Moving to Oak Park

Alas, I am moving my family out to Oak Park from the city in a few months. As an avowed foodie, I have to admit I was nervous about placing ourselves in a culinary wasteland, not that we'll never eat in the city again, but, of course, we would like to be near some good take out/eat out options. Upon preliminary research it appears that there are some nice options in Oak Park. However, I wanted to get the locals on the board to weigh in with their favorite options for take out, eat out and CSAs. Thanks in advance!

Hi, DBag* - welcome.
Here's a thread for you to start off with:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=25283

The csa I use:
Gibbs Family Garden

*snicker (oh relax!)

I would suggest that you give Puree's a try. It has not been mentioned here that I know of, but it should have been by now. They have a very solid Italian-based menu of reasonably priced items of consistently high quality. This includes pizza, pasta dishes, sandwiches, salads, and desserts.

Puree's Pizza & Pasta
1023 W. Lake St.
Oak Park
708-386-4949

There are tons restaurants in the general vicinity (from Elmwood Park/Chicago on the north down to Riverside on the south - including Berwyn, Forest Park, Brookfield). What types of food are you looking for? A few I've enjoyed:

New Rebozo - Mexican (Madison/Harlem)
Kyber Pass - Indian (Lake St)
One Pot - Asian (Lake St)
Brando's Beef - (Berwyn)
Las Asada's Tacos - (Brookfield)
Xni-Pec - Yucatcan (Brookfield)
Francesca's - Forest Park

Actually, if you're going to go as far afield as Brookfield, you may as well add (in the other direction) American Depot Diner to your list.

Thanks for the responses so far!

Any input on the following:

Trattoria 225
Briejo
Blue Max
Sen Sushi
Cucina Paradiso
Papa Spiros

dustbag-

Many of the restaurants you've listed have been discussed on LTH. Check out the threads that others have posted above or use the search function.

Enjoy!

Buzz Cafe seems like an option as well http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=28012

Welcome --

There's an entire thread re: Sen Sushi, and the consensus so far is that it's rather good!

Blue Max has excellent coffee that they roast on the premises, and it's a nice place for lunch or breakfast.

Freddy's in Cicero is a personal favorite for prepared Italian foods. It's a take-out grocery of sorts, with a casual adjoining area where you can eat what you've purchased.

Jerk Grill on North Ave - Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Jimmy's Place and Gaetano's on Madison in Forest Park

Frankly, Freddy's and Gaetano's are two of my favorite places in the entire Chicago area, and should be more than enough to allay and food fears.

Panther in the Den wrote:Jerk Grill on North Ave - Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Jimmy's Place and Gaetano's on Madison in Forest Park

While looknig for something new in Oak Park I found this thread and having never tried jerk chicken headed over to Jerk Grill tonight.

The chicken is moist and has a real nice spice level (actually could have been been a little hotter but it's still very good).
The chicken came with rice and peas (which I did not know was actually red beans and rice) and fried plantains.

While everything was quite good what impressed me most was the way each dish balanced the others. The spicy chicken, the strachy rice and peas and the sweet plantains all combined in a really complimentary way.

I'll definately be back to try the curried goat.
A great find - thanks Panther!

Alright, so we've moved! So, we ordered Sen the first night and I gotta say I was disappointed. But, I am going to give them a break, cause it was take out, so we'll go in there and see how it is. We also got Szechuan Beijing, which was decent. Any other good Chinese places in town? Looking forward to hitting all the hotspots in the days, weeks and months ahead!

dustbag44 wrote:Alright, so we've moved! So, we ordered Sen the first night and I gotta say I was disappointed. But, I am going to give them a break, cause it was take out, so we'll go in there and see how it is. We also got Szechuan Beijing, which was decent. Any other good Chinese places in town? Looking forward to hitting all the hotspots in the days, weeks and months ahead!

"What's the best place for Chinese delivery in greater OP?" Thread

Panther in the Den wrote:

dustbag44 wrote:Alright, so we've moved! So, we ordered Sen the first night and I gotta say I was disappointed. But, I am going to give them a break, cause it was take out, so we'll go in there and see how it is. We also got Szechuan Beijing, which was decent. Any other good Chinese places in town? Looking forward to hitting all the hotspots in the days, weeks and months ahead!

"What's the best place for Chinese delivery in greater OP?" Thread

Lotus remains the only option for Chinese in the OP area my wife and I will even consider. 95% of the time we'll make the drive to Chinatown if we really want Chinese though - the local options just don't compare, at all. Thai fares much better in the area.

