Western and Devon Diners?

Around Devon I am not usually looking for a diner, but, I noticed on Western a couple I've not heard anything at all about.

On Western a bit north of Devon on the west side of the street is a place called "Chicago Eddie's".

Further south, across Devon on the east side of the street, is a place called "Hot Rod".

Any info on these places?

There is also a new "Maxwell Street" type grill on California just north of Devon. It looks like it might even be Halal.

Around 3200 W Devon you will find Whistlers, a 24 hour joint. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the soups at Whistlers, pretty sure they are homemade but it has been a while.

Whistler's
3420 W Devon Ave
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
(847) 673-9270

Speaking of those hidden Rogers Park/West Ridge diners on Western Ave.(and though this diner isn't on Western Ave.), I've always wanted to try the A & T Restaurant on Clark and Greenleaf, as I've kept reading good things about it. I think it was even mentioned somewhat recently in some local Chicagoland magazine article about excellent diners, possibly in TimeOut magazine.

On the other hand, I've never been to Whistler's, but I'd like to go there at some point, to try it. Right by there, there's a great seasonal ice cream place a block west of there, called Dairy Star. I've always loved going there each summer for many years, and still do to this day.

Of course, I now suspect Dairy Star may be closed for the year(or its down to its fall hours of opening up only on weekends), but who knows, since I haven't been by there lately.

A & T Restaurant
7036 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60686
(773) 274-0036

Dairy Star
3472 W. Devon Ave.
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
(847) 679-3472

It's not at Devon & Western, but situated not too far away at Touhy & California: Louie's Restaurant.

I've been eating at Louie's for the past 4.5 years; in my book it's one of the GNR's of Chicago . . . a traditional neighborhood diner-style restaurant without pretension or promotion - it survives successfully in an out-of-the-way location because it satisfies its loyal customers day-in and day-out.

Louie's has been around a long time, under different groups of owners. The present owners, a couple of Greek heritage, have been at the restaurant's helm for maybe 7 years now. Mom runs the front, assisted by two daughters who wait tables and the counter while Dad cooks in a kitchen which is open at one end of the room for all to see.

The place is frequented mostly by regulars and the family seems to know most customers on a first-name basis. When a regular customer is sick one of the family is dispatched with soup or a meal and when one of the elderly customers looks a bit weak someone drives him/her home. Customers range from bikers to blue-haired old ladies. Being at Louie's is like being part of a televised soap opera - theater at it's best.

I visit Louie’s on weekends. Saturday's I opt for the patty melt special, but Sunday is when I prefer to be there . . . for the roast sirloin of beef dinner special which includes: soup or salad, the beef dinner accompanied by great mashed potato's, a vegetable and excellent garlic bread . . . for the bargain price of $6.95. It's an excellent home-cooking-style meal.













If you visit Louie's why not combine the trip with a haircut - at Benny the Barber. Benny's shop is two doors S. of Louie's . . . where Benny's still cutting men's hair and giving shaves with a straight razor . . . at 85 years of age!

Louie's Restaurant
7210 N California Ave
(between Touhy Ave. and Jarlath St.)
Chicago, IL 60645
(773) 973-2029
Open Daily: 6 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Is that rice pudding I see? And is that real whipped cream? Real whipped cream is a valuable commodity in my book - just ask my husband, who has had to listen to me raving on and on countless times about the disappointment of encountering non-dairy whipped topping on otherwise fine desserts

I've been to the A&T many times, and you really can't go wrong with the basics, like egg dishes or pancakes. The coffee is not great, but I've learned to expect that at a true Chicago diner (at this point if I was served a good cup of coffee at one of these establishments I would immediately suspect its authenticity). The hashbrowns are the best I've found in the city.

