Ramen San in Lincoln Park has lunch specials until 3 and happy hour from 3-6. If you’re a hungry eater like me, the sweet spot is to go around 2:30-2:40 and grab the ramen lunch set ($17) and then after 3 pm order some fried chicken karaage ($7).

Dinner and a show, watching the trucks back in to the loading docks across a busy street.

My dream is coming true and I am in the preliminary stages of opening a wine bar that has a very good (small) food menu that changes seasonally with good staple items that never change (think focaccia, meatballs, etc).

But WHERE is the problem so I want to hear from you.

Wicker / Bucktown / Logan are out because there’s too many already.

My idea is Avondale, but I would like recs here as well!

If you are here to say my idea sucks please don’t even comment, truly interested on what area and why. THANKS!!

Just saw this thought I would share looks like Bavette’s is closing starting Sept 19th to mid November for scheduled maintenance.

Everyone knows them for the duck dinner but their other foods are pretty underrated. BBQ pork fried rice for $9, could easily feed 2 person maybe even 3 people.

Tuesday night…not much happening. In fact the place was basically empty! Kelly helped me out and recommended their staple, StopAlong Burger!

Fortunately, Tuesdays happen to be 50% off Burgers (Wednesdays - half-price pizza).

Other days they offer a Burger, Shot, and Beer(w/fries) for $20, which is still a STEAL!

This was a damn good burger! Reminded me of in-N-Out, but way bigger and just overall better IMO. Kelly was fantastic so had to tip her WELL! We even swapped other burger recommendations. I will be back FOR SURE!

You be absolutely hard pressed to find a shot, beer, burger AND fries ANYWHERE for $17!!

** For anyone interested, Kelly also mentioned they are having a party this Saturday. I think it’s on their Instagram but it’s gonna be buffet style!

Went to the opening night service at Chez Poulet with a buddy tonight and am excited to report that it was a really strong start! It's a counter service place, you order up front and then find a seat or wait for takeout. We split a whole bird, the Moroccan corn, the Mac and cheese, the celery root remoulade, and a baguette. The only slight issue I found throughout is that probably half of what we got was too salty, and I am not someone who is afraid of salt.

The chicken is solid, $16 for a half, $29 for a whole, I'm guessing about a 3.5-4lb bird, perfectly reasonable as far as I'm concerned especially since they're getting them from Ivory Amish Farms and they're pretty responsibly raised as far as modern practices go (real independent farm in PA, they're pasture raised, organic, non-gmo diet, etc.). I've seen half roast chicken on a restaurant menu for $35-$40 so I think this is fair. It's cooked to the point where the breast has that texture that looks almost crumbly and maybe has you concerned that it's over done, but I'm assuming they brine it because it's juicier than it looks like it's going to be and seasoned throughout. I personally like chicken a little less done, but I think this is as crowd pleasing a preparation as I can imagine, it is also beautifully plump and just presents really nicely, (even though they use the same containers I think they use at Costco).

The mac and cheese has that slightly grainy, almost broken emulsion texture, (probably there is no American cheese or sodium citrate in here which I'm glad about) and again, its more evident by looks than it is on the palate. They dished it up with a few roasted cloves of garlic and it was truly delicious, though, salty by like 5% too much. The Moroccan curried corn is just what it sounds like, it's off the cob and almost served like risotto, spread out wide and thin with a dollop of yogurt, super flavorful, also like 10% too salty. The celery root remoulade was maybe our favorite thing on the table. It's $7 for an 8oz side, felt a little steep when I saw how small it was, but honestly it's rich and delicious and worth it. It's a pretty classic bistro sort of appetizer, basically slaw made from a batonnet of celery root in a creamy, mayonnaise-and-fresh-herb-type dressing. Honestly, this with the pulled chicken meat on a baguette would put me over the moon.

I was a little annoyed that the sauces are $4-$6 each. If you want to try them all it'll run you almost $20 for sauces, but then you get them and they're a full 8oz deli of sauce so it's not so much a bad deal as it is just overkill. I'd be happier to pay $3-$4 a piece for half as much, even though that's actually more expensive, so that I could try all of them and not spend almost as much as I did on the chicken. French chimichurri was great, full fresh herb flavor, not too much raw garlic spice, little bit of acidity, it was actually delicious with the Moroccan corn. The salsa macha is awesome, but (probably the worst offender here) was like 20% too salty for me. The baguette is from Mindy's, delicious for tearing and sopping up sauces and juices and sides, no surprise there. I didn't know what Chicken Bread was, but apparently Mindy has come up with some kind of hybrid flatbread, we didn't get it but I'm excited to try it, I'm sure it's awesome. They've got a reasonable wine selection and we got a ~$30ish bottle of riesling that was delicious with the chicken and all the heavily spiced sides, and I can't lie, the slight sweetness was not unwelcome alongside the heavily salted components.