I think the best food in Oak Park is on the outskirts. I second Freddy's & the Depot, LTH staples. Also try Bodhi Thai, Rico Taco, La Quebrada (all on Roosevelt). Klay Oven has decent Indian food. Grape Leaves is good for middle eastern. I also have a soft spot for the drive up at the jerk chicken joint at Madison and Laramie, but that is firmly in the Chicago west side. Oak Park center is a little too unadventurous in my opinion and most places are playing it safe. I'd love some real ethnic food that was a little bolder. You'd think with the aging hippies there would be better food, but maybe the abundance of small children keeps things in the safe zone.

Another good place that isn't too far away is Hillery & Cook for BBQ in Maywood. They are at 1200 S. 17th.

Strongly recommend Khyber Pass over Klay Oven for Indian food.

My Indian wife agrees


(But skip the buffet and order off the menu, as you should at most Indian restaurants).

jeff_deff wrote:Another good place that isn't too far away is Hillery & Cook for BBQ in Maywood. They are at 1200 S. 17th.

I've been to Hillery & Cook once, I've been to Russsell's once, and I've had two Mcribs in my lifetime.
If I had to choose a meal between these three options, seriously, from my experience, I think I'd choose Hillery & Cook last.
OTOH, there is just no way that the H&C product can be consistently as horredous as the tip/link combo I had there. It was pretty much comically bad. Maybe I'll man up and give them another try.

You'd take a McRib over ribs from Hillery & Cook? That's hardcore!
This would make for a fun game, I'd rather eat a McRib than _________!

What's a better BBQ place close to Oak Park? I miss going to Honey one and don't see too many aquarium smokers in the front windows around these parts.

This gets at the core of Oak Park dining....going to places that are close because the really good places are too far away.

teatpuller wrote:This gets at the core of Oak Park dining....going to places that are close because the really good places are too far away.

Sadly, this is the truth!

Does anyone have a sushi recommendation for Oak Park? I've noticed quite a few places. I've tried Fuji Grill on Harlem and Madison. I ordered Uni first to test the waters and they didn't have any. The food was ok, but I was hoping for more.

jeff_deff wrote:Does anyone have a sushi recommendation for Oak Park?

There's some discussion about Sen here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=25566&hilit=sustainable+sen

Wow, Sen Sushi looks fantastic. Mackerel and Uni are my favorites so your photos really made me hungry! I may have to go there tonight! Thanks for the recommendation.

jeff_deff wrote:You'd take a McRib over ribs from Hillery & Cook? That's hardcore!
This would make for a fun game, I'd rather eat a McRib than _________!

What's a better BBQ place close to Oak Park? I miss going to Honey one and don't see too many aquarium smokers in the front windows around these parts.

Well, IMO, Coleman's was the best (which was right down the street from H&C. Coleman's closed up recently, sad indeed.)
There is another Coleman's on Madison somewhere around Central. Never been there.
Smokin M's on Roosevelt across the street from Ultra Foods is a bad joke, IMO.

Haven't been to Robinson's in years. They had been remarkably consistently horrible the last few times I tried them, so I just gave up altogether.

The only place that I'd TRY again round these parts would be Joe's out in Hillside.

All that said, I don't think I'd ever do take out Q around here. It's just not worth the letdown.

P.s. I'm seriously considering trying H&C again for lunch today. Like, I really think I'm gonna do it.
Prolly go with a tip / link with normal hot links and not the "red sausage" things they have.
You have any tips on what to order?

teatpuller wrote:This gets at the core of Oak Park dining....going to places that are close because the really good places are too far away.

I understand, but I don't agree. If you live in op, you live in a suburb that shares a few boarder streets with one of the greatest cities in the world. Are the amenities of the city really far? Like in mileage? Travel time? (Assuming you have a car, that is.)

Personally speaking, a 40-60 minute ride to the north side with kids in tow is usually more than I'm willing to do. Therefore, I go to places like Amarind, Papaspiros, Sen, Jimmy's etc. Which are OK, but not the best.

You got it, teatpuller. I'm right there with you!

seebee wrote:P.s. I'm seriously considering trying H&C again for lunch today. Like, I really think I'm gonna do it.
Prolly go with a tip / link with normal hot links and not the "red sausage" things they have.
You have any tips on what to order?

I've had their tips, ribs and wings. Tips are my usual choice. All seemed pretty good to me, but I love BBQ and though I'd rather have Honey One or Lem's or... H&C has never been a letdown. But my standards are not as high as some on these boards and I'd rather have BBQ than no BBQ!

Talk to the staff, they were really friendly with me each time I've been. I always ask for recommendations and they gave me a special combination of their sauces, I think it was half and half, hot and mild, they said that was their favorite. Sometimes BBQ places are inconsistent, so hopefully you will get some good stuff this time. Best of luck!

So, I went to Hillery & Cook's. Wasn't as bad as my first visit. Took a few pics. Still defnitely not impressed at all, but again, it wasn't even remotely close to as bad as the first time I tried them out. Posted my porky lunch story in the Hillery & Cook's thread.