Then there's the Deluxe Diner, which I have only visited in the past because it was a place to sit and smoke in my neighborhood (I quit, also: moved), because it was the only thing open at 3 AM on a Tuesday (now it's only 24 hours on the weekends) and because my husband kept wanting to go there for some weird reason (one too many plates of mushy hashbrowns and oddly sweet gravy has finally repelled him) so I suppose I am not recommending it

Further south, there's Alexander's, a basic corner diner with basic corner diner food. I love the place because it's the kind of restaurant I dreamed of as a kid in suburban California, but I don't think there's really anything there to recommend it to the diner-weary, except for possibly the malted Belgian waffles.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:Is that rice pudding I see?

It looks like a chocolate sundae to me.

Good to know about Louie's. I've seen all those places in my Devon travels, but never felt like I wanted to stop just short of Khan BBQ et al. for a Polish. So I have no idea how they are.

Dave Cohen posted about A&T before, unfortunately the combination A&T cannot be searched for here effectively but here it is:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=6831

I actually went there a couple of weeks ago for breakfast after dropping the kids at school. Hash browns were pretty good, omelet was overcooked and a bit dry, atmosphere was... sepulchral. Kind of Jimmy Corrigan. I suggest sticking to eggs with a big side of the ham, that would seem to play to their strength. I suggest bringing your own friends, too, so that there's a little life in the place.

I've been to Alexander's at least half a dozen times, as it's the only breakfast place directly on my route back from school (that doesn't serve McGriddles, anyway). It is entirely decent, I give the hobo skillet or gypsy skillet or whatever credit for not being cheesed up like the one I wrote about here. At the same time, I'm clearly not that excited about the place, since I haven't been in a year or more despite driving past it 5 times a week. It's a reliable neighborhood place, no more.

One of my favorite spots in this area is Italian express. Home of the spicy Halal gyros. Worth a try.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:Is that rice pudding I see? And is that real whipped cream? Real whipped cream is a valuable commodity in my book - just ask my husband, who has had to listen to me raving on and on countless times about the disappointment of encountering non-dairy whipped topping on otherwise fine desserts.

stevez has it right. It's a chocolate sundae with Redi-Whip (or a different brand of similar) topping. I can't vouch for it being "real" (whipped cream) or not. Louie's has freshly-made (in-house) rice pudding several days a week - and Saturday is usually one of them.

Interesting to think of my favorite International street also being a treasure-trove of American eats. I will second Whistlers as a good all-around place. My first revelatory cup of chicken soup made from chicken was at AT&T. Deluxe is serviceable for breakfast.

Bill wrote:It's not at Devon & Western, but situated not too far away at Touhy & California: Louie's Restaurant.

Thanks for the review and pics of Louie's. I've been wondering about this place many times as I drove by. I think I shall visit next week. It's right down the street from Bombay Kabab House, which although isn't a diner, is the location for the Evanston LTH lunch on 11/13. Perhaps it will be my own personal mini-California-a-Thon...

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:I've been to the A&T many times, and you really can't go wrong with the basics, like egg dishes or pancakes. The coffee is not great, but I've learned to expect that at a true Chicago diner (at this point if I was served a good cup of coffee at one of these establishments I would immediately suspect its authenticity). The hashbrowns are the best I've found in the city.

Then there's the Deluxe Diner, which I have only visited in the past because it was a place to sit and smoke in my neighborhood (I quit, also: moved), because it was the only thing open at 3 AM on a Tuesday (now it's only 24 hours on the weekends) and because my husband kept wanting to go there for some weird reason (one too many plates of mushy hashbrowns and oddly sweet gravy has finally repelled him) so I suppose I am not recommending it

Further south, there's Alexander's, a basic corner diner with basic corner diner food. I love the place because it's the kind of restaurant I dreamed of as a kid in suburban California, but I don't think there's really anything there to recommend it to the diner-weary, except for possibly the malted Belgian waffles.

Thanks for writing about A&T here, since I've kept wondering about that diner for some time. On the other hand, I've heard mixed reviews about Deluxe Diner(and was aware that they'd eliminated their 24 hour status in August, 'cept on weekends and holidays), and still have yet to go there. Also have wanted to try Alexander's too, especially b/c I was caught off-guard by Augie's(in Andersonville) recent closure back in August, and was saddened by that, especially since I didn't hear of it permanently closing, until days AFTER it had closed for good.

