Tooker Alley
793 Washington Ave., nr. Lincoln Pl., Prospect Heights; 347-955-4743
The house toast at Del Pedro’s post–Pegu Club watering hole says it all: “Here’s to us! Not to the wankers, ridiculous hipsters, or usurious bankers.” Like the Dil Pickle Club, the Prohibition-era Chicago speakeasy to which it pays tribute, Tooker Alley’s multi-page menu/manifesto is “consciously nobrow, militantly inclusive, and ceaselessly creative.” This last point is hammered home by the maverick bartender’s highly stylized tipples, whether your poison of choice is a horse-tranquilizing Hobo Julep ($11), fashioned with bourbon, cane syrup, club soda, and two forms of mint (muddled and bitters), or the Monk’s Dream ($12), the final step in Tooker’s six-part “History of the Martini” program. The house concoction, featuring London dry gin, sweet vermouth, B&B, orange bitters, and a Curaçao rinse, is creamy without being the least bit cloying.