Best Place for a Sip of Little Lithuania: Bernice’s Tavern

There’s been a tavern of some sort at 3238 S. Halsted for nearly a century, but the version of Bernice’s that Bridgeporters and South Siders from all over have come to know and love dates back to 1965. That’s when an establishment called Adam’s Tavern was taken over by an employee named John Badauskas and his wife, Bernice. A half-century and a generation later, their operation remains alive and well in the hands of their son Steve, who took over the business after John passed away in 1998.

In an interview with the Weekly, Steve recounted growing up in the multi-ethnic neighborhood: there was an Italian grocery store across the street and Greek diners further down. 

And of course, “There were a lot of Lithuanians in here!” 

Bernice’s is a holdover from a time when almost all businesses were local and to be local in Chicago often meant having some ethnic or racial affiliation. Bernice’s sits in the former “Lithuanian Downtown,” a stretch of Halsted between 31st and 35th streets that was once the nucleus of the world’s largest Lithuanian exclave. Steve remembers “two Lithuanian restaurants, a Lithuanian delicatessen, a Lithuanian butcher” were all within a stone’s throw of the bar. 

People and businesses come and go, and the Lithuanian diaspora is now centered in suburban Lemont. Steve can’t recall many nearby staples of his childhood that remain today. One of the few exceptions, he said, is George’s Gyros, which opened in 1975 and still operates on Halsted just north of 35th Street. 

Even as Bridgeport’s Lithuanian population has dwindled, at Bernice’s, the neighborhood’s connection to the tiny northern European country of under three million people remains strong. A Lithuanian flag hangs over the center of the back bar. Steve offers three varieties of Lithuanian beer: Ekstra, a lager, Baltas, a wheat beer, and Gintarinis, a classic pilsner. And on a late weekend night there several years ago I was introduced to “trejos devynerios,” (“triple nines” in English), a delightful aperitif that has surely served as a reminder of the homeland for countless Lithuanian-Chicagoans.

Steve doesn’t count many Lithuanians among his regulars anymore, but the historical connection is not entirely forgotten. Both his typical karaoke emcee and the leader of a ska band who play there regularly are of Lithuanian heritage. And earlier this month, he found himself welcoming a visiting couple who had learned of the bar on a Lithuanian television broadcast. 

As Bridgeport’s core European, blue-collar demographic has shifted with the arrival of young people and families seeking cheap rent and immigrants from East Asia and other parts of the world, Bernice’s has remained a neighborhood melting pot. At any given moment, you might find yourself amid groups of neighborhood old-timers, baroquely dressed artists and hipsters, jersey-clad White Sox fans, and musicians of many genres. 

Steve himself is a visual artist and musician, and his work can frequently be found adorning the walls of the customer’s side of the bar. Last year, he held his first art show at the bar, an effort he’d love to repeat.

In a market saturated with high-end cocktails and craft beer with double-hyphenated modifiers, Bernice’s keeps things simple. It doesn’t have a beer tap, serving cans and bottles out of a stand-up cooler and liquor from a selection of bottles straddling a vintage cash register—still functional and in-use. 

In addition to bar standards like karaoke, open mics, and weekly performances from a semi-resident ska band, the bar hosts a monthly “dyke night” and is routinely packed to the gills on Wednesday nights for “Stingo,” a long-running game night that might be best described as bingo meets Calvin and Hobbes.

On Stingo nights, regular bingo goes out the window. Some rounds, Steve might require an X pattern on the board, or a specific row of numbers. There’s call-and-response, with certain numbers pulled drawing laughs or jeers from the crowd (it seems that the number 69 remains humorous to all ages). At times, Steve will pull out a guitar and punctuate a break with song. Winners have their pick of a table full of irreverent, mostly-donated prizes ranging from house plants to a tub of cheese balls to the one-foot-tall nutcracker currently displayed in my living room window. 

Steve is aware of at least 19 instances of Stingo-themed tattoos commissioned by particularly dedicated regulars.

It’s a phenomenon that could only come from the mind of someone like Steve Badauskas—and could only exist at a place like Bernice’s.

Bernice’s Tavern, 3238 S. Halsted St. Mondays and Wednesdays–Fridays, 5pm-2am; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm-2am. (312) 961-5516.

Malachi Hayes is a Bridgeport-based writer and South Side native.