Restaurant Review: Uptown’s Tweet and Big Chicks has us chirping through Pride Month

Restaurants with dual personalities fascinate me. By day, Uptown’s LGBTQ-friendly Tweet Let’s Eat is a brunch and lunch spot. During the evening and night, companion restaurant/bar Big Chicks is a dinner restaurant/dance bar open til 2am. 

“It doesn’t matter how old you are, what sex you are. Everybody’s always welcome,” David Joseph told WTTW in 2025. He bartended at Big Chicks for some 25 years and still returns to help on the busiest nights.

Starting life as an ‘old man’ bar  when owner Michelle Fire bought it in 1986, per Bon Appètit Magazine, Tweet, Let’s Eat is the family-friendly brunch/lunch spot that offers an organic menu focusing on comfort food. Big Chicks is the art-filled (think Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, Dawoud Bey) colorful dinner spot that transforms into a bar/dance floor for all til 2am. Menu items are often named for the artists whose works grace the walls. 

Please note: Both are cash-only. There’s an ATM on-site. Consider yourself forewarned.

Brunch/Lunch Options at Tweet 

Comfort food is tops here. Try one of their breakfast burritos, such as Burrito Numero Cuatro (#4) is a flour tortilla stuffed with organic beans, organic eggs, avocado, choice of cheddar or chihuahua cheese.

Burrito Numero Seis (#6)is made with grilled skirt steak, organic eggs, onions, potatoes stuffed into a flour tortilla, covered with chihuahua cheese and cilantro, served with vegan chipotle mayo. All burritos  are served with crème fraîche, pico de gallo, red salsa, and a choice of fruit cup or compote.

Their Beautiful Benedicts include an Eggs Florentine, made with organic eggs, spinach, and hollandaise on an English muffin. Portobello Benedict has two seasoned and grilled mushroom caps topped with spinach and two organic poached eggs, and hollandaise. 

For a hearty start to your day, try Oatmeal ala Jim Faulkner,  a sumptuous bowl of organic oatmeal with dried fruit…yum! Served with half and half, heavy cream or crème fraîche, brown sugar, and butter, and your choice of milk options.

They pay tribute to a late, great Chicago artist with Tony Fitzpatrick’s Skirt Steak and 2 Eggs, a six-ounce skirt steak marinated with seasonings and grilled to your liking, served with two organic eggs your way with toast or tomato; hash browns or organic green salad and fruit cup. 

Other great brunch items include a Portland Omelette withorganic eggs, chopped bacon, cream cheese, tomato and green onions, served with your choice of hash browns or salad; sliced tomatoes or toast; and a fruit cup. I can’t resist a Heavenly Havarti Omelette with freshly sautéed Granny Smith apple slices and Danish Havarti cheese, served with hash browns or salad, sliced tomato or toast, and a fruit cup. 

 You don’t have to wait for autumn to enjoy Pumpkin Pancakes… they’re here year-round and topped with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar! 

Big Chicks: Dinner and Beyond 

For dinner, lighter entrees include their Mediterranean Salad with tossed greens, goat or feta cheese, black olives, cucumbers, tomato, red onion, and mixed pepper. Walter Salad is a mix of chopped green leaf lettuce tossed with grilled chicken breast, avocado, tomato, cucumber, cilantro, onions, olive oil, and fresh lime juice.  Another is their Southwestern Cobb, combining tossed greens with spicy chicken, bacon, roasted corn, black beans, avocado, red onions, and shredded cheddar in cilantro lime dressing. 

Burgers are big here, so bring an appetite! Their “Big Chick” Burger is a half-pound beef burger, with cheddar, bacon, avocado, while The Joey Burger mirrors the half-pound beef burger, and adds corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, slaw, and 1000 Island dressing. 

The Bison Burger provides a leaner half-pound of bison, with your choice of fixings (or none!) 

Vegetarian offerings are plentiful, and include their Hummus Platter (great for 2 to share!) and includes hummus, fresh vegetables, olives, and pita. Their Vegan BLT is a classic BLT but with faux bacon. And their Veggie Reuben is grilled peppers, veggie sausage patties, cheese, and sauerkraut on rye bread. 

All sandwiches and burgers include your choice of salad or choice of fries, sweet potato fries, tater tots, chippers, or potato chips.

Tweet, Let’s Eat and Big Chicks  are located at 5020-5024 N. Sheridan Road. Tweet is open Monday-Sunday, 9am to 3pm (last table seating at 2:30pm) Big Chicks is open Monday – Friday from 4pm to 2am (kitchen open 4pm to 10:30pm), and Saturday- Sunday 9am to 2am (kitchen open 4pm to 10:30pm). Their outdoor patio will be open, weather permitting. For more information, click here. 

Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago