appeal to it as well.
Chicago Underground Pub & Grill
717 S. University Ave.
Just up the road is Chicago Underground, famous for its award-winning martini that’s as smooth as water. Not anywhere near as crowded as the other college-oriented bars, Chicago Underground features a gourmet menu and a classy atmosphere that’s perfect if you’re trying to impress that certain someone, or just get away from the ruckus and thick smoke of the clubs.
Sidetracks Bar & Grill
101 W. College St.
Because of its unique location, Sidetracks has earned fame for not only being right next to the railroad tracks and a busy railroad crossing, but it also has a stage in its beer garden that’s framed with stage lighting that’s reminiscent of a railroad crossing. The beer garden hosts live music on the weekends, ranging from cover bands to alternative rock and heavy metal.
If you like your drinks strong, this is the place to go. Filled with so much alcohol, sometimes there isn’t enough room in the cup for the splash of Coke for a Long Island Iced Tea. Sidetracks used to have a good cheeseburger, but the kitchen was recently removed.
Gatsby’s II Bar & Billiards
610 S. Illinois Ave.
What happened to Gatsby’s I isn’t known by the newest generation of regulars, but for people who are serious about playing pool and fraternizing, Gatsby’s II is the place to go. It’s gained an unfortunate reputation as of late and some playfully refer to it as “Fratsby’s,” given that the clientele tends to be predominantly fraternities and sororities out on the hunt. One of the unique features of the bar though is that it’s the only bar in town where one has to walk down stairs to get to the main entrance.
It’s also just a few feet away from another Carbondale mainstay, Winston’s Bagels. Winston’s Bagels consists of a man named Winston Mezzo and his bagel cart where he toasts bagels to order and the customer can pick from a variety of toppings. His most popular are the apple cinnamon bagel and the pizza bagel. For those low on cash after a hard night of partying, Winston is often a welcome sight.
Stix Bar & Billiards
517 S. Illinois Ave.
Although it’s lost some of the glory it experienced in its heyday, it’s still a popular hotspot on the Strip, with a sizeable line heading out the door and down the street during the regular semester. Just as its name indicates, Stix has the most pool tables of any bar on the Strip, giving Gatsby’s II a run for its money. As the bar is sometimes listed, Stix was once known as Stix Pizza, which is an old method some bar owners used to use in order to get a liquor license in Carbondale. Once the statute changed, indicating that establishments no longer had to serve food in order to serve alcohol, the food was the first thing to go.
Hangar 9
511 S. Illinois Ave.
Hangar 9 is one of the key places to go in Carbondale if one wants to experience a variety of quality of live music from week to week. Wednesdays, Hangar hosts hip-hop night, which is a revue of area, Chicago and St. Louis-based rappers and freestylers. Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays feature bills with headlining acts and openers ranging from blues to bluegrass, reggae and punk rock. The bar also recently completed work on a back porch for breezy summer night lounging.
Sundays, Hangar has “Brew n’ View” on the big screen when the Cubs games aren’t being shown. Mondays is acoustic open mike night, although the bar staff typically end up playing CDs through the massive PA system. Tuesday is the infamous “dollar draft night,” which is just as appealing as it sounds. Most domestic drafts are just a dollar, making Tuesday the busiest night of the week to go to Hangar 9.
Hangar 9 has had a colorful history of musicians, grace its stage. Black Flag played there in 1986 on one of its last tours with Henry Rollins fronting the band. In more recent times, the bar’s had Teen Idols, Groovie Ghoulies and bands by former members of Operation Ivy and Screeching Weasel perform.
Booby’s Subs
406 S. Illinois Ave.
Booby’s has arguably the best made to order submarine sandwiches in town, along with a variety of other deli goods, but what’s made it a mainstay is its grand outside beer garden. Much less smokie and with all the alcohol the inside bar has, the beer garden is one of the best places to be for live music in late spring, summer and early fall. As the fall wears on, the management lights up two outside propane heating towers until it gets too cold even for that. While most people will want to crowd around the central stage area where the bands play, there is also some side seating and some terraced seating near the street with a tree for shade.
This gives Booby’s a certain level of class, but with the prices and goods of any other bar in town. Live music on the weekends ranges from reggae to jazz and hard rock. As of late, Booby’s management has opted to ease into a more low-key jazz crowd, but they still offer enough variety to keep some of the other old clientele satisfied and coming back for more.
PK’s (Pizza King’s)
PK’s has an unfortunate stigma with the college crowd for being somewhat of a dive. While the building is quite old and the toilet facilities are just barely within health code specs, PK’s can offer a nice, relaxed atmosphere for hanging out with friends and relieving some stress with a couple of frosty brews. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, PK’s has live entertainment.
