Keep it Casual With These Top Steakhouse Bar Menus

All over the city, Chicago steakhouses offer affordable, more casual dining and drinking options with thoughtful bar menus.

Top Steakhouse Bar Menus @ III Forks Prime Steakhouse

Dining in a lavish steakhouse is all well and good, but sometimes you just want the steakhouse experience in a more casual format. That’s where bar menus come in. The perfect way to indulge your steak cravings without breaking the bank, steakhouses across Chicago offer a variety of interesting, affordable bar menus with snackable dishes and drinks not offered on the regular dinner menu. Here are some of the best bar menus in town.

III Forks Prime Steakhouse: For those occasions when eating a tomahawk steak on the rooftop deck at III Forks Prime Steakhouse just isn’t in your wheelhouse, there’s a particularly bountiful bar bites menu at the ready. This thing is seriously impressive and deep, running the gamut from cheese and charcuterie platters and patty melts to steak tartare, short rib sliders, smoked Gouda grilled cheese and beef croustades.

Tavern on Rush: Considering the ambience at this sceney Gold Coast hot spot, it makes perfect sense that Tavern on Rush would boast an impressive (and exceedingly popular) bar menu. Indeed, the restaurant rises to the occasion with oysters on the half shell, shrimp cocktail, seared tuna, blackened Cajun shrimp, pork potstickers, calamari, lemon-dill hummus, artichoke-crap dip, chicken teriyaki, burgers, corned beef sandwiches and lots more.

Prime & Provisions: From prime beef chili to dry-aged cheeseburgers and caramelized Vidalia onion fonduta, there’s a lot to love about the bar menu at Prime & Provisions. This is one of the most impressive in Chicago, with palpable care and diligence poured into each and every item. The blackened fish sandwich and lobster rolls with Louie dressing are a couple other hearty highlights.

The Palm: One of the biggest dining surprises out of Chicago’s steakhouse scene is the “prime bites” menu at The Palm. This legendary spot uses this menu as its bar menu, changing things up and adding new dishes with much more regularity than its main menu. New items at The Palm currently include cornmeal fried oysters with roasted corn maque choux and honey-horseradish; cheeseburgers with gremolata seasoning; maple-glazed grilled slab bacon; ahi tuna sashimi; and a grilled short rib and Irish cheddar sandwich.

Devon Seafood Grill: It’s all about the oysters, the snacks and the drinks on Devon’s widespread bar menu. Along with a broad assortment of bourbons, whiskeys, Cognacs, beer, Scotch, port and wine, the menu features fresh oysters aplenty and small plates like big-eye tuna poke, pork belly and andouille flatbread, BBQ grilled oysters, cornbread-fried shrimp, Peruvian ceviche, goat cheese bruschetta and lots more.

Eddie Merlot’s: There’s plenty to pour over on Eddie Merlot’s lounge menu, home to an assortment of small plates, sliders, burgers, snacks and other casual bites. These include filet mignon potstickers, tempura shrimp tacos, beef tenderloin tacos, tuna wontons, filet mignon sliders and blue cheese potato chips.