Uncle B’s Bar & Grill brings unique twist to classic food favorites

AMBOY — When some people look for something to keep them busy as a bee, they add another iron to the fire.

Blair McCaffrey likes to do things his own way. He decided to add some fire to the iron instead, in the kitchen of his Amboy bar and grill, where he keeps as busy as a “B.”

McCaffrey is the uncle who wants his customers to feel like one big happy family at Uncle B’s Bar and Grill. It’s a change of pace for the Amboy native, who’s spent years as a union iron worker, but he’s more than happy to pick up the pace.

Lately, the iron man has been spending less time at construction sites and more time building his business on the north side of town, bringing his own twist to bar and grill fare. Not only does he get to combine his love of cooking, he gets to share it with another love in his life: his girlfriend, and Uncle B’s bar manager, Simber Zuend.

McCaffrey likes to bring his own take to popular menu staples, along with custom items for holidays and special occasions. He likes to provide people with the kind of meals that get them talking, and coming back for more. He opened the business in the town’s former Subway, first as just a bar, in September 2023, opening the kitchen nine months later.

His approach to the menu? It’s simple — with a little something extra.

“We put a little razzle dazzle on things, but still try to keep them simple at the same time,” McCaffrey said. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t know this place was going to take off like it has.”

The place has already generated some buzz, and even a few nicknames — “The Beehive” and “The hive” — courtesy of customers.

Another ingredient on his menu: consistency.

McCaffrey and his staff turn out a simple but well-rounded menu that includes Philly cheesesteak and Cuban sandwiches, wings, quesadillas, gyros, house salads and appetizers, and no matter whose cooking, he wants customs who come back for more to be able to expect more of the same.

Consistent quality is a methodical point he preaches to his cooks.

“I tell them from day one: I don’t care if it takes a little bit longer to put the same product out, as long as its the same exact thing every time,” McCaffrey said. “It has to be consistent. We’ve all been to, or know a place, where we’ll ask, ‘Is so-and-so cooking tonight,’ and if they’re not cooking they’re not coming in. I don’t want it like that. I want it, whether it’s me back there or any member of our team, that it will be the same thing.”

Does he know what he’s talking about when it comes to food? Well, the proof is in the tummy. He’ll be the first tell you: “I always say, ‘You don’t get a body like this without liking to eat,” and as someone who’s spent time working the iron and gridiron, it’s safe to say he likes to eat.

McCaffrey comes from a family of iron workers and was a three-year starter on the Amboy High School varsity football team in the mid-2000s. He still works in the family trade, and jokes about maybe having a sign at the business that reads something like, “if the tool belt’s here, he’s in the back cooking; if it’s gone, he’s iron working,” he said.

McCaffrey had been thinking about having a place of his for a few years before opening Uncle B’s, and when the Subway building went up for sale, he decided that the former sandwich shop would be a good place to make some extra bread while indulging his longtime love of cooking.

“This has been one of my favorite interests since I was a little kid,” McCaffrey said. “It’s strange for being a rough, hard-nosed kid, but at the same time I enjoyed cooking and the elegance of the finer side of things, as opposed to being in construction and beating the crap out of something with a sledgehammer all day.”

When certain holidays roll around, McCaffrey gets creative in the kitchen.

During a Mardi Gras weekend in early March, he temporarily put aside the usual menu and drew up a Cajun-style selection of dishes appropriate for the Louisiana-themed holiday: a blackened grouper sandwich, crawfish roll sliders, beignets, Cajun Alfredo, deep-fried alligator, jambayla and Cajun nachos among the selections.

The Mardi Gras idea ended up being the place’s biggest weekend in the kitchen’s first nine months of operation. The feedback from the blackened grouper was so good that it became a reoccurring special.

“It was real Cajun-type, real bold flavored stuff that I thought might not be for everybody, but it turned out to be our best food day ever,” McCaffrey said. “Whenever we do that kind of stuff, it always goes over so good.”

Just a couple of weekends later, the St. Patrick’s holiday saw Reuben and pastrami sandwiches, and an Irish pizza with sauerkraut, corned beef, pickles, mustard and thousand island dressing.

Other twists on the McCaffrey menu: a cubed cheese curd appetizer and chicken strips made with panko breading and Romano cheese. Other appetizers include a shiitake potsticker wrap of mushrooms, bok choi, carrots, garlic and sesame; as well as bayou balls, made from chicken and sausage jambalya balled up and deep-fried, something on the menu long before the Mardi Gras weekend and what McCaffrey calls “the crown jewel” of the appetizers.

As far as the crown jewel of the rest of the menu? McCaffrey turned to his customers — and a bracket — for the answer. Inspired by basketball’s March Madness tournament, a contest on Uncle B’s Facebook page asked people to pick a favorite from 16 pairs of items. As the bracket wrapped up, the final two came down to the cheeseburger and the Philly cheesesteak.

The winner — and a clear one at that: Philly cheesesteak.

“It was great, and our Facebook page had a lot of great interaction with the community. We got a ton of votes and comments, and the Philly Cheesesteak was, bar none, the favorite and crushed it in the vote.”

As for why Philly took the lead? “I don’t know, honestly,” he said. “I wouldn’t consider us Philadelphia-like, but it was just something I came up with and put a little twist on it and it took off.”

One of the restaurant’s features that customers will notice right when they walk through the door is a wood Cape Cod ceiling with many colorful flags of colleges, professional sports teams and military organizations. What began as a single flag for Louisiana State University sports turned into a collection that keeps customers looking up. While not quite full yet, McCaffrey hopes it will be.

“I’m an LSU fan, and I put that one up just as some decor,” he said. “I had some friends ask me, ‘Can I bring this in?’ Now, if you bring a flag in, I’ll hang it up; certain people went to certain colleges. It’s starting to take off pretty good, and it’s a neat thing that makes people feel included and welcome.”

Just want to grab a drink? The bar offers plenty of beer choices, as well as bourbons, seltzers and a few craft beers, and there’s a special on old fashioneds on Friday evenings. The alcohol choices vary by the season, and in Amboy, there are two seasons — camping season and not camping season, During the former, the stock is more plentiful to cater to campers who flock to the area’s many camp sites. Packaged beer also is sold.

Customers can also try their luck on five gambling machines, as well as tossing bags. Uncle B’s and Walton Tap, just a few miles west of town, organize a Tuesday evening bags league. Fourteen teams played last year and McCaffrey hopes to see around 20 this year.

McCaffrey is always thinking of new ways to set his bar and grill apart from the rest, and make everyone in the community feel as welcome as they’ve made him feel.

“The community, they’ve been so great since day one,” McCaffrey said. “They’ve been behind this place 100 percent. It wouldn’t have worked without the community, and the girls working here.”

More information

Uncle B’s Bar and Grill, 310 East Joe Drive in Amboy, is open 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday; the kitchen is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

Find it on Facebook or call 815-857-7097 for more information.

Uncle B’s was named one of Sauk Valley’s favorite bars/taverns in the 2025 Sauk Valley Favorites contest. For more winners, visit saukvalleyfavorites.com.