It’s spring break in Champaign-Urbana, so let’s do a shot. This Thirsty Thursday, I’m highlighting the homemade apple pie shot ($3.50) at Bunny’s Tavern in Downtown Urbana. The bar infuses the liquor in-house, and it tastes like sweet apple pie with some cinnamon spice, like a tiny pour of grown up apple cider. It’s hard to taste the booze, which is dangerous but delicious.
Bunny’s Tavern is the oldest bar in all of Urbana. The historic spot opened on June 11, 1936 when Franklin Roosevelt was President with four booths, five tables, and a talking green parrot that sometimes bit patrons’ fingers according to the bar’s framed 1947 article by Urbana Shaft Tabloid Magazine. Today, the bar has many more tables and no parrot. In addition to this house specialty shot and the one other (Bloody Gary), Bunny’s serves beer by Triptych, Riggs, and others plus wine and a plethora of liquor options.
The food is good, too. My go-tos here are the wings with ranch, the fries with ranch, or the fried pickle spears with — you know it — a side of ranch because Bunny’s ranch is among the best in Champaign-Urbana.
Bunny’s Tavern
119 W Water St
Urbana
Su-Th 7 a.m. to midnight
F+Sa 7 a.m. to 1 a.m.
