I need a good restaurant in Skokie area OR Clark street

Hello! I need a good restaurant in Skokie/Evanston/Lincolnwood that is available by public transit (either the 215 or 290 bus routes) OR along Clark street on the north side (22 bus coming from Howard). I'm going out to eat with my boyfriend, who is a steak and potatoes/burgers and fries type of guy. I can go for anything, but I'd like to keep it somewhat healthy. We need to make this VERY inexpensive (probably around $10-$15 per person). Any suggestions?

katierysz wrote:We need to make this VERY inexpensive (probably around $10-$15 per person). Any suggestions?

Katiery,

If you wish to go Mexican Cuetzala has a very nice marinated grilled skirt steak for right around $10. Cuetzala, while modest in decor, has a nicely fleshed out menu with a few interesting items, for example Tamales Nejos (Masa w/ash, steamed in banana leaves) with red or green mole.

Skirt Steak, Cuetzala Restaurant



Cuetzala
7360 N Clark St
Chicago IL 60626
773-262-9417

Pete Miller's is a very nice steakhouse in Evanston, a block or two from the Davis Street CTA stop. The steaks are more expensive than you're asking about, but they do a terrific burger ($10.99, or $11.99 with cheese). For you, the chopped salad and the garbage caesar salad are both $15.99.

In a less expensive vein, another good place convenient to public transportation in Evanston is Cross Rhodes, a few steps from the Main Street CTA stop. Excellent gyros, great burgers, Greek salads, etc.

Maybe the both of you will enjoy The Heartland Cafe, which is easily reached from the Red Line "el". This restaurant offers healthy fare, at fair prices - and there are often live music performances.

For me, Cuetzala has been a disappointment and I don't recommend it.

If the two of you are a bit adventurous, maybe Masouleh on Clark near Pratt will be enjoyable; I've liked it. The restaurant will offer a different take on "steak and potatoes."

The Heartland Cafe
7000 North Glenwood
Chicago, IL
http://www.heartlandcafe.com

Masouleh
6653 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL
(773) 262-2227
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/restaurants/080410/

I just spent 10 minutes trying to figure out where these buses go. The PACE website is anything but user friendly.

The 215 goes west on Howard, makes a right on Crawford, and then a left on Gold, ending up at Old Orchard. The 290 basically goes west on Touhy.

Near the 215 route I'd suggest Pita Inn, near Dempster and Crawford, if you like Middle Eastern food.

Pita Inn
3910 Dempster Street
Skokie, IL 60076
847.677.0211
Hours
Sunday-Thursday 11am - 11pm
Friday-Saturday 11am- 12am
http://www.pita-inn.com/
LTH Forum discussion

Maybe the both of you will enjoy The Heartland Cafe, which is easily reached from the Red Line "el". This restaurant offers healthy fare, at fair prices - and there are often live music performances.

I would second the Heartland recommendation. They have an eclectic tap list, reasonable prices, and just a nice homey feel.

There are a couple of existing threads that will probably help you:
Reference: History Evanston Lunch Group
Help on Howard
Celtic Knot, Evanston (often my pick for a cheap date with my meat-and-potatoes spouse)
Evanston need recs (and great places)
'nice' Lunch in Evanston
North Clark-A-Thon


Considering your transportation restrictions, I'm loth to suggest anything in outlying suburbs - it's there, but not necessarily easy to access, while most of Evanston is just off the El.

Darren72 wrote:I just spent 10 minutes trying to figure out where these buses go. The PACE website is anything but user friendly.

If you know the route number you want to look at, the easiest thing to do is to look at the map for that route on the PACE website (go to "Route Finder", select route number, and select the route number you're interested in).

If you don't know the route number you want to look at, I've found that the easiest place to start is the map on the RTA website (click on "RTA System Transit Map").

Healthy, cheap, with good meat and potato options,
and on Clark Street... to me the fairly obvious
choice is Big Buns and Pita.