I'll have to remember about Louie's Restaurant too, especially since I've(oddly!) never noticed that restaurant, not to mention I'm in that area from time to time. Maybe that's from myself too often only traveling east or west along Touhy, and not driving north or south on California Ave. enough.....

Another diner in this area is Standee's, just to the east of Alexander's. It's open 24 hours Wed. through Saturday night, and closes at 6pm Sundays, and 10pm on Mon. + Tuesdays. It has a surprising variety of food on their menu, plus decent waffles and omelettes:

Standee's
1133 W Granville Ave
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 743-5013

ChgoMike wrote:Thanks for the review and pics of Louie's.

Louie's has been there a very long time. I can remember it as far back as the late 50's. It used to have a companion(?) restaurant up the street called "Little Louie's Noshery". I was too young to ever figure out if the two Louie's were friendly or hated competitors.

stevez wrote:

ChgoMike wrote:Thanks for the review and pics of Louie's.

Louie's has been there a very long time. I can remember it as far back as the late 50's. It used to have a companion(?) restaurant up the street called "Little Louie's Noshery". I was too young to ever figure out if the two Louie's were friendly or hated competitors.

Louie's will give you honest food for an honest price. A $3.75 omelette special that includes a cup of soup. It can be slooow though. Looks like the grill in back is kinda small and they really have to make orders more or less one at a time. By slow I mean 20-30 minutes wait time for eggs. But otherwise a nice welcoming place of a type that is gradually vanishing from the world.

When I lived by Indian Boundary park, I also used to frequent yet 2 more nearby diners: Mike's place on the corner of Lunt/Western and, I believe "Pat's" on Toughy and Western.

Mike's, for some reason, I get into their patty melts. It is a greek diner menu but no servers [or tipping].

Pat's was more formal w/table service. What I recall is that the food was overall better but more pricey than Louie's or Mike's. Used to be their turkey items were prepared with real turkey they carved. Anybody been there recently?

Still also curious about Hot Rod diner down the street.

We've been to Pat's a couple times in the last several years. The last time, maybe six months ago, it was under new ownership and struggling a bit, but IIRC still reasonable diner food. A couple of things that I can't quite remember struck me as odd: something about how drinks were served (poured from another glass instead of switching the glasses out), and the waitress bringing the big food-service jar of mayo and a bowl to the counter and dishing out a big blap for us.

Nothing was improper, just odd, like they were brand-new at diner waitressing (neither did it seem like eccentricity, more like they were figuring stuff out.) I am also inclined that the menu was no-frills, just basics.

Marco wrote: Louie's will give you honest food for an honest price. A $3.75 omelette special that includes a cup of soup. It can be slooow though. Looks like the grill in back is kinda small and they really have to make orders more or less one at a time. By slow I mean 20-30 minutes wait time for eggs. But otherwise a nice welcoming place of a type that is gradually vanishing from the world.

For my first several visits to Louie's I'd sit there frustrated, annoyed that the owners were carrying-on conversations with everyone in the place and seemingly forgetting about me and my food order. Sometimes the food came in 10 minutes, sometimes in 15 . . . but I don't recall longer waits than that. The speed of delivery of the orders does depend upon how many people are in the place, though, and when they get there and order; the kitchen isn’t much larger than a walk-in closet. This is a family place - often three generations sitting/eating together . . . and nobody is in much of a rush to leave. I learned to relax, read the newspaper . . . converse with other people in the place. McDonald’s is down the street if I want something served more quickly.

It's not uncommon to walk in Louie’s and find yourself in the middle of a shouting match (friendly) between the husband and wife owners, or between one of the waitress daughters and a dishwasher boyfriend, etc. A customer who hasn't been in the place in a month enters and efficiency stands still while everyone in the family, and some of the "regular" customers catch up on what the person's been doing, how they feel, how work's going, etc.

