Help me with my itinerary....

Just fill in whatever blanks or explanations or help or suggestions you think are appropriate. I'm trying to focus on Mexican, Thai, and Indian. I'm starting to go crazy because of all the options and how spread out everything is.

Nick

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SUNDAY

Morning: Maxwell Street Market

Afternoon: Pilsen

MONDAY

Morning: Devon East of Clark

Lunch: Dona Lois

Afternoon: Devon West of Western

Dinner: Udupi Palace

TUESDAY

Morning: N Milwaukie Ave.

Lunch: Taqueria Oaxaquena

Afternoon: N Milwaukie Ave.

Dinner: Taqueria Puebla

WEDNESDAY

Morning: Green City Market -- http://www.chicagogreencitymarket.org/ (Take free trolley to Lincoln Park)

Lunch:

Afternoon: Western Ave.

Dinner:

THURSDAY

Morning:

Lunch:

Afternoon:

Dinner: Chilpancingo, 358 W Ontario St (res: 9:00 pm)

FRIDAY

Morning: Western Ave

Lunch: Spoon Thai, 4608 N Western Ave

Dinner: Charlie Trotters

SATURDAY

Morning: Near North Farmer's Market -- Division & Dearborn between State and Clark. 7am-2pm

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NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDE
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MAXWELL ST MARKET

Public Transportation from Michigan Avenue Hotels:
Michigan Avenue Bus #3 Connects with the Roosevelt Road Bus #l2

Mass Transit Train:
Take the Red Line to the Roosevelt Road stop and connect to the Roosevelt Road Bus #l2 or walk one quarter of a mile (about 4 long blocks).

* Rico Huarache
*

PILSEN

* Mexican Fine Arts Museum
* Nuevo Leon
* Carnitas Uruapan, 1725 W 18th
* Don Pedro's
* Polo

DEVON

* Sizzle India, 2509 W Devon Ave
* Udupi Palace, 2543 W Devon Avenue
* Chorito, Devon and Broadway: Taco de pibil, tepache
* La Unica, 1515 W. Devon Ave: Cuban/Ecuadorean


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CUISINE GUIDE
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MISC MEXICAN

* Taqueria Puebla, 2658 N Milwaukee Ave: Tacos arabes
* Los 3 Gallos, 112 Broadway Street, Melrose Park: Carne en su jugo
* Las Islas Marias, 4770 W. Grand Ave: Nayarit style mariscos
* La Aurora, 4027 W Irving Park Rd: DF style pambazos and huaraches
* Ixcapuzalco, 2919 N Milwaukie Ave
* Asi Es Guerrero, 4114 W North Ave: Pozole
* El Paso #1, 2567 N Cicero: Carne en su jugo
* Taqueria Oaxaquena, 3382 N Milwaukie/6113 W Diversy
* Quesadillas Dona Lois, 6924 N Clark St: Quesadillas and pambazos
* Carnitas El Paisa, 3529 W Fullerton: Carnitas, cochinitas, barbacoa
* La Quebrada

MISC LATIN

* Izalco, 1511 W Lawrence Ave: Salvadoran
* La Humita, 3466 N Pulaski: Ecuadoran
*

MISC INDIAN

* Janet Chutney, 1177 S. ELMHURST RD, Des Plaines (dinner only): Goanese specialties, especially with fish -- shrimp pakoras

MISC THAI



OTHER

* Lem's, 311 E. 75th St.

Sunday-- sounds great except you do know that it's your all-Mexican day (Pilsen, despite the name, being a Mexican area). Probably that's intentional, just want to make sure you're not expecting pilsner and pierogi...

Monday-- I shlep down Devon east of Clark every schoolday and apart from La Unica for Cafe Cubano and some Thai restaurants which won't be open that early, gee, not sure what you're going to spend a whole morning doing there. Maybe solicit ideas for areas that are lively in the AM-- Chinatown? (And there's a bit of a dead zone on Devon between Clark and a block or two shy of Western. Western to Kedzie is the key stretch of Devon. Just a ten minute walk, probably, from the La Unica stretch to Western.)

I'm not crazy about Dona Lolis, but that's just me. Still, if I were on Devon at lunchtime, dang, I'd have lunch at an Indian place on Devon-- maybe one of the non-buffet things like Kababish.

