Cheap, fast takeout in Lincoln Square?

I recently moved over to Rockwell and Lawrence, and being a poor college student who's strapped for time even more than cash, I've been looking for good fast food in the area. I live close to Burger King but, well... it's Burger King. With all of the great sit-down options in the neighborhood, I'm sure there's fast, cheap, and excellent takeout here too... right?

Edit: And FYI, I do not have access to a vehicle, so driving is out of the question. I do, however, own a good set of legs and I'm not opposed to a not-terribly-lengthy walk.

I'll refer you to the Lawrence Taqueria Project. that should get you started. Another good place to check out is Great Seasfor their killer Korean style spicy chicken wings.

Great Sea
3254 W Lawrence
Chicago, IL, 60625
773-478-9129

The closest take-out place you have to check out is Nhu Lan at 2612 W. Lawrence.

check out Harvestime for roast chickens, tamales and other takeout items at their deli counter area. lawrence & talman.

Santa Rita has good tacos al pastor and the chicken tacos are pretty wonderful, too - seems to be mostly dark meat braised in some lovely way. Lawrence and California.

toddle over to kedzie for a wonderland of middle eastern delights. Al-Kaymeih is one of my favorites. Semirami's is also a board favorite.

And then the Thai options around leland and western are legend: spoon, opart, roseded, thai oscar.

If you like juicy char grilled skirt steak tacos and burritos as opposed to the gristly, griddle fried, garbage steak that most of the taquerias in this city slop out, then be prepared to be a regular at this place.

Taqueria el Asadero
2213 W. Montrose Ave.
Chicago

I like the sandwiches at Beans & Bagels, on the corner of Rockwell and Leland. Bagels from New York Bagel & Bialy (is that the name of the place up on Touhy? I think that's where they're from), and the guy behind the counter my first time there said that they make their own cream cheese (although I may have misunderstood and that they just mix up the flavored ones themselves).

-gtgirl

Pizza Art Cafe has gotten nothing but better since we moved to the Rockwell area - what we've taken to doing is to walk over, order our pizza, go have a beer (or two) across the street, and then take our order home.

Tina's, at Montrose and Western, is a short walk as well. Dogs, burgers, so on - Can't say I know much about it (stopped in for a pizza puff one afternoon, that's it) so let us know if it's worth a stop.

Well, since you're walking, call in an order to Spoon Thai and it ought to be nearly ready by the time you get there.

Welcome to the neighborhood. Here are some more options that are all within a 15 minute walk:

Spoon Thai (4608 N. Western Ave.) - This is as good as it gets for Thai food. But why limit yourself, also try Rosded (2308 W. Leland). Make sure to check out the translated Thai language menu items at Spoon Thai on this board.

There's also Nhu' Lan Bakery for some pretty good Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches (2612 W Lawrence).

You have plenty of Middle Eastern options on Kedzie, including Semiramis (4639 N. Kedzie), Noon O' Kebab (4661 N. Kedzie -- I think I like this place much more than many LTH'ers) and Salam (4636 N. Kedzie).

Even Pizza D.O.C. (2251 W. Lawrence) is not so far, and the pizza is very good. This is a little pricier than some of the other places I list.

There have been a number of recent mentions here of Atlantic Bar & Grill (5062 N. Lincoln). I haven't tried it, but their burgers sound inexpensive and good.

Of course, then there are also the standards, Potbelly and Costello's on Lincoln, certainly better than BK.

Hopefully, that's a good start.

Wow, thanks for all the response, everyone. Now I'm really excited to try all these places.

I have been to Nhu' Lan twice so far and I've thoroughly enjoyed their banh mi. I've had the pork belly and--unfortunately, since the chicken was out--grilled pork. Both were quite good, and the price cannot be beat.

I've heard nothing but great things, mostly on these boards, about Spoon Thai, so I'm definitely making that a priority to check out. First I have to figure out what some of these dishes are...

Pizza Art Cafe is literally a block away, and some of the things I've seen on their chalkboard menu sound fantastic, so I'll have to give that a try for takeout sometime.