I've gone to Louie's with an eccentric neighbor of mine who gets a haircut and shave at Benny the Barber next door, every week. Every Saturday he orders the Talapia special from the menu board, and every week he visits each booth and speaks with each and every person in the place - for 3 or 4 hours before the owners drive him home after the restaurant closes for the day.

Folks who don't know "Jack" are highly suspicious of his behavior (a early 80-something bachelor), but the regulars love him . . . he has perfect memory and doesn't forget you or your name, even if he hasn't seen you in 6 months. “You must have been a beautiful baby,“ is his favorite refrain. I chuckle to myself as I sit across from Jack in the booth we share as he tells me one story or another, as the food's falling from his mouth . . . it's too funny to describe here. I feel as if I’ve been transported to the set of Saturday Night Live.

And I've been in Louie's when the biggest and baddest looking bikers park in front and walk through the door and many of the customers cringe . . . and then Kiki (the woman part-owner) scolds the guys for something or another and they turn-out to be pussycats. I also see a "newbie" walk through the door and the owners drop everything . . . to greet the person(s) and make them feel at home. It takes people aback.

Kiki adopts most customers as a mother adopts someone's parentless child, the wayward soul. "You need some soup." "I just made some rice pudding . . . it's good for you." "Relax, you'll have a heart attack." A family enters the restaurant and Kiki brings coloring books and crayons to the booth . . . and gives special attention to the smaller children in the group.

You're not going to find a meal that's truly spectacular or unforgettable here. It’s good food. Fresh food at reasonable (below market, mostly) prices - not fast food. But above all, Louie's is theater.

Mhays wrote:We've been to Pat's a couple times in the last several years.

Driving today in search of a diner, and noticed that the name is actually P&S 7201 North Western Avenue Chicago, IL (Illinois) 60645-1811 Phone: (773) 465-9413.

However, after Bill's account, we drove right on past to Louie's, a place where we had such a comfortable meal that we're thinking of making it our regular diner. We often went to the Sherman Grill in Evanston when it still existed - not so much for the food (which was fine) but for the staff, who always remembered us and made food just the way we asked. It was a lot of fun sitting at a booth and seeing the proprietress wave and yell hello at everyone entering (at almost sushi-bar volume!) I almost giggled when the 'spouse ordered a spinach-and-cream-cheese omelette (off menu) which elicited a heated exchange between the cook and proprietress in (I assume) greek. The food was good (my sunny-side-up egg was perfect: crisp on the bottom, gooey yolk) as was the coffee, and dirt cheap. The atmosphere was perfect step-back-in-time diner, cluttered but immaculate - we were seated under a photo of past Chicago Fire Chief James Joyce. Thanks, Bill - we'll be back.

I'm pleased that you enjoyed your visit to Louie's. As I mentioned earlier, I go there not only because I enjoy the food, and what I get for my money, but for the theater of life which you're surrounded by.

Just to say that I finally made it over to the Hot Rod Diner on Western near Granville.

It is a weird little place, 3 formica tables and about 5 stools. 3 different types of chow:

1. Hot dog stand food. Gyros/fries/can $6, same deal for Italian Beef. $3 hot dog/fries/can.

2. Simple breakfast items under $6 served till 930pm.

3. Mexican burritos/tacos.

I had a $5 burger/fries/can deal and while the burger was nothing special, the FRIES WERE FRESHCUT AND OUTSTANDING.

That is basically all you really need to know about this place. Next visit i will likely try the chicago-style dog just to get the fries. Or the gyros. Or the breakfast.

Mhays wrote:However, after Bill's account, we drove right on past to Louie's, a place where we had such a comfortable meal that we're thinking of making it our regular diner.

I finally made it to Louie's today and it was great. When I walked in I was the only one there after the breakfast rush, about 9:00 a.m. After explaining to the friendly waitress it was my first visit, she recommended a couple items. I wasn't really hungry and went with the two eggs, french toast and bacon plate. Good, solid, diner food in a friendly, comfortable atmostphere. I'll soon go back for lunch.