Tuesday-- Not sure where you mean by north Milwaukee ave., but recognize that the Oaxaquena area (3400 N) is not terribly interesting to walk. Basically the most colorful and dense stretches of Milwaukee are Division to North and a little beyond, and Fullerton to Belmont; in between those two is a little more sparse but has its moments. I would consider taking a bus between some of these stretches. Also, if I was along there, I'd give serious thought to Ixcapuzalco, a Frontera protege's restaurant in the 2900 block (north of Diversey), even over Oaxaquena (much as I love it). However, I think Tuesday is Ixcapuzalco's closed day. (Oh, whoops, now I see you're eating at Chilpancingo-- same owner/chef.)

Wednesday-- lunch on Western Ave.? I don't think of Western as a very walkable street, there are a lot of things on it but it's car-scaled. What kind of thing were you thinking specifically?

I think this is a good start, I just want to alert you to some of the things where you may feel like you're walking miles past gas stations and locksmiths without much food or local color. Maybe we should list the streets that are really lively on a food-and-color basis, and walking scaled:

18th street (Pilsen)
Devon
Chinatown-- Wentworth and Chinatown Mall
Lincoln Square (this is near Spoon BTW)
Greektown, Halsted around Madison (have coffee and crioissant at Artopolis)
Kedzie just south of Lawrence (middle eastern); some would say Lawrence from about Western on (westward) which is a real immigrant gateway although I think it's arguable if it's walkable
57th street in Hyde Park (more for books than food)

Others? Anyone?

HI,

There is the 2nd Chinatown, really more Vietnamese, of Argyle between Broadway and Sheridan, with both bookend streets having interesting stuff to check out. Tank is the current preferred location for Pho as well as an expansive complete menu.

Lawrence Avenue, not just around Kedzie, from I-94 and east, is turning into an interesting mix of cultures. However, if you go to Marie's Pizza on Lawrence, just east of Pulaski, for a delightfully old fashioned pizza. There is a guy in the picture window forming the dough.

Roosevelt Road between Canal and I-90/94 is a hint of what Maxwell St. used to be. In this business district, is Manny's Deli. Go further west, cross over the expressway bridge and pretend you heading south on the expressway but take the frontage road instead: eat at Jim's Original Polish, not his cousin Maxwell St Food Express, then choose either the Polish or the Pork Chop sandwich; either dressed with mustard and grilled/steamed onions. If you come on a Sunday, then proceed further west to the Catholic church just on the other side of Halsted at Roosevelt. There are street vendors selling all sorts of Mexican specialities for the post church crowd.

Puerto Rican Neighborhood on Division and California. Two highly revered places, at least by me, Erik and a few others, is Miami Flavors Ice cream with Papa's Pollo Chon across the street for an excellent Jabarito Sandwich and his roast chicken.

If you go further west on Division, to Cicero AVenue, there is a soulfood place called O.T.'s there, Go a few blocks further west to Honey 1 for BBQ.

Walking Clark St around Foster and north is Andersonville, which is less and less Swedish all the time. Plenty of food and plenty of stores to just poke around.

I guess this is a Chicago-based vacation. Cool!

Thanks, those are just the types of tips I'm looking for. It's difficult because I'm mostly only going on what restaurants are around and I'll only have public transit and my feet to carry me along.

Where are the best Thai markets and where are the best Mexican markets?

Hi!

Thai Markets - you are back to Argyle and Broadway. At the t-intersection of Argyle and Broadway, on the west side of Broadway is a shop called 'Thai Grocery,' despite it's modest size it is a universal supplier to all the Thai restaurants in Chicago. Walk about this area because there is substantial presence of Asian groceries.

Mexican markets - I'm sure someone else will reply.

Korean restaurants have quite a presence in Chicago, though substantially lower profile than Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai. When you are in the MikeG recommended area of Lawrence and Kedzie, just north of that location on Kedzie is an L-shaped strip mall. At the north end is a very good Korean grocery with some who feel it has the best panchan (the small quantities of vegetables, fish, crab tidbits you eat with your meal) selection in Chicago. Next to it is a very nice Korean BBQ, where if there are more than 1 person you can cook at your table on live coals. If you are traveling solo and need company, then perhaps some of us could meet you for Korean BBQ.

