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Meanwhile, Back In Peoria...

A Travel Blog In And Around The River City With Your Host, Marty Wombacher

May 25, 2026

A Guy Walks Into 365 Bars…Again! Bar Number 127: Pop-Up Chicken Shop

by MBIP


The Pop-Up Chicken Shop opened up in downtown Peoria about two years ago. It took awhile for the bar to open up, but it finally did and so tonight we’re going to go and check it out.

Let’s go visit bar number 127 at the Pop-Up Chicken Shop in downtown Peoria!

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Bar Number 127: Pop-Up Chicken Shop, Saturday, May 23, 2026

I’ve heard that they have some nice specialty cocktail drinks at the Pop-Up Chicken Shop bar, so I thought I’d take an Uber and sample a few of their drinks. It’s going to be a rare non-beer drinking night!

And here we are at the Pop-Up Chicken Shop in downtown Peoria, let’s go in and start this week’s Saturday night dinner adventure!

Normally, you’d order dinner here at the front desk, but I’m guessing we can get a drink first at the bar and then order dinner. Let’s see if I guessed right or if we have to come back here and order after we get a drink…

There’s the bar at the end of the room and there’s plenty of seats to be had. Let’s snag one and settle in for the evening.

There’s Shayla, the pretty and friendly bartender on duty serving me up my first specialty cocktail of the evening and I think it’s called a Fancy Nancy. I really need to start writing this stuff down!

Shayla’s not only the bartender tonight, she’s the co-owner of the place along with her fiancee. And she’s also the person who came up with tall of the recipes for the specialty cocktails in here!

The drink was delicious and Shayla took my dinner order, so I didn’t have to trudge back to the front desk. Things are going just as planned in here! I love it when this happens!

There’s the back of the bar and the seven beers on tap back there.

I ran into Justice while taking photos of the bar and he told me that he just finished up his sophomore year at Bradley and is working here this summer. I’m friends with Justice’s parents, Greg and Yvonne!

There’s communal dining tables directly behind the bar and the dining room is behind that.

I love the colorful chicken mural on the side wall over here.

Meanwhile, back at the bar…

Our Saturday night dinner has been served up and it looks fantastic!

I got a side order of cider vinegar slaw and an order of the street corn.

The slaw was crunchy and had a nice sharp flavor to it and the street corn was tasty and flavorful! We’re off to a delicious start with tonight’s dinner!

And now for the star of the show, I got a Smashburger with bacon, a fried egg and caramelized onions. It looks absolutely fabulous, let’s dig in!

Wow, to quote Jules from Pulp Fiction, this is a tasty burger!

The burger is savory and the fried egg and bacon compliment it perfectly! The house-made Pop-Up sauce and bakery fresh bun add extra points and this is one of the best cheeseburgers I’ve ever had! And if you’ve followed this blog through the last 13 years, you know I’ve eaten a lot of cheeseburgers!

For dessert I asked Shayla to serve me her favorite cocktail and here it is, it’s some sort of blood orange drink, but I can’t remember the name. I really need to start writing this stuff down, but it was a delicious and satisfying drink!

Local magician and friend, Yort wandered into the bar after dinner and it’s always a pleasure to see him!

He put on an impromptu magic show for those of us at the bar and it was a fun way to end this evening!

While waiting for my Uber, I snapped a photo of the Wild Routed storefront, which was featured on the blog last July!

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The Drinks

I had two of the drinks I think were called Fancy Nancy and one of the blood orange thing that I forget the name of. I really need to start writing this stuff down!

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Pop-Up Chicken Shop

800 SW Adams Street

Peoria

309-839-2010

facecrack page

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Bar List, Rules, Banner Art & Donation Link.

Buy Me A Beer!

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Meet me at the Pop-Up…

Surprise link, click on it…I dare you!

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