Live from Peoria, Illinois, it’s Saturday Night starring this week’s host, Lucky’s Modern Dive Bar with special guest stars, Katie, Bo, Julie, Jenise, The Picasso Posse, Krista, Kayleigh, David McDonald, Tim Harr, Nikki Wilken and featuring the Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. And now, from over on restaurant row in Peoria Heights, please welcome this week’s host, Lucky’s Modern Dive Bar!
Here we are at Lucky’s Modern Dive on the second Saturday night of 2016!
It’s snowing and freezing out here, so let’s get inside and warm up!
In spite of the frigid weather and the snow outside, Lucky’s has a big crowd tonight! That alone says they’ve got something good going here! The bar is pretty well filled up, but I spy a seat at the end, so let’s go snag it and let Saturday night begin!
We’re seated and the night is beginning on a beautiful note, here’s the pretty bartender for the evening Katie serving up tonight's first beer!
They have a half dozen beers on tap and below that are some of the craft beers being featured this month.
The back of the bar is colorful and lit up nicely!
Here’s a shot of the bar area from back where I’m sitting. Love that tin ceiling, it gives the place a classic look.
Check out the chalk art on the back wall by Devon McGlone, love his work!
There’s a lounge area up front opposite the bar area. This table of lovely ladies said to call their group, “The Picasso Posse,” because they just finished a paint night at Fired Up which is located just up the block.
This is Jenise who I met when I gave a talk to Gina Morss’ journalism class back in December. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see pictures from that day. Jenise invited me to stop by Lucky’s that day and told me she worked there and now here we are together again! Jenise is studying broadcast journalism and is getting ready to graduate from Bradley, so look for her on a local news channel soon! Great to see her again and she's looking beautiful this evening!
They have live music here on the weekends and during the week as well. The stage is empty now, but we’ll check back later and see who’s playing here tonight! Keep on scrolling to find out!
Here’s the owners of Lucky’s, Bo and Julie Cheesman! Bo’s a former Peoria Riverman Hockey player. His dad was a musician and his mom managed bars around the Peoria area for years, so he’s combined the love of music and nightlife he inherited from his parents and put them into Lucky’s Modern Dive.
Krista was busy serving drinks and food to the crowd, but paused to smile for the MBIP camera! I love her smile!
Meanwhile, back at the bar, Katie’s pouring a drink...
And it looks like dinner is about to be served!
Here’s Bo with tonight’s Saturday night dinner!
I ordered two appetizers for my dinner, the Italian Stallion Caprese Skewers and Elton’s Philadelphia Freedom Spring Rolls. Both of them were really tasty and delicious and you can read more about the meal in the review below. They have a great selection of food on the menu and it’s a great place to dine at.
I told you the stage would come alive with music and here we go! This is local musician and music teacher, David McDonald accompanied by Tim Harr on the dobro. These two played some great lively acoustic music and you can read more about David on his facecrack page. And he definitely deserves some applause for wearing sandals in the middle of winter!
After the first set, David brought up a special guest musician and a former student of his, Nikki Wilken. Nikki is 15-years-old and is a talented singer, guitarist and songwriter. This is an exciting week for Nikki because she’s going to be on American Idol and you can find out more about that by clicking here. Here’s Nikki’s YouTube page where you can hear her music. This was a fantastic musical night at Lucky’s!
As you can see, I’m not the only one taking pictures!
This is Nikki’s family and they said they’re very excited about Nikki being on American Idol! Great to meet all of them!
Alright, the evening is wearing down, so let’s stop in at The Blind Tiger Lounge for a nightcap.
The Blind Tiger Lounge opened in Lucky’s last September. It’s a bourbon and wine lounge and it’s a nice, quiet contrast to the lively atmosphere in the bar area.
It’s got a comfortable elegant atmosphere and it can be rented out for private parties. I love that wooden wall in the lower picture.
Check out the highly polished dark wooden bar in here, very nice!
If you’re a bourbon drinker, there’s a huge selection of bourbon and whiskey available behind the bar.
One unique thing they do here is make their own ice cubes! Here’s The Blind Tiger's pretty bartender Kayleigh getting some ice and putting it in the ice contraption to make a giant ice cube for my bourbon drink. I let Kayleigh choose the bourbon and as you can see her stretching to get it, it’s a top shelf bourbon in more ways than one!
She chose Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey and it was a perfect choice, very smooth and I love that giant ice cube in the glass!
Cheers and thanks to Bo and Julie for being such hospitable and gracious hosts and to everyone at Lucky’s Modern Dive for a wonderful Saturday night! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
For my dinner I ordered off the appetizer menu. I got the Italian Stallion Caprese Skewers and Elton’s Philadelphia Freedom Spring Rolls. The skewers consist of a ball of mozzarella cheese, a fresh tomato, salmon and bacon drizzled with a blackberry-ginger Balsamic glaze. These skewers are packed with a multitude of tastes. The rich and creamy mozzarella is a nice foil for the crisp cherry tomato which then leads to the savory bacon and salmon. The blackberry-ginger Balsamic glaze helps to blend all the tastes together. This is like a little smorgasbord on a skewer and it’s delicious!
The Philadelphia Freedom Spring Rolls were crispy on the outside and filled with tender Angus steak, bell peppers and onion and they were so tasty! The rich cheese sauce that’s ladled on top is the perfect compliment for them.
If you have a more hearty appetite, Lucky’s also has four styles of burgers, eleven varieties of sandwiches and wraps and three types of dinner platters including fish and chips, fish tacos and grilled swordfish.
Lucky’s Modern Dive
4538 N. Prospect Road
Peoria Heights, Illinois
309-839-1839
facecrack page
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