Another area rich in Korean presence, though it is more car-convenient than foot, is Lincoln Avenue north of Foster. I guess you could take a bus and jump off where you are interested.

Hi,

Another area to explore: Taylor St, from west of Halsted, which has an Italian presence. A don't miss is going to Mario's for Italian Ice's. This modest little lean-to is rumored to do about a million dollars in business from May until Labor Day, when it closes down for the season.

On Thursday evening, not too far from where you're having dinner, you might want to check out the recently expanded West Loop Evening Farmers Market.

Wow!

Here's a couple of suggestions/thoughts:

Consider the area around North/Pulaski. You can catch the pretty frequent North Ave bus from the Wicker Park el stop (North/Damen/Milwaukee). Just south of North Avenue is the pozole place, San Juan, just down the street on North is the pozole place, Asi es Guerrero. In between on North is a place with fine lamb birria and taco's al pastor cut from a spit, Birria Huentitan (take note Rich4). If you walk north on Pulaski to Armitage, well just north of Armitage, you get a very good, rarely mentioned beef stand, Dino and Nick's. If you walk the other way on Pulaski, at Division/Grand is Jimmy's, one of the most classic and picturasque hot dog stands left in Chicago. Along the way, if you want to get on and off the bus, are my damn favorite quesito's at San Juan Bakery, and the cemitas place, Taqueria Puebla, mentioned above.

On Saturday, how 'bout trucking out to Oak Park for the Farmer's Market. It is not a thorough as Green City, especially when it comes to meat. One has none, one is quite blessed, but the other offerings are nearly equal. Oak Park, however, makes up for the lack of meat in other meaningful ways. It is infused with a community spirit, you always run into 1/2 your circle. You can sit around and drink coffee and eat fresh made donuts and listen to music. And you can still buy organic. Afterwards, you can check out the world famous architecture and then maybe figure out a way to get yourself to Johnnie's Italian Beef, winner of two beefathons and perhaps the exemplar of Chicago food. It could be a very short cab ride, and then you could walk back to Harlem/North for the bus or Harlem Lake for the el.

Rob

Vital Information wrote:In between on North is a place with fine lamb birria and taco's al pastor cut from a spit, Birria Huentitan (take note Rich4).

I did take note and it was tasty. Thanks.
Full write up to come later as I have more comparisons to do and pictures to take. Any more al pastor recs would be appreciated.

The only reasonably concentrated areas of food interest on Western Avenue are between Irving Park Road (4000 north) and Lawrence (4800 north) and at Devon (6400 north). Otherwise you will spend a lot of time hiking or getting on and off buses. Western is wide with a lot of traffic, so crossing can be a problem. The Western bus route only goes to about 5300 north. There is a North Western route which runs from the Western Avenue Brown Line stop (4700 north) to beyond Devon.

Lawrence between Western (2400 west) and Kedzie (1 mile) has spotty food interest and narrow sidewalks. If you want to walk between Western and Kedzie, consider walking on Wilson (4600 north and just south of Spoon). The neighborhoods between 2600 and 3000 west on either side of the Chicago River are a contrast to nearby city neighborhoods and are invisible from the main streets. Most houses in Ravenswood Gardens and Ravenswood Manor were built between 1910 and the Great Depression with a few more recent houses. These houses have yards and gardens. The Chicago River in this stretch looks like a wooded country stream except for the boat docks.

There are a lot of small Mexican fruit, vegetable and meat stores of varying quality around Chicago. Cermak Produce has large, well run stores with a large assortment of dry groceries along with meat and produce. Two locations that might be viable for you are in the 4200 block of North Kedzie and at 2701 West North. In contrast to many stores labeled supermercado, these really are even though they don't say that on the signs.

On Saturday morning you might consider the Lincoln Park farmers market (roughly 700 west Armitage (2000 north)) instead of the Near North market. The Lincoln Park market is the largest Chicago farmers market outside the Loop by a fair margin.

I ment to mention Logan Square when I posted on this thread, but then, I do not know, work or something intervened. Anyway, there was a post on Chowhound on Logan Square, and it reminded me to get back to Mr. Extra.

It really is an interesting chowzone with plenty of offerings on Milwaukee and Fullerton. Here's the re-cap from the Mil-Walk-ee:

http://www.vitalinformation.blogspot.co ... 5679873518