Handlebar Bar and Grill: Wheeling drinks and veggie food
The Handlebar is a biker bar, but of the cyclist kind, not the rough and tumble motor bike type. Bucktown’s neighborhood pit-stop welcomes both the peddling-friendly and non-wheeled set for breakfast, dinner and drinks.
Walking into the spacious bar, windows open onto the street fit for people watching. Concerts posters featuring mostly local bands plaster the wall behind the small bar that’s ready to pour beer snobs several Midwest microbrews. Keeping with the bicycle theme, even the bar stools are made from bike spokes.
The most desired area is the outdoor beer garden bespeckled by a high fence, plants and flowers. A posted sign reads “no bike parking,” but of course, bike parking is encouraged on premises. Cyclists can park their bike, grab a table and order satiating vegan and vegetarian food.
The restaurant’s motto is “peddling fine food and drink,” and that’s exactly what the Handlebar does along with supporting bike activism. Absolutely no real meat is available on the menu except for a few fish dishes. Even the so-called chicken and sausage items are printed in italics because they’re made from seitan, the fake stuff.
Healthy tastes good, so the grill dishes tofu fajitas, veggie sandwiches, entrees like blackened catfish (the real stuff) and mac n’ cheese. Each entrée comes with side items like fries or brown rice. Vegan breakfast burritos and biscuits and gravy can be ordered for breakfast, but the gravy is also made from seitan.
The bar offers daily drink specials including Monday nights when the Handlebar rewards the hard-working bike messenger with a free plate of fries.
Posted by Garin Pirnia