Middle-eastern food - you'll get very good kabobs
(the kefta kabob and shish kabob are excellent,
probably better thant he shawarma). If you want
to stay "healthier" with chicken, say, you have
a very good chicken kabob or a Cornish Hen
dish. You'll also get "Big Bun Style Home
Potatoes" - one of the better fried-potato dishes
in the city (dont get the fries, get this dish
instead - its slightly spiced and battered
fresh-fried potatoes, theyre excellent). Also
make sure to try their version of Burek - described
as a "mediterrean egg roll with meat", it was
voted among the Top 100 food items in Chicago
(which prompted me to try it in the first place),
and was quite excellent.

In addition, this being middle-eastern food, you
can if you wish go very healthy, even purely
vegetarian - with hummos, baba ganouj,
falafel, tabouleh, medames etc (Iam not a
veg-fan, but I can confirm they have a very
good vegetarian lentil soup).

As for prices.. I doubt youd be able to manage
to spend 15 bucks apiece if you tried! If you go
with one of their "all day specials", for example,
you'll get a kabob entree, a soup, salad and rice...
and it'll set you back about 5 bucks IIRC. Id
suggest one of those, a burek, some old
potatoes, a veggie entree, maybe one of
their excellent teas ...that oughta get the total
to about 15 bucks - and if you use the coupons
on their pickup menu, you can get a free
appetizer in addition. My guess is you can
get out of there under 10 bucks apiece, and
be unable to eat any more afterwards.

Big Buns and Pita
6649 N Clark Street
773-262-2000
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8885&hilit=big+buns

c8w

P.S. If there is a desire for actual steak and
not just kabobs.. then Id suggest a restaurant
also on Clark, only a few doors down from
Big Buns. That is, Los Niches - a Columbian
spot. For about 10-11 bucks (unless its lunch,
in which case its 6 bucks), you'll get a fine
grilled steak with rice, beans, salad etc. The
vegetarian options are much thinner on the
ground here, but the meat and sides are
excellent. Los Niches is at 6619 North Clark.

c8w wrote:Big Buns and Pita
6649 N Clark Street
773-262-2000
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f= ... t=big+buns

c8w

P.S. If there is a desire for actual steak and
not just kabobs.. then Id suggest a restaurant
also on Clark, only a few doors down from
Big Buns. That is, Los Niches - a Columbian
spot. For about 10-11 bucks (unless its lunch,
in which case its 6 bucks), you'll get a fine
grilled steak with rice, beans, salad etc. The
vegetarian options are much thinner on the
ground here, but the meat and sides are
excellent. Los Niches is at 6619 North Clark.

I would agree with c8w about Big Buns and Pita. Mr. X and I recently dined in (as opposed to our usual MO of BB&P takeout) and had a lovely meal.

Los Niches is currently closed. It looks like work is being done on the space.

Of course, there's always the veal stew at GNR winner Deta's, easily accessible just off Howard St. Healthy would be a matter of interpretation - there is salad and there are lots of vegetables...

Along the 215/250... What about Wholly Frijoles on Touhy & Crawford - Great cheap mexican. Gullivers on Howard & California - good pizza & a huge menu

How about Hub's on Dempster? IMO, top notch Gyros. Salads and stuff for the healthy crowd.

http://www.hubs-restaurant.com/

Hub's Restaurant
3727 W. Dempster Ave
Skokie
847-677-7695
847-673-9409

Dave148 wrote:How about Hub's on Dempster?

The OP asked about places along the 215 and 290 bus routes that go to Howard Street. Hub's is on the 250 bus route and would require an extra el ride on the purple line to the Davis Street stop to catch the 250.

selanator wrote:Along the 215/250... Gullivers on Howard & California - good pizza & a huge menu

I am sad to report that the pizza at Gulliver's has taken a big turn for the worse. The crust no longer has any corn meal and there is no caramelized cheese on the outer crust.

Quote:
Maybe the both of you will enjoy The Heartland Cafe, which is easily reached from the Red Line "el". This restaurant offers healthy fare, at fair prices - and there are often live music performances.

I would second the Heartland recommendation. They have an eclectic tap list, reasonable prices, and just a nice homey feel.