Louie's Diner
7210 N. California
Rogers Park

Finally got to Louie's this weekend, and loved it! I was so fascinated by all the accounts I read of Louie's on LTH over the past year, that I decided some time ago to save Louie's for my 200th review on yelp. And a deserved one if you ask me(due to its sadly scant coverage on the 'net, beyond this LTH thread), due to the fact it's only previously gotten 1 review on yelp, which was 2 years ago!

Enjoy my in-depth account of Louie's:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/louies-restaurant-chicago-2

-Allan

P.S. To Bill, is it OK if I can upload your pics of Louie's Restaurant to yelp? Thanks for reading my question, and I hope it's OK with you if I can do so.

dumpstermcnuggets wrote:Finally got to Louie's this weekend, and loved it! I was so fascinated by all the accounts I read of Louie's on LTH over the past year, that I decided some time ago to save Louie's for my 200th review on yelp. And a deserved one if you ask me(due to its sadly scant coverage on the 'net, beyond this LTH thread), due to the fact it's only previously gotten 1 review on yelp, which was 2 years ago!

Enjoy my in-depth account of Louie's:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/louies-restaurant-chicago-2.

Allan,

I am more than a little puzzled you would gather your info on LTHForum, then not to post your review of Louie's on LTHForum for the enjoyment of the people who gave you the information in the first place. Puzzling and mildly impolite.

Gary

G Wiv wrote:

dumpstermcnuggets wrote:Finally got to Louie's this weekend, and loved it! I was so fascinated by all the accounts I read of Louie's on LTH over the past year, that I decided some time ago to save Louie's for my 200th review on yelp. And a deserved one if you ask me(due to its sadly scant coverage on the 'net, beyond this LTH thread), due to the fact it's only previously gotten 1 review on yelp, which was 2 years ago!

Enjoy my in-depth account of Louie's:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/louies-restaurant-chicago-2.

Allan,

I am more than a little puzzled you would gather your info on LTHForum, then not to post your review of Louie's on LTHForum for the enjoyment of the people who gave you the information in the first place. Puzzling and mildly impolite.

Gary

Gary, with all respect to you, I'm very sorry if you felt me doing that was impolite. I just felt I did a decent enough job sharing my thoughts about it on yelp.

I suppose for the most part, the reason I did that was because I use this board more for getting ideas of restaurants to go to, than anything else. But if it makes you happy, I'll try to do a better job in the future of sharing my thoughts about restaurants I go to with y'all on this board from now on, in addition to yelp. And this is despite that I cannot promise it'll be on a regular basis, as much as I'd like it to. Deal?

I'll now take some time outta my day, and gonna gladly share my thoughts of the place with everyone here! (this is how much I still love this board, and will gladly abide by requests) Other than the fact that the way my hash browns were cooked made some of them too hard to eat, and my wish that their specials board did a slightly better job of describing what comes on the food, I had a great experience here. Prices were excellent, even despite that it cost me $1 extra to get cheese on their Denver omelette special. I enjoyed both the omelette I got, and the chicken noodle soup(their soup of the day) I got with it. Thought it was also interesting they serve soda in 12 oz. cans, instead of the typical soda dispensers you find in most restaurants and diners. In addition, it was great that there was NO background radio music, or TVs at all, which is too common to notice at most diners I've been to in Chicago.

Finally, not knowing how long it'll be before I have another chance to come back, I tried the rice pudding, and thought it was excellent. One of the better ones I've had at any Chicagoland diners! Oh, and of course how could I almost forget the 'theater of life' you see with the very friendly regulars of all ages I chatted up while I was here, talking to Kiki(the wife of the husband-and-wife family that runs the place), or the husband or daughters who also help with this place?

Apologies too that I'm not the normal type that photographs every single thing I eat, unlike other posters. But I hope my descriptions still did the job well enough, and I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Louie's, Gary. (and to all other posters here)

(part 2 on my Louie's thoughts)

The person who mainly served me was the older daughter of Kiki(think her name was Laura, but I'm 1% uncertain on that). And for the most part, she was the one who mostly checked up on me while I was eating, other than when Kiki took my order after I got a soda.

