For 14 years, this restaurant fed and entertained patrons with the holy alliance of gourmet burgers and drag queens. Hamburger Mary’s restaurant was a major draw to Andersonville for Chicago’s LGBTQ community. On any given night, you could meet friends for burgers and cocktails all the while drag performers would lip sync and parade through the dining room. There was never a bad seat in the whole place because the show eventually arrived at your table.

The restaurant had high camp value. From the brash colors of the wallpaper to the retro chandeliers to the hamburger names with pop culture references and the occasional innuendo. At the end of the night, your check came in a glittering stiletto heel, helping cap off your unforgettable evening.

But, the restaurant was only one part of this entire operation. Upstairs, was a nightclub called Mary’s Attic. It was all too easy to finish a meal and head upstairs with friends for “just one drink” and then stay for hours dancing or their karaoke night affectionately named by patrons as “Mary-oke”.

The most recent addition to this juggernaut of a drag complex was Andersonville Brewing. Opening in 2009, the brewery replaced Mary’s Rec Room, which was an annex to the main restaurant. It was the neighborhood’s first microbrewery, which also served as a sports bar, which is somewhat of a novelty amongst all of the casual fine dining, coffee shops, and bakeries around. In December 2019, it was announced that Andersonville Brewing would close and Urban Renewal Brewery would move into the space. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, these plans have fallen through.