Inexpensive restaurant featuring local food?

Colleague of mine is in town through the weekend, and wants to know what restaurant to go to that would feature local food and is in a price range that she can afford. By local, she means the kind of thing locavores eat... not my idea of local, which is that on Devon you eat Indian or Pakistani food, and in Pilsen, Mexican food... I am useless as a source because while I read about this kind of thing, I realized after she asked that I had an unspoken assumption that I couldn't afford any of the restaurants that cater to locavores-- I tend to think of that as the kind of thing at the type of pricy place that I neither can afford nor want to spend my money on. But perhaps I am wrong, and if so, LTHers will know! Because of this assumption, I haven't paid much attention to the idea of local food at restaurants, so I could be entirely wrong in my assumption. (I did eat at L'Etoile in Madison once, which was about half the price that a comparable place would have been in Chicago. I was very relieved that my husband did not make any snide comments when our waiter told us which farm the lamb was from. I will say that the food was very good.)

Of course, it is March, and not much is growing locally, eh. Feel free to tell me about places that would be great if she was here in August! By cheap, I think we mean under $25 out the door per person. I don't personally consider that cheap; cheap is the Indian dinner I had tonight with a colleague and two of us ate for under $30. But let's stretch cheap a bit here if we have to.

If you don't require 3 courses or alcohol then I would strongly suggest Lula Cafe in Logan square. Many dishes, especially the specials, will feature locally sourced eggs, meat,cheese, fruit and vegetables.

It is the weekend so why not go for Sunday brunch. They do specials on the weekend and brunch tends to be less expensive. They do have some of the nicest pancakes, fluffy, melt in your mouth type, in town IMHO.

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 31#p223831
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 68#p239468

Enjoy,

PS Not so local, but cheap and delicious as well Brown Sack! Best milk shake in the city of Chicago!

Judy H wrote:L'Etoile in Madison once, which was about half the price that a comparable place would have been in Chicago. I was very relieved that my husband did not make any snide comments when our waiter told us which farm the lamb was from. I will say that the food was very good.)

I don't agree at all. I like L'Etoile, but its prices are quite high. Prices at L'Etoile are on par with Blue Hill in NYC, an iconic example of "locavore"-style restaurants, and L'Etoile would be near the very top of the cost list here in Chicago.

In Chicago, my favorite places for this style of food are Mado and the Bristol. At dinnertime, both serve entrees in the high teens. So, if you share an appetizer and don't drink, you'll get out the door for $26-$30 per person. If you go that route, you'll need to seek out the heaviest items on the menu to avoid leaving hungry. Or, at the Bristol, you could order the sandwiches instead of an entree, and the bill would be within your range. As suggested above re. Lula, brunch might be the way to go.

Bistro Campagne emphasizes local. Entree prices range from $17-26, but the sandwiches come in around $13.

Bistro Campagne website wrote:Bistro Campagne is committed to the use of organic food products and strongly supports the sustainable, low impact agriculture movement.

Bistro Campagne
4518 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 271-6100

I think if you order smartly at Mado you can have really nice local things for not a lot of money. I spent a lot of money one time when we ordered practically everything, but the other times we were more careful and came out raving about how well we did for the price.

I agree with everything everyone has said about Mado, and it's BYOB, so you can spend all your money on food. If you shared an appetizer, you could come in around your price.
Or you could get a few starters and share a main and order a side dish and you would have plenty of food, which is the option I would go with, so you could try a few dishes. If you do end up at Mado, a reso is required on the weekend, or you could chance it and sit at the bar.
http://www.madorestaurantchicago.com