Harlem Ave Fullerton to Higgins

I'm on this strip many times in my car and because there's so much traffic to pay attention to I can never get a good glimpse of all the possible places to dine on this strip.

Anyone with favorites?

Maybe break it down to times of day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

this is one of my first posts here, I hope I'm following proper protocol, please correct me if I'm pulling a faux paux.

Among other things, you can get a Will Special at GNR winner Riviera (a deli, good for lunch, not a sit down restaurant).

And then maybe have dinner at GNR winner Ristorante Agostino.

And then get some espresso at Caffe Italia.

You can also get wood-fired pizza at Caponie's. It doesn't hold up to spacca napoli, but it's still well above average.

Further away there's also Johnnies (on North, nearish Harlem) and Gene and Jude's over on River Road.

Riviera Foods
3220 N Harlem Ave
Chicago, IL 60634
(773) 637-4252

Ristorante Agostino
2817 N Harlem Ave
Chicago, IL 60707
(773) 745-6464

Caffe Italia
2625 N Harlem Ave
Chicago, IL 60707
(773) 889-0455

Caponies
3350 N Harlem Ave
Chicago, IL 60634
(773) 804-9024

Johnnie's Beef
7500 W North Ave
Elmwood Park, IL
(708) 452-6000

Gene and Jude's
2720 River Rd
River Grove, IL
(708) 452-7634

There are 3 Taco Burrito Kings. They are tasty and cheap. Don't forget to stop at Palermo Bakery !

There's a nice old school Italian sit-down restaurant tucked into the strip mall withthe Office Max called Vince's.

We've had a few dinners there, it's a good 1/2 way point between the city and suburbs and have not been disappointed.

http://www.vincesonharlem.com

Wow, what a quick response! All of these sound great. Thanks!!

There's solid Pizza to be found at Caponie's.

There's a serviceable Polish Buffet at Old Warsaw almost directly across the street from the previously mentioned Vince's at Harlem and Lawrence. Its very old school.

I've become a big fan of the grilled Italian sausage and peppers at Rex Italian Deli. They have a great charcoaled flavor. Plus there is a nice steamtable of other good red sauce items available there on the cheap.

Just off the strip, west on Belmont, you'll find great meatball sandwiches at Nottoli and Sons.

A decent breakfast can be found at Sally's which I often choose when making a business breakfast appointment.

Some folks love Mr. Beef. Others hate it. I'm indifferent.

YourPalWill wrote:Some folks love Mr. Beef. Others hate it. I'm indifferent.

Just to be clear, the place on Harlem Near Irving (I assume that's the one you are talking about) is not Mr. Beef. It's Mr. Beef & Pizza...a completely different establishment.

actually the legal name is:

MR BEEF ON HARLEM LTD

kenji wrote:actually the legal name is:

MR BEEF ON HARLEM LTD

As I said, a completely different establishment.

but here in Portage Park and also in Galewood, we still call it Mr. Beef.

kenji wrote:but here in Portage Park and also in Galewood, we still call it Mr. Beef.

Sure. I understand the localism. It's just that someone not familiar with the colloquial shorthand for this place might be expecting something which it is not...namely a branch of the love-it-or-hate-it Mr. Beef on Orleans. I'm not commenting one way or the other on the quality of the beef at Mr. Beef and Pizza. I'm merely making the distinction because the signage can be a bit misleading. It looks something like:

Mr. Beef
and

Pizza

Roma's on Cicero used to have that problem with the guy on North Milwaukee (Roma's 2), until the guy on Milwaukee finally closed the biz down.

There's also very good cappucino at Cafe Cappucino (?) in a strip mall on the east side of Harlem just north of Addison.

Pasta Fresh is a good stop for arancini or panzerotti. It's in Piazza Italia, south of Addison, west side of street.

Il Giardino also has panzerotti (not tried) and I believe pan pizza. Amaretti with pignoli and espresso. East side of street, near Diversey.

As someone who's spent far to much of her life living near Harlem Ave., I feel the need to weigh in:

Palermo Bakery is a don't-miss-it stop in my book. My favorite square pizza slice ANYWHERE in the city, and cookies that are the best Italian-style cookies I've had since Grandma Jenny died. [Nowhere near as good as hers, of course, and over time I've found her written recipes unreliable .] Other pastries are good as well; try 'em all! And it's quite close to Riviera, so you can have lunch and desert in two good stops.