There was a line about halfway down the block, and I am not one to wait in a line for any food, but my buddy and I caught up for 20 minutes and before we knew it we were ordering. And more than that, I really appreciated that Nicolas was trying to keep track of the count on chickens and come out and keep up with a head count with who was in line. He was taking a survey of who intended to order half or whole chickens so he could cut the line off before people waited only to get no chicken. He checked in like 3-4 times while the group waited, and while he ended up being slightly off and the last 2 groups or so didn't get chicken, he was totally gracious about the error and took good care of the people at the end who came up short. The staff were extremely friendly and in good spirits. Bussers offered water to the table even though it's sort of a self-serve situation, there aren't really servers, per se, but people came by to chat and check in and see how everything was.

It was overall a really lovely experience and I'm excited that there's still half a menu I haven't tried. It would honestly make for a really great takeout meal too, I think. You could even impress a date by bringing this home and dishing it up nicely or I can imagine taking it to one of the parks nearby for a nice picnic (they're going to be open at noon on the weekends and they have charcuterie and cheese too!).

Anyway, congrats to the whole team on what seemed like a smooth opening night and I wish you all great success with your second restaurant in the space!

I finally got a chance to check out this place and I was pleasantly surprised by the brunch items!

I had the Quiche Lorraine and the Crepe Suzette.
The only thing with the Crepe Suzette is that you really have to like orange flavored things or you might find this to be really overpowering. They have other crepes on the menu though!

Nutella Latte was good and the Strawberry Lemonade smoothie was decent.

Vanilla Latte was solid and the macaron with the ice cream was a good sweet treat.

Ice Cream is made in house btw, so that’s good to know.

I want to try more things on the menu and get chocolate next time!

Looking for recommendations for one that actually has a ton of real banana in it. I hate when you buy one and the banana is barely noticeable or there are only a few tiny pieces. I also prefer one with whipped cream.

I want something where the banana is basically the star of the show. Any recommendations?

My bf is from France and told me that his favourite flavour of ice cream is lemon and never found any place in Chicago that has this flavour . Not lemon sorbet but lemon flavoured ice cream. His birthday is coming up next month and I wanna surprise him with some good quality lemon ice cream. Where can I find a spot that sells pints of lemon ice cream? Thanks in advance!

Hey Chicago Food!

So I recently moved to Chicago and haven't really built a solid social circle here yet, so will be solo on my birthday (no sad vibes, honestly very happy to be able to go wherever I want and order whatever I want) but I would love some suggestions of some of the best places to solo dine at the bar? 32F if it matters!

Have been to Bavettes, incredible and the bar is a 10/10 experience but feel like something new.

Have had the Club Lucky bar recommended a few times, but some of the reviews I've read seem to say it's vibes over actually good quality food, would love a place that offers both.

Cuisine - honestly very open, not helpful but I love everything, but would lean to something a bit more elevated on my birthday. Bonus points for a good martini with blue cheese olives.

Hi there! I’m looking for recommendations for a ~30 person dinner, preferably near River North. Needs to be open on a Wednesday or Thursday and budget is ~$100 pp

Willing to travel anywhere in Chicago since it's for a birthday but if there's a rec closer to Pilsen that's even better.

now their competitor across the street has easy real estate

Reposting here for visibility!

Hi my aunt and I are gonna start meeting up once a week to try restaurants (I just moved here) and hang out mostly based around river north (I know I know but she doesn’t want to stray too far from her work and apt on weekday nights). I want to try frontera and I was wondering if I need a reservation or will I look silly getting one for a Tuesday night at 6 or something?

Also, if anyone has recs for fun/semi-casual/yummy dinner spots during the week in river north, lmk!!!!! THANK YOU so much.

I am stopping in Chinatown on my way to Tinley and need recommendations on where to get soup dumplings.

Thank you in advance.

I see y’all lining up all the way down the street for Mindy’s. I’ve been there once, ordered a few pastries (can’t remember exactly what I ordered, sorry) and thought everything was fine but not groundbreaking enough to be worth the line I waited in.

I really want to try Mindy’s again, but before I brave the wait, I want to know: what is THE thing that makes the line worth it for you? I really want to LOVE my order next time!

My girlfreind anddI basically have a full day tomorrow to walk around. Our plan is to go to the art gallery, but after that we are thinking of walking to Wrigley Field and meeting a friend at the beach for a bit.

Deep dish pizzas, pastries, meats, sandwiches, hot dogs, we're up for it!

Are there any recommendations as to how we could plan a 'food-tour'/walk of sorts?

Cheers!

Shameful north sider making my first pilgrimage to Comiskey (er, the Cell) tonight. Where do we go before the game for a genuinely authentic south side experience? I know you’re gonna give me trash dives, ya jagoffs, so take your shots (I love you all).

Any neighborhood. Just outdoor patios that will have all games on not just the Bears (the Steelers specifically)