CheekyChicago

It’s hard to believe that The Burlington, staple of the Logan Square scene, has been around for just two short years. What made this candle-lit bar an instant classic? While visiting on a Monday night to hear DJ’s Dujuan and Jennifer, I chatted with The Burlington’s affable co-owner, Greg Dandino, to get the scoop on his bar’s wide appeal. The short answer: A thirsty location and an events calendar packed with variety. Being super friendly with great drink specials can’t hurt either.

Cheeky: So you’ve been here two years.

Greg Dandino: Correct.

Cheeky: And you did a total renovation?

GD: No, it wasn’t a total renovation. It was La Donna Lounge previously. Sort of a Mexican dive bar. And we bought it two years ago. We didn’t do a complete rehab but, I mean, we obviously changed it a lot. There were raw ceilings before and this velvet wallpaper everywhere. It was a little weird.

Cheeky: Did you have a reaction from the community?

GD: Well, my brother [Chris] and I, we’ve been in Logan since ’01. So that was the impetus. One of the reasons why we opened in the first place was that we’d lived here since ’01 and there was nowhere to drink. And we were like, this is bonkers, we’ve been here forever and we need somewhere to drink! And we have a ton of friends around here, so it just made sense.

Cheeky: And it has become a big destination. What’s it like here on the weekends?

GD: It varies obviously, because we have DJ’s here every night, so depending on who the DJ is, that will then dictate the crowd. It can get a little crazy in here sometimes. But at the same time – if you come early, it’ll be quiet; if you come late, it’ll be loud.

Cheeky: What would you say are some of your biggest DJ draws?

GD: We have Kevin from the Mannequin Men – he’s in a band. He DJ’s once a month and it’s a pretty big draw. We do a country night on Thursdays, that’s a big draw as well. Another huge draw we have is the first Thursday of every month, we do oldies night with these guys from Flosstradamus, Kurt and Josh. They’re friends, awesome guys, super sweethearts. And that first Thursday’s pretty hoppin’. We have a lot of varying nights here. Like, the last Sunday of every month, we have the Sunday Night Sex Show, where local artists read fiction and non-fiction stories about their sexual experiences. And there’s trivia and questions.

Cheeky: Sounds kind of like a Logan Square answer to the Uptown Poetry Slam.

GD: Yeah, kind of. I guess you could say that, yeah. And that’s fun. And then the last Monday of every month, we do a gay night. It’s like slow jams and stuff. We have a couple monthlies that are pretty cool.

[At this point, I visited the ladies room where the Charles In Charge theme song played.]

Cheeky: Are there always old TV theme songs playing in the bathrooms?

GD: Yes.

Cheeky: And what’s the story with the cool tree wallpaper in the entrance?

GD: That’s recent. We’re going to keep changing it. We have an underwater theme next.

Cheeky: A rotating art exhibit.

GD: Yes. We also have that old school cigarette shelf on the wall. A reminder of the old days of smoking in bars.

Cheeky: As the final question, I like to ask people the cheekiest thing they did this week.

GD: The cheekiest thing I did this week . . . I do have to think about that for a second. I don’t want to tarnish the bar’s image. I did a lot of cheeky [stuff] this week. . . okay, I’ve got one. I do this often. When I see cars out of battery power on the road, and the flashers are on? I’ll take my truck and I’ll pull up behind them and push them. So that was something I did this week. The cheekiest good-Samaritan thing I did this week. There are personal cheeky things I did but . . . we’ll leave it at that.