Vince's at Harlem and Lawrence has never appealed to me, altho it's been recommended more than once on this board. I find the renditions of the usual Italian-American menu tired and carelessly prepared. What I DO like in that very same mall, though, is Rich's. A large-ish Polish deli/grocery store, it has breads from most of the major eastern European bakeries in the city, a large meat counter and a great number of prepared foods. The prepared foods vary from day to day, but the prices are quite reasonable and it's always possible to toss together an interesting lunch from their offerings [you DO keep forks and napkins in your car, don't you?]. There's a cold case with containers of salads, soups, and other goodies, cryovaced meats and sausages [occasionally I can find a package of varied sausage ends... I completely love this for making a bean or lentil soup!]. Antonious wrote about a brother store over here. [Altho I just noticed that he praises the produce at the other store; I won't do the same for this one.]

If you want to have Italian-American food, I'd say deviate from Harlem Ave. and go over to Basilico on Cumberland [just south of Lawrence] or go a little further to Zia's on Northwest Hwy. [This is in the Edison Park restaurant strip that includes Don Juan's and Elliot's.]

Somewhere in the 5300 block of Harlem is Bella Rada, a Serbian deli. Worth stopping by once, if just to widen your cuisne horizons. I don't know anything about the quality of food at Avant Guarde these days [also in the 5300 block] or if it's even still a Bulgarian restaurant, but several gentlemen here have found the waitresses fairly ogle-able . Or so I've been told.

Giovanna

It's not just that the waitresses were ogle-able-- the whole place gave off a total strip club vibe, which made it fairly hilarious to be eating heavy cabbage soup and rye bread and so on. I can't recommend it as a culinary experience, it was entirely okay in a non-memorable way, foodwise, but it was indelible as a slice of surreality.

JeanneBean wrote: Don't forget to stop at Palermo Bakery !

Yes indeed! This is my favorite Italian bakery in the city. Great cookies and pastries in general, but two things they do really well are the rice balls (arancini), which are the best around in my opinion, and their "canoli chips". These are a unique take on this classic desert,and consist of a bag of crispy canoli wrapper "chips" with the filling served in a seperate container on the side. Sort of a "deconstructed" canoli. The upside is that every bite preserves the great crisp/creamy contrast that make the dish so good, and it holds up for days at home. Great for snacking or parties. They also do great Babas au Rhm, but only sometimes. Wonderful place.

Found at a recent birthday party--one of several lovely and delicious trays from Palermo's. These, including the mouse, were mostly variations on a cream puff theme.

Bellezza Gelato serves wonderful buttery house-made gelati and sorbetti made with fresh fruit and fine imported ingredients. They make sorbet smoothies that will knock your socks off (though pricey). If I lived closer to the place, I would be as big as a house.

Just around the corner from Harlem on Higgins is Sandy's, a nicely decorated and slightly upscale Serbian Restaurant with very good food (and occasional entertainment) owned by proprietors of Sandy's deli on Lawrence. Sandy's features a Sunday buffet that is supposed to be very good (I imagine now that the smoking ban is in effect, Sandy's, and other Balkan, Baltic and East European restaurants have probably become more tolerable on weekends to those of us who don't savor the litter box aroma of Russian tabaco).

Speaking of smoke, on the same side of Higgins is Harczak's Sausages, one of my favorite eastern European and Balkan sausage makers (just follow the scent of hardwood smoke). Having become a mostly wholesale operation in the last few years, Harczak's deli seems a bit sparse, but they will bring you any of the dozen or so sausages and smoked meats that Harczak makes in the back (double smoked butt?). Although they are Polish, I really like their rendition of the Serbian smoked hot sausages. They also sell sandwiches really cheap.


Bellezza Gelato
3637 N Harlem Ave
Chicago, IL 60634
(773) 545-1239
http://bellezzagelato.com

Harczak Sausages
(773) 631-8400
7035 W Higgins Ave
Chicago, IL 60656

Sandy's Restaurant
(773) 467-4700
7021 W Higgins Ave
Chicago, IL 60656
http://sandys-restaurant.com

REX's!! One of the VERY few reasons I'm sad my office moved downtown.... it's right near the HIP.

http://www.rexitalianfoods.com/

4431 North Harlem Avenue
Norridge, IL 60706