At Miller’s Pub, It’s Tom & Jerry Time Again (And Again)

Walk into Miller’s on any winter day — and you can walk in basically any time you like, because the bar (at least during normal, non-pandemic times) is open until 4 a.m. seven days a week — and you will find a creamy bowl of batter sitting dead center behind the long bar, which stretches across the entire length of the north wall. Order one and a black-vested bartender, who very likely boasts a long tenure behind that bar, will ladle out a serving into a brown ceramic mug and slide it in front of you.

A bar stool at Miller’s is one of the more homey and inviting spots in a city known for homey and inviting bars. The lights are kept at a low amber glow. The wall is covered with the kind of corny oil paintings of sodden old men that used to come free with a living room set. A chalkboard tells of Miller’s impressive selection of craft beers on draft. (You can take them away in growlers if you like.)

The bar scene is so warmly enveloping that it’s easy to forget that behind you, within a forest of wooden pillars and stained glass, is a large restaurant. It’s here that you can get the famous Canadian baby back ribs, which come by the slab or the “slab and a half.” There’s also prime rib, fried chicken, fish and chips, French dip, burgers and everything else you would expect at a stick-to-your-ribs chop house like Miller’s. (The kitchen is open until 2 a.m. and makes for a much better option that room service at the Palmer House, or any other downtown hotel.)

Look closely at the many framed photos on the walls and you’ll find the four brothers who made Miller’s what it is today. The big secret is none of them were named Miller. Pete, Nick and Jimmy Gallios brought the business from the hapless Millers in 1950; in 1953, brother Vannie joined them. No one could afford to change the sign, so the name stuck. (The building Miller’s occupies isn’t the original location; that was a nearby Adams Street address that is now the site of a parking garage. The current home is actually the former setting of the Wabash Inn and Vannie’s, two other Gallios restaurants. Luckily, the façade looks 85 years old.)

Photos attest to the fact that Miller’s has had its share of celebrity regulars, particularly sports figures. Celebrities that played the swanky Empire Room at the Palmer often ended their evenings at Miller’s. Still, the pub is no elite hideaway. It has always felt like the sort of place where any lost tourist or schlub just off the slushy streets of downtown would feel at home. Years ago, Chicago newspaperman Rick Kogan once called it the “proletariat Pump Room.” More recently, another Chicago journalist observed “few places in Chicago are more Chicago than Miller’s Pub.” That’s just about the finest compliment a Windy City restaurant can hope for.