Once or twice a year, Carbondale and Southern Illinois legend Tawl Paul (who also bartends on certain nights) plays with his blues band Slappin’ Henry Blue. Although the establishment used to offer pizza (as Pizza King’s would indicate) all
The Cellar
137 Starlight Lane
The Cellar is home to the best Bloody Mary in town, which the bar staff prepares in gallon jugs for mass purchase. They also have Italian Beef specials and other specials on a rotating basis. The bar, which is in the basement of the main building, also houses a bumper pool table and a shuffle board table. The Cellar is on the rotating list of “in” bars in Carbondale. While it may be “in” one week, the next week it might be Hangar 9 or Tres Hombres that’s the place to be.
Big Boys Q’n
104 W. Jackson St.
Big Boys Q’n is the home of an award-winning barbecue competition team that finally decided to take its recipes and goods and go into the restaurant and bar business. Although their hot wings are average, their size is enormous and one can often find specials when alcohol is purchased along with the meal. Their pulled pork sandwiches aren’t too bad either. Big Boys has become a major player in the local live music scene with heavy metal and punk acts playing on a regular basis.
Tres Hombres
119 N. Washington St.
Tres Hombres is a legend in Carbondale. With the best Margarita in town and awesome homemade salsa, a wide variety of gourmet Mexican food and the best and hottest wings in town, Tres offers the best in drinks and food. It also off ers high quality, upscale live performances of the best funk and jazz musicians in Carbondale’s prolific music scene as well as traveling bands in the game of jam and new-grass music.
Boo Jr. and Co.
Always on the verge of closing its doors, Boo Jr. is in a similar category as PK’s except it doesn’t have the good location that PK’s does. While Boo Jr.’s is right off of Route 13, it’s hidden behind the Sunset Motel. Trying everything from cheap beer to live music and go-go dancers on Wednesdays, Boo Jr.’s isn’t one’s usual first choice when deciding to hit the bars, but it has had some interesting liveliness in its history, as it was once a strip club, reduced to a bar after Carbondale rezoned its business restrictions. But for anyone who wants to practically escape society for an hour or more, Boo Jr.’s might be just the ticket.
Key West Lounge
1008 W. Main St. (Route 13 West).
On the opposite side of town is Key West Lounge. Although it’s right off of Route 13 West, it suffers from a similar fate as Boo Jr.’s in that it’s tucked into the storefront of an old mini-mall. But unlike Boo Jr.’s, the establishment has kept itself in good repair and has maintained a classy tropical or exotic locale appeal to it. Key West also caters parties and big events, which has helped it to stay in business and allows it to serve a good variety of bar food and appetizers at reasonable prices. They also have karaoke on select nights and the Ivas John Quartet performing live jazz, blues and rock tunes.
Mugsy McGuire’s
1620 W. Main St. (Route 13 West).
Considered to be the thorn in Pinch Penny Pub’s side is Mugsy McGuire’s. The bar with the trademark emerald green vinyl thatched side roofing and the big lit-up marquee out by the road, Mugsy’s doesn’t believe in doing anything small. Mugsy’s actually has three bars. There’s a separate bare entrance on the right which is a standard bar where a lot of the older crowd tends to go. Strictly booze and socializing to be dealt with in there.
On the left is the more illustrious sports bar with a full-service kitchen with some of the best charbroiled burgers in town, fried pickles and homemade pizza. This side of the building also has a game room open during select times of the week with a shuffle board table and several arcade machines. Mugsy’s is also a popular place to go to watch major league baseball when Pinch gets too crowded.
In the rear of the building by which one gains entry by a separate outside side entrance is Mugsy’s Entertainment Center. Built specifically for big office parties, comedians and special concerts, Mugsy’s has hosted some of the big names in heavy metal and has had concerts by classic rock legends Rick Derringer and Leon Russell.
Mississippi Flyway
1925 W. Main St. (Route 13 West).
When the first thing you smell is alcohol when you open the door, you know you’ve come to the right place. Frequented by the locals and a favorite among visiting alumni, the Flyway is a popular place to get a nice steak dinner or to simply grab a drink. They have an extensive menu with a separate dining room for a nice quiet dinner or seating out near the front bar for something quick. The place is also adorned with numerous duck mounts and game trophies, so it might not be the ideal place to bring the date who’s big on animal rights or is anti-hunting. The food may seem a little high, but the quality is excellent.
If none of these privately owned clubs or bars seem to do the trick, there’s always the major chain park heading east out of town. Lonestar Steakhouse, Applebee’s, Garfield’s and Holohan’s might be more your style if the locals seem too scary or the other bars are just too overwhelming. But the deals in town are among the best and there’s almost always something wild going on in Carbondale on any given weekend.
