The Broadway Oyster Bar
736 S. Broadway, 621-8811

The Broadway Oyster Bar is a terrific place to listen to great
blues music. The bar is straight out of New Orleans: cajun cuisine
is prominent on the menu and the bar provides some of the best
local and touring blues acts.

And the Broadway Oyster Bar has Louisiana’s favorite brew, Abita
Beer. Music is played nearly every night on the outside patio in
the summer and spring, with Friday and Saturday night drawing the
biggest crowds. The Broadway Oyster bar is always a favorite of
Cardinals fans after a night game.

BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups
700 S. Broadway, 436-5222

BB’s Jazz Blues and Soups is located right up the street from
the Broadway Oyster Bar. BB’s, like The Broadway Oyster Bar, hosts
local and national touring acts. But BB’s, as indicated in the name
of the bar, splits time as a jazz and blues bar. The food is
delicious, and the bar offers a variety of soups for lunch and
dinner. One act that is a must see is Oliver Sain’s R&B All
Stars. Every Thursday, Sain gets the joint jumping with his
saxophone. You’ll never have a bad time at BB’s.

St. Louis Brewery & Tap Room
21st & Locust, 241-BEER

The St. Louis Brewery, or The Tap Room as it is also called, is
the home of Schlafly’s beer. All of you closet homebrewers can get
a taste of a premium microbrew at this bar. Schlafly’s is a
hometown favorite, particularly the Pale Ale variety. The first
floor of the bar features a trendy restaurant while the upstairs
offers an impressive view of the city at night while staging good
music.

Milo’s
5201 Wilson, 776-0468

Mention that to most St. Louisians and they’ll immediately say,
“The Wall.” “The Wall” used to be almost like a drinking challenge:
finish X amount of drinks and Milo’s would put your name on one of
the bar walls and give you a free t-shirt. Everyone always had fun
watching people attempt to drink “The Wall” and try to live to tell
about it.

Milo’s had its last name printed on “The Wall” on May 13, 1999.
But that doesn’t mean that the fun has stopped. Milo’s is still
kicking as one of the best corner bars in the area.

The front part of the bar is your classic bar, with some tables
and chairs and a ballgame always on the tube. In the next room,
there’s darts, foosball, Golden Tee and a jukebox. And outside is a
patio with quite possibly the best drinking game in the world:
bocce.

Milo’s Bocce Garden is open until 10:30 on weeknights and 11:00
on weekends.

The Blackthorn Pub
3735 Wyoming, 776-0534

The Blackthord Pub is one of those places that looks like a
dumpy old South St. Louis corner bar. But after glancing at it more
carefully, the Guinness Draft neon sign starts to peak your
attention. You ask yourself, “What South St. Louis bar serves
Guinness? Most of these places are Anheuser-Busch bars.”

Well, think again, my friend. The Blackthorn Pub is arguably the
best corner bar in St. Louis. With a great selection of potables on
tap–Guinness, Newcastle and Fat Tire, to name a few–and some of
the best bar pizza in the area, the Blackthorn has become a sort of
underground bar only known to a select few. Like Milo’s, The
Blackthorn has an area for you to hang out at the bar and quaff
your Guinness with a friend while listening to the jukebox, and an
area that is strictly a game room.

Bubble hockey, air hockey, and darts (steel-tipped) are there to
be played. Or you can take a step back to the 1980s and challenge
someone to a arcade game of Donkey Kong. Oh, and don’t forget to
ask the bartender why there are dollar bills on the ceiling.

Fast Eddie’s Bon-Air
1530 E 4th, Alton IL
(618) 412-5532

This one is a bit of a long drive for SLU students. The bar is
located in Alton, Ill., about 20 miles north of St. Louis. Fast
Eddie’s is known for two great things: a good time and cheap food.
The Big Elwood on a stick is a local favorite; half-pound burgers
are $.99; and the shrimp are $.25 each. There are no game rooms at
this bar. But it does have televsions scattered throughout the
place so that you can watch the game.

And there’s live music every weekend. If you wish to continue
your fun and try to reclaim all the money you spent at the bar, the
Alton Belle Casino is minutes away from Fast Eddie’s. Just make
sure there’s a designated driver because it’s a long drive home
from Alton.

O’Connell’s
4652 Shaw, 773-6600

O’Connell’s takes care of its patrons until 3 a.m. on a nightly
basis. With one of the best burgers in town, O’Connell’s is a good
place for several friends to gather and sit down at a couple of
tables and share a few laughs.

Like Soulard’s John D. McGurk’s, O’Connell’s has a distinct
Irish feel to the bar. O’Connell’s doesn’t have any gimmick to it;
they don’t have musical acts, there aren’t any games and there
aren’t any televisions. So expect to chat a lot with your friends
and other customers when you hit O’Connell’s.

Seamus McDaniel’s
1208 Tamm, 645-6337

This tavern in Dogtown is another Irish bar; but this one is in
an Irish part of town. Dogtown was home to Irish, German and Welsh
immigrants back in the late 19th and early 20th century. Today the
area still has many Irish descendants in the area.

And many of those descendants hang out at Seamus McDaniel’s. The
10 oz. burgers are served piping hot so be careful not to burn the
roof of your mouth when you chew. And, as expected, Seamus
McDaniel’s always has Guinness and Harp on tap.

Maggie O’Brien’s
2000 Market
421-1388

Good food and Irish beer served until 3 a.m. The place to be on
St. Patrick’s Day, this bar also features occasional Irish music
and dancing.

Halo Bar
6161 Delmar
726-6161

The bar attached to The Pageant, the hip scene at the new Halo
Bar is a destination in and of itself, with DJs spinning regularly
and a scene as cool as the acts that come through its venue.