Tucked behind Lonesome Rose, a casual Tex-Mex restaurant in Chicago, a short stairway leads to an unassuming door. There’s no sign, but there is a logo — a snake entwined around a bottle — and the faint sounds of a salsa soundtrack playing Puerto Rican music. This is how you know you’re at Culebra, one of Punch’s 2026 Best New Bars. With cocktails that tap Malta India (a nonalcoholic malt beverage), tamarind, and culantro, this bar is an homage to Puerto Rican flavors and the Latinx influences of the surrounding neighborhood, Logan Square. Owner Diego Garcia-Gonzalez was born and raised there, and worked his way up through Chicago’s bar industry, beginning in 2013 at age 15, then began visiting Puerto Rico in 2024 to do guest bartending shifts. Behind the bar, you’ll spy a menu of $12 daily Daiquiris, made with a different rum blend each day. Take Friday’s offering: It features Uruapan Charanda, Chairman’s 1931 and Cachaça Amburana, brought perfectly into balance for a richly layered drink. — Amy Cavanaugh
Perk: Eater members receive a free order of tostones with the purchase of any two Cocteles Originales through January 31, 2027. (21+ | Terms apply)
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