I actually personally wish I'd successfully remembered more of the names of the staff and family who help run that place, after my visit last weekend! (and since they were such friendly people to me on my initial visit) Sadly though, I couldn't remember anyone, other than Kiki and Laura. Guess that's life though that you don't always remember stuff, and for whatever reason myself, it's personally hard for me to remember certain things I hear. Finally, I believe 'Jack' (who Bill mentioned) was the guy I had an interesting baseball conversation with when I was here!

Now to open the floor to others on this thread to talk about any stuff mentioned earlier in this thread, and/or Louie's of course. Looking forward to hearing what Bill thought about my experience at Louie's, as I believe he was the one who mentioned it before anyone else in the first place!

Glad you enjoyed Louie's. I was at Louie's over the weekend, also - Sunday. I'm often there for Sunday early-afternoon dinner - roast sirloin of beef, large cup of cream of chicken rice soup, great garlic bread (Louie's uses a kaiser roll for this), some green beans and a mountain of mashed potato's . . . all for $7.95 (the price increased by a $1 this year). I finished my meal with an ice cream sundae (with chocolate) and washed the food down with 4 or 5 glasses of iced tea (charged only for the first glass).

About my photos of Louie's: I don't have any general objection to my photos being used by anyone (I hold the copyright on the photos), but I'm of the belief that anything posted here (text or photos) shouldn't be used elsewhere without the express written permission of the owner(s) of this website, also.

One additional note about Louie's, in case someone reading this discussion is thinking about visiting this weekend: The restaurant will be closed (Saturday, Sunday and Monday), for the wedding of one of the daughters of the owners.

The Death of a Friend

This Sunday morning started so pleasantly – because I was still on a high following my yesterday afternoon first-time visit to Birrirea Zaragoza. Then a neighbor called to tell of the unexpected death of a friend.

I’ve only known this friend for about 6 years, but we would visit together many Sunday afternoons – and sometimes on Saturday. Those of us who knew and appreciated this friend gathered by the scores for a wake of sorts this afternoon. There were the expected emotions of shock, sorrow and disbelief. Many of the mourners tearfully embraced the friend’s family, and each other.

Louie’s Restaurant – a fixture in the West Ridge neighborhood at Touhy and California suddenly and unexpectedly closed its doors today – in the aftermath of a decline in business and a near doubling of the rent requested by the property owner in exchange for a new lease.

Word of mouth quickly spread the bad news throughout the neighborhood and the kids, the old people, the doctors, the lawyers, the firemen and the rest of us who patronized the place paid our last respects.

Louie’s Restaurant – R.I.P.

My last meal at Louie’s

Spanakopita made by Kiki, the restaurant’s owner

Hell, no! I've been planning to head back for some time...so sad. What is it with these landlords?

I'm sure California and the area cross streets being in near-constant construction didn't help anything...

I have been an off and on customer at Louie's for some years, one of those times, with my son we had breakfast and stayed so long that we also had lunch.
There once was many Louie's all over but with the advent of fast food joints for breakfast and lunch a generation grew up without the experience of actually sitting down and becoming part of the establishment.
Now most of the people do not prefer to start up conversations with people they don't know or actually enjoy dining at a slower pace and still reflect the ambiance of the establishment.
These little diners are a life style for people who own them and those eat there, and as that culture fades away so does these diners.
Although these places might not have the automatic greeting of the fast food joints once you warm up to them you get to be not only a customer but a friend that they appreciate all the time, because they remember you and have the time to chat with you.
I am sorry that Louie's gone and I feel bad that the owners lost a big part of their daily life, which to me as important as my going there, I guess I should have gone there more often but I am not a breakfast eater, when I did go out it was always one of my choices, not so much about the food, which was good, more about the place.
The bar next door is another one of those establishments that is a rare find, a workmens/womens local neighborhood bar, cheap cheap cocktails, albeit the house gin is labeled "utility gin" ! and no martinis, after one drink you'll be talking to, well, anyone.