Chicago Street Pub Expects Hundreds To Visit During Parade

JOLIET, IL — Friday marks the return of Joliet's Light Up the Holidays parade, and that means several thousand people will gather along the Chicago Street parade route — people who are hungry and thirsty. And that's where Mike and Kathy Trizna come into play.

They've owned the Chicago Street Pub for 17 years.

The city of Joliet's annual Christmas holiday parade, always the day after Thanksgiving, draws a huge turnout for Chicago Street Pub. During Monday's interview with Joliet Patch, Mike Trizna predicted the Chicago Street Pub will get between 300 and 400 guests throughout the night.

"It could absolutely be more," Trizna remarked. "Everybody is down here on that day because they want to have a good time."

Seventeen years. The Chicago Street Pub has been run by the Triznas the past 17 years.

"We must be doing something right since we've been here 17 years," he said. "Kathy and I are firm believers, there's no real competition. The more businesses that are in the downtown, the better it is for everybody. We all get along, we try to work together."

Chicago Street Pub has 21 beers on tap and "another 50 cans and bottled beers," Trizna said. "We have a lot of hyper-local beers."

Examples of craft beers include products from Will County Brewing, Metal Monkey and the gold-medal winning Mango is Our Middle Name beer brewed in Wilmington.

Chicago Street Pub is ready for a huge turnout during the city's Friday night parade. Lots of food specials are geared toward families with kids including mini corn dogs, grilled cheese and chicken fingers, hamburgers, cheeseburgers and poor boys.

For those 21 and older, Chicago Street Pub will be serving "adult drinks such as hot chocolate and Baileys."

"We go through hundreds of them," Trizna predicted.

In recent months, Chicago Street Pub has updated its restaurant menu, adding several new selections. Chicago Street Pub is now using Whittingham Meats, a small butcher shop in Alsip, for its corned beef, Italian beef and strip steaks, Trizna said.

New items on his menu are:

• Gouda bacon mac and cheese bites for appetizers
• Rueburger (The Maz) which is topped with a heap of thinly sliced corned beef, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut.
• Two new specialty salads: Judge Anderson's Cobb Salad and the Mediterranean Salad
• Tavern Beef Melt sandwich
• Beef bacon cheddar sandwich
• The Don (Cold Italian sub) sandwich
• Pesto chicken sandwich
• And from the sea: Mediterranean Ahi tuna bowl and the Breaded tilapia tacos.

"The newest, most popular item is this tavern beef melt," Trizna said. "We've never had that before. The new menu seems to be a big hit."

To check out the entire food menu, visit the Chicago Street Pub website.

Typically, Chicago Street Pub holds live music events three days per week, unless there are events at the Rialto Square Theatre.

Last weekend, Chicago Street Pub hosted the Righteous Hillbillies. On Wednesday night, Arbor Creek will perform starting at 7:30 p.m.

"We get a lot of touring bands reaching out to us because of our location and reputation as an original music venue," Trizna said.

Related Patch coverage:

Joliet's Light Up The Holidays Parade Makes Comeback