Recommendations near the Brown and Red lines

My 1st post!

My wife and I take the train in on weekends. We like to try new restaurants but she's not too excited about long, cold walks this winter to get to new places, so I'm trying to find some that are close (within a block or 2) of EL stops on the Red or Brown line. My list so far includes ATK, DMK (Brown - Wellington), Frasca (Brown - Paulina) and Spacca Napoli (Brown - Montrose) but I'm hoping to expand our list. Would love any recommendations.

Thanks!

Wow, so many possibilities! Here are just a few, listed north to south...

Tank Noodle (Red - Argyle)
Magnolia Cafe (Red - Wilson)
Mixteco Grill (Brown - Montrose)
Fish Bar (Brown - Wellington)
Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba (Brown - Armitage)
Alinea (Red - North/Clybourn)
Boka (Red - North/Clybourn)
Salpicon (Red - Clark/Division)
Pizano's (Red - Chicago)
Quartino (Red - Grand)
David Burke's Primehouse (Red - Grand)
Sable (Red - Grand)
GT Fish & Oyster (Brown - Merchandise Mart, also Red - Grand)
Naha (Brown - Merchandise Mart, also Red - Grand)
Piccolo Sogno Due (Brown - Merchandise Mart, also Red - Lake)
Chicago Cut Steakhouse (Brown - Merchandise Mart, also Red - Lake)
Atwood Cafe (Red - Lake, also Brown - State/Lake)
Pizano's (Brown - Madison/Wabash)
Vivere (Red - Monroe)
The Florentine (Red - Jackson, also Brown - Quincy/Wells)
Everest (Brown - LaSalle/Van Buren)
Mercat a la Planxa (Red - Harrison)
Lou Malnati's (Red - Harrison)
Gioco (Red - Roosevelt)
Lao Sze Chuan (Red - Cermak/Chinatown)
Double Li (Red - Cermak/Chinatown)

And for breakfast/brunch:

M. Henrietta (Red - Granville)
Southport Grocery (Brown - Southport)
Bongo Room (Red - Roosevelt)

If you can expand beyond that 1-2 block limit up to 4-5 blocks or so:

Bistronomic (Red - Chicago)
Bar Toma (Red - Chicago)
Frontera Grill and Topolobampo (Red - Grand)

If you're willing to consider the Purple Line (always available from Red - Howard, and hits some of the other Red Line and Brown Line stops in commuting hours):

Thai Sookdee (Purple - Davis)
Edzo's (Purple - Davis)
Cross Rhodes (Purple - Main)
Campagnola (Purple - Main)

You might also want to check out the Google Map of LTH's "Great Neighborhood Restaurants".

Great - thanks! Exactly what I was hoping for. Any other suggestions appreciated.

Sun Wah - right around the corner from the Argyle stop of the Brown line and always worth a stop for the duck and so much more.

Mizu - great sushi, even better yakitori - Sedgewick stop of the Brown line, just east on North Ave.

Aroy Thai at the Damen Brown Line stop, and Spoon Thai at the Western Brown Line.

Between the two, I think I'd eat Thai food every day if I lived on the Brown Line

A few of my favorites (not mentioned above):
TAC Quick - Red/Sheridan
Ras Dashen - Red/Thorndale
Cafe Orchid - Brown/Addison
Great Sea - Brown/Kedzie
SP Kebab - Red/Morse
Pho Lily - Red/Argyle
Nha Hang - Red/Argyle
Nhu Lan - Brown/Rockwell
Edzo's - Purple/Davis
Cross Rhodes - Purple/Main
Weiner and Still Champion - Purple/Dempster
Barn and Co. - Brown/Diversey (or Red, Brown/Fullerton)
Old Town Social - Brown/Sedgwick
Sai Cafe - Brown/Armitage
BIG & littles - Brown/Chicago
Gilt Bar/Bavette's - Brown/Merch Mart
Slurping Turtle - Brown/Merch Mart
Xoco - Red/Grand
Burger Bar Chicago - Red/North-Clybourn
Chicago Q - Red/Clark-Division
New England Seafood Company - Brown/Paulina
Fountainhead - Brown/Montrose
Essence of India - Brown/Western
Los Nopales - Brown/Western
Taco Chino - Brown/Kimball
Lao Hunan - Red/Cermak
Taqueria Los Portales - Red/Morse

That ought to keep you busy!

Edited to reflect that Nhu Lan reopened

Sun Wah is by the Red Line. Lao Szechuan just opened a branch on Broadway, just north of Lawrence (Red line.)

Chilapan on Montrose is excellent (Brown line.)

I'd also highly recommend Balena and Vinci, both on Halsted (close to the Red - North/Clybourn) if you like Italian.

Siun wrote:
Mizu - great sushi, even better yakitori - Sedgewick stop of the Brown line, just east on North Ave.

We've already wailed & beat our chests, but MIZU is closed. Did you ever have the soup with those fat & tender noodles? Perfect for this weather.

I'd also highly recommend Balena and Vinci, both on Halsted (close to the Red - North/Clybourn) if you like Italian.

Also at this stop, if you want cheaper and lighter Italian (and excellent pizza if you like crispy) is Sono Wood-fired, next door to Burger Bar (to which I haven't been). Also downtown near the Grand/Red is La Madia, again for lighter, less-expensive, wood-fired pizza fare.

I haven't seen Glenn's Diner mentioned above, which is right at the Montrose Brown Line (near Margie's!). Not much Indian, either, so I will add Chicago Curry House not far south of the Harrison Red line in the South Loop (primarily for the Nepalese specialties).

This might make a great hook for a future LTH-a-thon.

Some general stops for ethnic neighborhoods:

Chinatown - Red Line Cermak
Vietnamese - Red Line Argyle
Middle Eastern/Persian - Brown Line Kedzie

tapler's first suggestion of TAC Quick comes to mind because it is literally next door to the train.

Thanks for all the great suggestions, if we try a different one every Friday night it will be 2014 before we finish!

pairs4life wrote:

Siun wrote:
Mizu - great sushi, even better yakitori - Sedgewick stop of the Brown line, just east on North Ave.

We've already wailed & beat our chests, but MIZU is closed. Did you ever have the soup with those fat & tender noodles? Perfect for this weather.

Oh NOOOO! Since I've moved 3 blocks, I haven't walked along that part of North since June ... damn. I missed the soup but everything I had there was lovely and the folks were so nice.

Now I am sad sad sad.

And @jbw - great to see the La Madia mention. My coworkers and I go there often - esp on Friday evening - for a glass of wine which usually turns into dinner. Such a great option at a really affordable price - the Parma pizza is my current favorite though I used to insist on the Chianti braised shortribs with risotto. And we always end up sharing the latest seasonal crostada even if we pretend we're dieting that week. At lunchtime we often get their salads - the dressing on the romaine salad with pulled chicken and pancetta is also the dipping sauce for their roasted artichokes and it's luscious - I could live on the sauce alone!