Moving to Ashland & Diversey - help!

Almost a suburb in the city - lots of fast food, etc. But I see little pre-gentrification joints that may be interesting. Any hints? I am trying to achieve what I call the "pride of place", an irrational attachement to real estate, even if it is only rental!

Alas, you missed Burgundy Inn.

La Gondola has pretty good pizza, The Art of Pizza has very good thick pizza using especially fresh and high quality ingredients.

Other than that... I think you have to go south to Fullerton or Clybourn, east to at least Sheffield, or north to Belmont to even find much to choose from. What am I not thinking of?

Aren't y'all up on the north side fond of Doña Torta/Tortas USA?

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=7580

Doña Torta (Tortas USA)
3057 N Ashland Ave
773 871-8999

That's exactly what I'm not thinking of! Yeah, it's quite good for what it does which is, straddling the worlds of authentic and gringofied healthier Mexican food pretty successfully.

There are some decent things on Lincoln around there too-- Furaibo isn't bad for sushi and udon, Muskie's makes a pretty good hamburger and a better grilled chicken, Calliope Cafe is a good sandwich place.

There's a pretty darn good new pizza place called Big Cheese that just opened up a bit west of you on Diversey. I think the pizza and Calzones are pretty darn good there. I believe it's more of an east coast thing. Strips of sausage instead of chunks, interesting texture to the crust. Nice selection of sandwiches and salads. Good prices. When I try it a second time, I'll post something a bit more in depth.

Big Cheese Pizza
2554 W Diversey Ave
Chicago
(773) 227-1122

I live near there myself. Here is the thing, there is not a train close, and the restaraunts in the area are all near them. I personally use Roscoe Village a lot. I love Turquoise(Turkish), El Tinajon(Guatemalan), Riverview Tavern(pub grub) and Costellos(sub) all on Roscoe. I also think El Tapatio at Roscoe and Ashland is worth the trip. Art of Pizza is great. Fat Willy's at Western is really good. The good thing is that we are in the perfect location to get anywhere in the city really fast. If you find anything else please let me know.

I concur with the Roscoe Village eats. Nothing extraordinary out there, but several dependable places to grab a bite. I've been hitting up Robey Pizza Company as of late - not so much for their pizza - but the sandwiches and salads are pretty darn good. The Turkey Spinach sandwich has been calling me back quite often. There have been some pretty good reviews for Terragusto as well - I'll be going tonight for the first time. When I lived on Altgeld and Marshfield I would frequent the Players Club - not bad food at all, and some different offerings for bar food.... ie ghoulash!! And the Eastern European waitstaff isn't tough on the eyes either. Que Rico isn't too far - above average Mexican with very good and VERY strong margaritas!! And don't foget El P (El Presidente) if you're needing a late night bite!!

Upping this 3 year old thread b/c we'll be moving to that area in about a month (from Roscoe Village) and wanted to see if there was anything new to try out. I'm definitely excited to try La Gondola

Big Cheese is gone (there's some other Italian place there). Calliope Cafe is also gone.

Fiorentino's is pleasant neighborhood Italian, not a GNR level place, but nice folks, pretty good food.

There's a new Turkish grocery there, Double Apple. Haven't gotten there yet.

For sweets, you are fairly close to Scooters Custard (Belmont and Paulina) and Fritz Pastry (Diversey near Southport)

If you like La Gondola then it is worthwhile to join their Facebook group.

90 Miles on Clybourn for Cuban food is not too far away

Mike G wrote:La Gondola has pretty good pizza

I wish this was the same "La Gondola" of the Peoria area