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.