Lower Michigan's 1934 Newspaper Tavern
Billy Goat Tavern on Lower Michigan Avenue has been the city's newspaper-era diner since 1934. And was immortalised by Saturday Night Live's 'cheezborger cheezborger' sketch in 1978.
The cooking is uncompromising 1934 grill. Smashed double cheeseburgers, hand-cut fries, the kind of unpretentious diner format that has fed two generations of Chicago newspapermen and the broader Lower Michigan crowd.
What to Order
The double cheezborger. The dish the room is built around. Chips; diet Pepsi (no Coke, the SNL sketch made it famous). The format is counter-order, no-frills.
The Setting
The Lower Michigan address. Beneath the Tribune Tower, the staircase down from Michigan Avenue. Is part of the institution's identity. The walls are covered in newspaper memorabilia; the staff are direct in the long-running diner tradition.
Best Occasion: Solo Dining
Billy Goat is one of Chicago's most natural solo-dining rooms. The format requires nothing of the diner; the price point sits in the bracket where lunch costs less than the parking; eating a 'cheezborger' at the address SNL made famous is one of the city's classic pilgrimages.