The homiest bar food there ever was

like a broken-in jean jacket

Hello, everyone!

We’re stepping back from pizza for this week in favor of a slightly different type of American comfort food. After all, we need a varied diet to stay healthy.

I think bar food’s sort of fallen out of the public consciousness these days. I entirely blame mediocre sports bar chains that cater to people whose idea of interesting eating is by putting big co-branded barbecue sauce on a burger, then naming it something like “The Ultimate Flamin’ Jammin’ Hot Jack Daniels Deluxe Burger Sandwich Handheld.” Big corporations like to take things we love and twist them into a nightmarish versions of themselves, in order to wring every single penny out of it.

The truth is, however, I do love classic bar food. Wings, nachos, burgers, what’s not to love? This genre of food is heavy, salty, saucy, meaty, cheesy, and fried, which basically covers all your nutritional needs. Especially when you’re drinking an ice cold beer.

Luckily in Chicago, there’s plenty of places that serve it, but most of them are only okay. That’s why when you do find a good corner bar that serves great bar food, hang onto it for dear life. Bonus points if it’s divey and the bartenders and servers chat with you like they’ve known you for years.

So if you’re currently in the market for a corner joint that serves reliable bar food, mosey over to Four Moon Tavern in Roscoe Village.

I’d previously been there multiple times for group gatherings, mostly just for drinking, but when I asked my friends for opinions on the food, I was met with reverent responses.

“The food there is really good,” everyone told me, with round eyes. But when I pressed them as to why, nobody had a clear answer. I’d always found that quite curious. Maybe I could figure it out.

Davida and I went right when it opened on a random Monday, at 4 p.m. It was a beautiful afternoon, so we grabbed a spot on the patio to soak in the cool breeze. And as we sat there, the place quietly started filling up, almost exclusively with families from the neighborhood.

We ordered a few beers and started with a small plate of the nachos ($11, pictured in header), which come dressed with melted cheese, veggie chili, sour cream, guacamole, cilantro, and raw jalapeños. They’re terrific, and it all comes down to one big detail: the tortilla chips.

The texture of these things is fantastic. They’re a little rough, almost bubbly on the surface, and crackly. Each chip can handle its toppings generally without snapping, so if you get an overloaded one, you’re in for some serious bliss. We’d been close to ordering steak on them, but I’m glad we didn’t; the vegetarian bean chili served well as the main star.

I asked the server if the chips were made in-house. They’re not, but that’s okay. That’s just some fun motivation to see if I can find them out in the wild somewhere.

It’s hard for me to pass up Buffalo wings, so we got a small order ($10 for six).

These were hard-fried, just how I like them, not drowning in sauce (there’s a true art to saucing wings), and Davida said she thought they were exceptional. She’s historically neutral on Buffalo wings, so that should say something.

Also, I secretly like that the wings come with only celery. Carrots are fine, but ice-cold celery with wings always seems so much more refreshing to me, especially with beer.

When I did some nosing around on social media to see what people typically ordered at Four Moon Tavern, I noticed a few posts focusing on the half-pound burger ($13, cheese and some toppings extra).

We ordered one with cheddar, and I deliberately didn’t say how I wanted it cooked to see how it’d come out. Turns out Four Moon serves its burger around medium-well, which ended up being totally fine, but I’d be sure to specify when you order if you have a preference.

This is not a trendy burger. There’s no special sauces or cooking techniques. It’s just a big char-grilled patty. This thing tastes exactly like something that came off of someone’s home grill, but that’s what I love about it. I think it would really hit the spot during the winter, specifically because it tastes so much like a summer cookout. Keep that nugget in your pocket for an icy day.

Be absolutely sure to get the onion rings, however ($2 upcharge to sub from fries). It’s very apparent that they’re made in-house. The breading is puffy but not too bready, they’re happily greasy, and the serving size is generous. While we loved the rings down the street, Davida whispered to me that she thinks these are better.

The server accidentally let slip what the secret ingredient in the onion ring batter was when we asked about them. I won’t reveal this since I don’t want to be an asshole, but I love when kitchens have secret tricks.

The homemade sloppy joes caught my eye too ($13, served with coleslaw and fries).

The sandwich comes out with an impressive amount of filling piled onto a toasted bun, and what charms me most about it is that it does taste homemade. It feels taken care of, there’s even stewed bits of celery in it. Granted, I may not be the greatest judge of sloppy joes, considering when I do have them they’re made from a can of Manwich (mmm, Manwich, the worst name ever), but I could see myself craving this one regularly, just like I am right now.

And our last plate was the meatloaf dinner ($15).

Davida had done the smart thing and asked our server if he preferred the sandwich or the meatloaf plate, and he had a pretty interesting take on it. He said that the meatloaf at Four Moon Tavern had a softer texture than most, and didn’t think it translated well in between two slices of bread since the textures were too far off from each other. So plate it was.

We loved it. Everything was drowned in brown gravy, I could tell someone’d taken care to make fresh mashed potatoes (the little chunks of potato were a dead giveaway), and to be perfectly honest with you, I secretly think frozen or canned corn is delicious. This is about as Midwestern of a meal as it gets, and even as the kid of Korean immigrants (who rarely ate meatloaf growing up), I could tell that this was someone’s version of home cooking.

Hopefully you’re seeing a theme here. The food at Four Moon Tavern isn’t particularly notable on paper. There’s good wings, great nachos, a sturdy burger, a perfectly good sloppy joe, and some homey meatloaf.

None of those items sound interesting, but whoever’s in the kitchen knows how to make things the right way. Nothing tasted like it was out of a bag (aside from the corn). If you visit a restaurant supply store, you’d be surprised at just how much of your favorite bar food comes frozen, and if we’d simply ordered one or two things, I think I’d have taken the kitchen’s skill for granted. But thankfully we over-ordered as usual, and that’s how we noticed the details.

When Davida and I visited, I’d briefly posted a story to Instagram showing where we were, and later when I checked my phone, I’d gotten a lot of unexpected responses. Multiple people swore by the grilled cheese sandwich with the homemade tomato soup (and these are food enthusiasts), which I ordinarily would have written off, but the fervor with which people told me about it means we’ll have to get it next time.

Plus, the whole place still feels the same as it did on the few occasions I came to get trashed with friends ages ago, like a broken-in jean jacket. If someone ever asks me someday if the food at Four Moon Tavern is good, I’ll be sure to answer with the same reverence everyone else has given me.

Except in this case, I think I figured out why.

Four Moon Tavern
1847 W Roscoe St
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 929-6666

Hours:
Mon - Thurs: 4:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
Friday - Sat: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 12:00 a.m.

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Thank you all for reading The Party Cut! Next time you need some bar food that doubles as American comfort food, you know where to go. This edition is free, so please do me a favor and share it on social media where you can.

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