Well, we’re officially in the three digit territory, tonight is bar number 100! This 365 tour is really flying by!

Since this is a special night, I thought we’d go to the bar at one of my favorite restaurants in Peoria, The Blue Duck Barbecue Tavern!

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The Blue Duck Barbecue Tavern, Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Here we are at Water Street in beautiful downtown Peoria.

That’s the historic River Station building that houses The Blue Duck Barbecue Tavern, tonight’s destination!

The sign says that The Blue Duck is “this-a-way,” so we’ll walk past the dining patio and over to the front doors and see what’s happening inside.

There’s the lobby and you walk down this hallway, but I always have to stop at my favorite piece of art on the wall in this hallway…

It’s this painting of the fox with the hat and pipe which always makes me think of this scene from one of my favorite movies, “Best In Show.” Fast forward to the 1:21 minute mark on the video and you’ll see what I mean!

There’s host station where you wait to be seated at a table, but we’re not eating at a stinking table, we’re eating at the bar, so we’ll just go grab a seat there. This is how you do it, people!

I decided to sit at the corner seat at the bar and here’s Kristin looking pretty and handing me a menu. I’ve taken Kristin’s photo before and it was wonderful to see her smiling face again!

I placed my dinner order with the bartender on duty who was a little camera-shy and preferred not to have her picture taken, which is fine. That’s why I ask!

There’s the back of the bar and as you can see, they have a large selection of beers on tap back there.

Here’s a shot of the impressive, wooden bar from the other side of the room.

There’s two pieces of chalk art in here, the menu at the front of the bar and a Billy Madison inspired piece of art at the other end. The name of this place is inspired from the Billy Madison movie.

There’s dining tables lining the wall opposite the bar.

This small set of stairs leads up to the elevated dining room which is quite busy in here tonight!

Here’s a shot of the bar from up in the dining room.

Wooden booths line the far wall of the restaurant.

Meanwhile, back at the bar…

Dinner is served!

I got my two favorite items on their menu: The Chili Con Carne and the Smoked & Fried Wings with Spicy Asian Buffalo Sauce.

It looks fantastic, so let’s dig in!

The Chili Con Carne is true Texas style chili with no beans but plenty of tender brisket in a tasty blend of chilies, white onions, cilantro and queso fresco. It is so savory and tasty!

The chicken wings here are smoked and fried and they are my favorite chicken wings in Peoria. Years ago they won our chicken wing contest and I still believe they’re the best in Peoria.

If you’ve never had them you must try them out and I highly recommend you get them with the Spicy Asian Buffalo sauce!

Here’s a blue duck parting shot from the evening.

Thanks to everyone at The Blue Duck Barbecue Tavern for a wonderful 100th night here on our 365 bar crawl and thanks to all of you for reading and following along, so far!

We’ll be back with bar number 101 tomorrow, see you then!

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