Meet us where the menu is inspired by the Big Easy
Specializing in Louisiana-inspired fare, Poor Phil’s is a sports bar in Oak Park that can proudly boast about having great legs and great beer.
“Phil’s got great legs” the menu proclaims, and great crab legs they are, indeed. Order a heaping pile of snow crab legs with butter and lemon and pair it with one of the 36 beers on tap.
Or try a New Orleans-inspired po’boy (called a “po’philz,” of course!) with buffalo chicken bites or tempura shrimp.
Poor Phil’s is open every day from 11am to 11pm.
A Poor Phil’s burger is about $15 while a single lump of crab cakes is $12 (or $20 for two lumps). The “Phil’s Got Great Legs” Snow Crab is $30 for more than a pound of crab legs with butter and lemon.
Order a 16-ounce draft beer for about $8.
So who is Poor Phil anyway? Despite the Louisiana-inspired menu at this Oak Park sports bar, the restaurant is not named for the po’boy sandwich that’s a go-to menu item in New Orleans. (Though you can order a po’philz” sandwich with buffalo chicken or shrimp!)
Poor Phil’s is named for an Oak Park man named Philander Barclay who rode his bike around the village, taking thousands of photographs in the ‘30s and ‘40s.
People called him Bicycle Barclay and, for a time, he even owned a bicycle repair shop. The business was ultimately unsuccessful, perhaps because Phil was known for waving the bill if the family with the broken bike was experiencing hard times.
Bicycle Barclay had insomnia, so he often rode his bike at night, always with his camera in tow. Sadly, he died of an overdose after developing an addiction to sleeping powders and barbiturates.
His photographs live on, however, as part of the collection at the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest. You can also see Poor Phil’s photographs on the walls of many Chicagoland watering holes.
And, of course, you can toast Bicycle Barclay with one of the 36 beers on tap found at Poor Phil’s.
Poor Phil’s is just a four-minute walk from the Harlem/Lake Stop on the CTA Green Line or a four-minute walk from the Oak Park Stop on the Union Pacific-West Metra train from Chicago.
