The Inn at Longman & Eagle (rooms 13 and 43)
2657 N. Kedzie
773-276-7110
True story: I recently dropped as much money on a single night of imbibing Longman & Eagle cocktails as I did on the room upstairs where I laid my head upon moving to Chicago in March. (That’s no small feat considering the bar’s sublime cocktails are a mere $8 a pop.) If Longman’s bar has quickly become my home away from home in my new hometown, its inn was my welcoming mat, the place that introduced me to Chicago’s straightforward friendliness, its refined (but never stuffy) aesthetic, and its estimable obsession with whiskey. As for the rooms, the two $75 budget options are worth the priority seating at Longman’s no-reservations restaurant alone. It also so happens that the inn is as beautifully constructed as Longman’s pot-au-feu of Swan Creek Farms beef short rib and its Bitter Bourbon Buck. The six rooms are handsomely trimmed with woodwork by Mode Carpentry and appointed with original local art, Apple TV, and a collection of mixtape cassettes with vintage player. Oh, and each of those wooden coins on the desk are good for a shot of whiskey downstairs. As if I need another. —Mara Shalhoup