Finally, it's great to see there's a quality taqueria nearby. I'll probably be frequenting that quite often.

I wholeheartedly agree with the Taqueria El Asadero rec. The steak is good, but don't miss the al pastor either:





Los Nopales is also a good spot for a quality, inexpensive meal.

Welcome!

What, no mention of the lunch special at Apart Pizza? Eight-inch pizza and a can of soda for $4.50. I recommend the capriciosa (baked ham, artichoke, button mushroom). Eat or in take away.

As others have noted, the pizzaiolo at Apart is Italian. Do not make the mistake of calling him a piazzaiolo, as I did. This word does not exist in Italian, but if it did, it would mean something like "sweeper of the piazza."

Apart Pizza
2205 W. Montrose
Mon - Tues: 6pm - 11pm
Wed - Sun: 11am - 11pm

If you are up for a longer walk, Wolfy's serves a classic Chicago dog and a fine Polish with grilled onions.

Wolfy's
2734 W. Peterson (you can't miss it - just look for the impaled frankfurter!)
Mon-Sat 10am-10pm
Sun 10:30am-8pm

I would add two to the other excellent suggestions, both of which would be a longer walk:

1. Cafe Borniquen on Western, a few blocks south of Irving: jibarito sandwich (steak or other meat sandwich on fried plantains instead of bread). For $6-7 it includes a side of yellow rice or white rice with black beans.

2. Salam on Kedzie in a shopping plaza near Wilson: grilled chicken sandwich (sheesh taouk?): an entire chicken breast fresh grilled before your eyes and placed in a fresh pita pocket for $5-6. Also good chicken schwarma sandwich.

And big endorsement for Nhu' Lan Bakery, I had a BBQ pork sandwich on a fresh french roll for $3.00 this weekend. If, like me, you prefer the texture of fresh bread remember to ask them not to toast their wonderfully fresh bread.

Apart Pizza should deliver to your house for free too, should weather or other circumstances keep you housebound.[/quote]

It's a bit of a walk, but you're pretty close to Costello's (4647 N. Lincoln).

They have great toasted sandwiches which rival Potbelly's in my opinion.

Be sure to get a side of the mashed potatoes...delicious!

I've always liked Apart fine for delivery pizza -- even after the owner dropped my LTH quote from the takeout menu when TimeOut and Metromix supplied more reputable, albeit derivative, vouchers.

Not sure about "pizzaiolo's" provenance, but it has currency among the Italians running the big site devoted to pizza in the boot...

http://www.pizza.it/articoli_elenco.asp?a=4

In any event, I'm not sure how the suffix gets our pizza dude to "sweeper." Too bad there aren't any linguist-pizzaphiles here. (I made that up. It means salacious pizza-molester.)

After reading this post (and hearing terrible things about The Little Mexican Cafe in Edgewater, our original dinner destination on Saturday), we tried Taqueria El Asadero.

Besides the completely lackluster interior (I wasn't expecting anything, just thought I'd mention it) and the unnecessary rice and beans purchase, the tacos were amazing.

I had two carne asada and one al pastor taco and was extremely satisfied. The amount of meat is overwhelming and the cilantro and onion balanced things out nicely, without being overpowering. I should have asked for some limes.

I can't believe I used to live walking distance from this place and never tried it!

I'm a little bummed that we'll have to dine-in if we crave it again, since bringing it all the way back home means the meat will have too much time to cool down.

Whoever mentioned the greasy chips tasting great was right.

My only complaint is that the tortillas tend to stick to the wax paper they use, ripping the outer one. Or maybe I was just too impatient to unravel the package slooowly.

Either way, it's a definite must try for anyone who loves steak or al pastor tacos.

Carlywood wrote:After reading this post (and hearing terrible things about The Little Mexican Cafe in Edgewater, our original dinner destination on Saturday), we tried Taqueria El Asadero.


I'm a little bummed that we'll have to dine-in if we crave it again, since bringing it all the way back home means the meat will have too much time to cool down.