Let's just say that I strenuously agree with the above recs, and leave it at that. Go at your own peril!

scottsol wrote:

selanator wrote:Along the 215/250... Gullivers on Howard & California - good pizza & a huge menu

I am sad to report that the pizza at Gulliver's has taken a big turn for the worse. The crust no longer has any corn meal and there is no caramelized cheese on the outer crust.

That's a shame. Probably a result of the owner passing away a couple of years ago. He was very hands on.

Hi,

The originator of Gulliver's was Burt of Burt's Pizza in Morton Grove.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

The originator of Gulliver's was Burt of Burt's Pizza in Morton Grove.

Regards,

It was Burt's partner, Jerry Freeman, who passed away in 2006.

scottsol wrote:I am sad to report that the pizza at Gulliver's has taken a big turn for the worse. The crust no longer has any corn meal and there is no caramelized cheese on the outer crust.

Yeah, I made the mistake of ordering a pan pizza from Gulliver's a while back. It weighed a ton, but was a mushy tasteless mess. Most of it went into the garbage. The restaurant itself is still worth a visit for the over the top decor, but steer clear of the pan pizza.

d4v3 wrote:

scottsol wrote:I am sad to report that the pizza at Gulliver's has taken a big turn for the worse. The crust no longer has any corn meal and there is no caramelized cheese on the outer crust.

Yeah, I made the mistake of ordering a pan pizza from Gulliver's a while back. It weighed a ton, but was a mushy tasteless mess. Most of it went into the garbage. The restaurant itself is still worth a visit for the over the top decor, but steer clear of the pan pizza.

As I recall, the burgers are quite good. Is that still true? It's been quite a while since I've been there.

d4v3 wrote:

scottsol wrote:I am sad to report that the pizza at Gulliver's has taken a big turn for the worse. The crust no longer has any corn meal and there is no caramelized cheese on the outer crust.

Yeah, I made the mistake of ordering a pan pizza from Gulliver's a while back. It weighed a ton, but was a mushy tasteless mess. Most of it went into the garbage. The restaurant itself is still worth a visit for the over the top decor, but steer clear of the pan pizza.

Being a long-time Gulliver's fan, I had a bad experience a month ago like some of the others here, but I gave it another chance. I think they're getting their pan pizza back up to the old standard.

Last night's was quite good, with luscious chunks of tomato, and a good crust. I can't comment on cornmeal, because it wasn't something I'd thought to consider till reading it just now.

If anything, they seem to have invented a new problem that I've never seen in pizza -- the wet tomato sauce gathers at the seam of the crust around the edges and wets it enough that it won't hold up when you pick it up. I ate most of the pizza with a fork. I hope they get that figured out, but for now, I remain a Gulliver's fan.

ryanwc wrote:

d4v3 wrote:

scottsol wrote:I am sad to report that the pizza at Gulliver's has taken a big turn for the worse. The crust no longer has any corn meal and there is no caramelized cheese on the outer crust.

Yeah, I made the mistake of ordering a pan pizza from Gulliver's a while back. It weighed a ton, but was a mushy tasteless mess. Most of it went into the garbage. The restaurant itself is still worth a visit for the over the top decor, but steer clear of the pan pizza.

Being a long-time Gulliver's fan, I had a bad experience a month ago like some of the others here, but I gave it another chance. I think they're getting their pan pizza back up to the old standard.

Last night's was quite good, with luscious chunks of tomato, and a good crust. I can't comment on cornmeal, because it wasn't something I'd thought to consider till reading it just now.

If anything, they seem to have invented a new problem that I've never seen in pizza -- the wet tomato sauce gathers at the seam of the crust around the edges and wets it enough that it won't hold up when you pick it up. I ate most of the pizza with a fork. I hope they get that figured out, but for now, I remain a Gulliver's fan.

I have much less of a problem with a soggy crust if I ask for them not to slice the pizza.

ryanwc wrote:Being a long-time Gulliver's fan, I had a bad experience a month ago like some of the others here, but I gave it another chance. I think they're getting their pan pizza back up to the old standard.

Last night's was quite good, with luscious chunks of tomato, and a good crust. I can't comment on cornmeal, because it wasn't something I'd thought to consider till reading it just now.

Was the caramelized cheese back?