New To Town

Hi. I just recently moved to Chicago in the last year after having lived in Portland, Oregon. Out in the Pacific NW, I fell in love with seasonal, regional cooking. While I love to cook at home, I was wondering if anyone would have recommendations for restaurants in Chicago working a local seasonal menu. Preferably cta accessible. Crofton on Wells and, in a way, Hot Doug's are the closest I've come so far to what I'm looking for.

P.S. I bought the cookbook Savoring The Seasons Of The Northern Heartland by Beth Dooley and Lucia Watson. If there, are any other tips on foodbooks based on ingredients and traditions from this area. I'd love to here about those also.
P.P.S. Any tips on good grocery/market shopping in the Rogers Park area also welcomed.
Thanks!

I would check out Terragusto, as wall, on Addison between Lincoln and Wolcott. It's Italian and uses fresh, local ingredients. It's gotten good write ups on this board and I enjoyed it the two times I've been.

It's extremely close to the CTA brownline stop "addison", however, since they are doing construction on the brownline stations, it may be closed. I'm not sure. If that is the case, you can get off at the stop south of "addison", "paulina", and head up Lincoln. It's a bit of a walk, but with the weather being nice, probably not that bad. Another option would be to take the redline to the "addison" redline station and then, take the addison bus west.

Terragusto
1851 W. Addison St
Chicago, 60613-3502.

starbird-

Welcome to Chicago and to LTHForum!

There are others who are more knowledgeable about the local angle at restaurants, Vie and Blackbird are two that come to my mind. Do a search for either one for more information.

As for markets in/near Rogers Park, this link covers that very topic.

-The GP (Mary)

Thx, Mary. I've definately discovered The Morse Street Market (2 blocks away), and the Devon Street Market (I have friends in the neighborhood that had no idea about that place). I have to say, these smaller neighborhood markets are a big improvement over the large chain shopping I had to do so much of in Portland. I'm looking forward to getting out to a couple of the Evanston Farmer's markets I'm reading about here. I'll look into the restaurants you and greygardens recommend. Thanks for all the help!

Welcome. You need to check out La Unica, the Cuban/Pan-Latino market across from Devon Market. And browse here for the many Viet, Thai, and Chinese shopping options on or near Arglye between Broadway and Sheridan. Also nearby are African and Carribean options. And, of course, further west along Devon are the incredible Indian, Pakistani, Russian and Jewish stores. Many Mexican options up Clark, too. Rogers Park is one of the best places in Chicago (probably the best) for markets, it turns out.

Hey Jeff. So glad to hear it. I will definately check out La Unica. On the asian side, I just recently tasted a couple of good things at Furama and saw a lot that looked worth checking out in that area. Ethiopian Diamond is proably mine and my wife's favorite place so far in Chicago, gonna have to look into the stores around there. Have checked out Babbi's Kitchen on Devon, but not those further west markets. Except for a couple of meals and one futile ingredient hunt , I haven't been up on northern Clark much so I'll have to look back into that. Thanks!

Welcome to Chicago! Hope you like it. I moved here 14 years ago, almost, from the San Francisco Bay area. So far, I haven't regretted it much.

I definitely recommend the Evanston farmer's market to you. It's my favorite of the ones I've been to. My best friends live in Rogers Park so I occasionally attend with them.

Your question about regional/seasonal cuisine is a good one, because it highlights that usually such cuisine is fancy and expensive. Blackbird and Vie are great examples of the best midwestern regional cuisine. Another is North Pond, in Lincoln Park, so not horribly far from a red line stop (not close, either). Of the restaurants I've been to in Chicago, it has the most west coast vibe to it. Like Blackbird and Vie, it does a great job of high-quality cuisine with seasonal, regional ingredients.

Also, re: Vie - although it is in Western Springs, it is also right near a Metra stop. Worth considering (though it would be a looooooooong trip home) - the food is very very good

North Pond is a great recommendation and probably the closest thing that Chicago has to an Alice Waters inspired local menu.

Also of interest may be Erwin Cafe on Halsted in Lakeview. It is less of a destination and more of a comfortable, nice neighborhood spot. Chef Drescher prefers to build his menu around fresh local ingredients available by season.

Both are reviewed on this site. Welcome to Chicago. i hope you love it here as much as this transp[lant does.