Carlywood - where do you live? This is not the ONLY place that has char-grilled steak in Chicagoland. Yes, there are many garbage meat taquerias in Chicagoland, but there are several others that serve steak just as good as Asadero. If you were walking, and did not want to take these tacos home, I can assure you that they travel just fine. Just nuke them to warm up. A taco should only take 15/20 seconds or so. Just don't nuke them so long that you start cooking the meat.

I, too, had the extreme pleasure of stopping by Asadero this past Saturday. The aforementioned greasy chips were absolutely delicious, but I found the salsa to be only so-so. However, my steak burrito made up for it and then some. Huge, with juicy, perfect chunks of steak that actually tasted like a grilled piece of steak! The cilantro and onions were wonderful as well, but I'd probably ask for no cheese on the next trip. After all, I'll certainly be back again... and again and again and again...

Rockwells (on Rockwell berween the tracks and Eastwood) makes a nice burger.

I have to second the recommendation for Harvestime good, cheap eats. Especially the very wonderful and ridiculously inexpensive roast chicken with oven-baked Greek potatoes for like 3 bucks. An absolute steal.

They also have some very good Spanish chorizo as well. They have Mexican chorizo too, I just can't stand that stuff - the texture really turns me off.

Bster

seebee wrote:

Carlywood wrote:After reading this post (and hearing terrible things about The Little Mexican Cafe in Edgewater, our original dinner destination on Saturday), we tried Taqueria El Asadero.


I'm a little bummed that we'll have to dine-in if we crave it again, since bringing it all the way back home means the meat will have too much time to cool down.

Carlywood - where do you live? This is not the ONLY place that has char-grilled steak in Chicagoland. Yes, there are many garbage meat taquerias in Chicagoland, but there are several others that serve steak just as good as Asadero. If you were walking, and did not want to take these tacos home, I can assure you that they travel just fine. Just nuke them to warm up. A taco should only take 15/20 seconds or so. Just don't nuke them so long that you start cooking the meat.

I'm in Andersonville, which is certainly not far by any means. I guess I'm just worried something will be lost by not eating them "right off the grill".

But thank you for the advice...nuking it for 15 seconds is not a bad idea at all.

And...any suggestions on other good tacos?

Carlywood wrote:
And...any suggestions on other good tacos?

YESSSS!!!!!
Here's a good start:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=14705&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

My favorite is Las Asadas (same as La Palapita on Milwaukee ave. Spoke with the owner today. Says they are the exact same.)
El Asadero would be 2nd.
Pasadita 3rd
I have yet to try Carniceria Leon, or Garcia's, but they both get love here.

Thanks for the tip on Harvestime-- I'd never been in there but it's quite a good store. I picked up the Chorizo Riojana-- let you know how it is!

Garcia's Mex restaurant IN Lincoln SQ. serves up Mex food that is quality.
The rest. is a scene too.

Ohh. Everything sounds good. I'm not too far from there... Ashland/Montrose area. I'm broke, too, so good cheap food is always a treat!

Being a graduate student myself- when I am short on the bucks I got to Tom Lee's at 4660 N Western Avenue (773) 561-0949. Great food and delivery service is fast.
When I am especially broke- the boyfriend and I get a large fried rice it is around $6.00. Can't beat that!

Somewhere in the neighborhood that is pretty cheap is Byron's Hot Dogs. Great food... I've ordered there a half dozen times and have only been disappointed once when I got a dry gyro. Everything else is great...and plentiful. They deliver and are always super nice on the phone.

Byron's Hot Dogs
1701 W. Lawrence
773/271-0900

There is also a location on Irving Park near the Sheridan Red Line Stop and a third on Halsted...

I'm a big fan of Opart Thai. It's very close to you at Lincoln & Western. I"ll add my support to the chorus of cheers for Nhu Lan & Spoon - cheap, cheap, cheap and good, good, good!

Costello's is a very good cheap choice b/c you get your a hearty side along w/ your sammich at a reasonable price.

IMO, you can get good hotpot @ Royal Thai - walk a bit to Montrose @ Lincoln and you'll find the little hole in the wall.

For a "splurge", check out burger nite at Jury's on Lincoln just south of Montrose...or any of their specials. Honest food at good prices.