Stuff near Kennedy Expy

Good friends just moved downtown near The Drake, and we hate paying for parking every time we see them. Looking for suggestions along the Kennedy where we can eat well, find parking and meet halfway from the northern burbs.

Prefer to stay close to the highway rather than driving east toward Lincoln Square.

Depending on where you are defining as halfway, there are several GNR options near the expressway. The map is here

Kabul House and Smoque immediately come to mind for me.

Psistaria (also a GNR) is almost always a great half-way meeting place. But they don't take reservations on some weekend nights, so you have to be mindful of that.

=R=

Psistaria Greek Taverna
4711 W Touhy Ave (just off the Edens at Cicero)
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
(847) 676-9400

The neighborhoods along the Kennedy between the junction and downtown - Avondale, Logan Square, Bucktown, Wicker Park, and West Town - are chock full of restaurants worth considering. My personal favorites are Mexique in West Town for contemporary Mexican with a French accent, Lula in Logan Square for farm-to-table cuisine, the Bristol in Bucktown for new American gastropub cuisine, Dos Urban Cantina in Logan Square for contemporary Mexican, Yusho in Avondale for contemporary Asian, and, if you're dining during breakfast/brunch/lunch hours, Jam in Logan Square.

A note about parking. These areas are popular, especially where the restaurants are located, and you'll be looking for street parking, since there aren't many garages and lots like downtown. You sometimes can find it on the side streets, other times only on the main streets where you'll need to feed the pay boxes. Depending on the day and hour, you might be driving around for a while looking for a space.

gastro and Ronnie mentioned restaurants off the Edens, while you asked about places south of the junction. If the Edens works for you too, I'd add Wholly Frijoles in Lincolnwood, and Libertad in Skokie.

Sabatino's. Halfway, off the Kennedy. FREE valet.

Another option might be for you to park somewhere just off the expressway and then take the blue line to a stop closer in but not all the way downtown. Are your friends also driving? If so, it could take them a good bit to just get to the highway from the Drake, depending on traffic.

If you pick an exit or an L stop we can advise places around there that might work that aren't necessarily GNRs but are good.

How bout Owen & Engine by Diversey and Western right off the Kennedy? $2 parking in the movie theater garage across the street.

My father-in-law swears by Hot Woks Cool Sushi, immediately off exit 44B.

It's not directly off, but I must mention it: Howard Quintero (4114 N. Kedzie Ave.) is a beautiful space that needs more love. It's just a wee bit over a mile off Belmont (45C).

About a block up from the Central exit (83B) is Elly's. There have been some praise-singings about their pastries. Also, not far from there, is Smak-Tak.

The Fifth Province, inside the Irish-American Heritage Center, is off 43A (Wilson); although I think they're only open Friday and Saturday nights.

My father-in-law swears by Hot Woks Cool Sushi, immediately off exit 44B.

The HWCS just down the street from my place in Roscoe Village has always been disappointing. Granted, it's a chain, and not all franchises are created equal. Your f-i-l's experience may well be different. We've got many higher quality sushi 'joints' nearby. If there's anything I should be getting @ HWCS I'd love to know about it.

mkess wrote:How bout Owen & Engine by Diversey and Western right off the Kennedy? $2 parking in the movie theater garage across the street.

Great suggestion; one of my favorite places in the city.

I've been following this thread and confess that I find it a bit hard to comprehend. With an app like Spothero, you can park in the Loop of Gold Coast for $15-$20. Possibly less. To find restaurants off the Kennedy, your looking at Wicker, Logan or a few other places, where you'll pay for street parking at somewhere between $6 an $10 for street parking, plus having the hassle of trying to find a spot. So, you're limiting your opportunity to go see your friends for $5-$10. Me? I'd get new friends if that was the price point that made a difference to me.

That said, you have plenty of options; Taxim, Lilly's Q, Smoque, Arbor, Owen and Engine, Longman and Eagle, Fat Rice, Xoco, Small Cheval, Osteria Langhe, anything in the West Loop if you're willing to pay $10-$15 for valet, or Blackbird, Sepia. Notably, your friends will have to either drive (arguably one of the reasons they are in the city is because they don't want to drive) or pay $20 approximately in Uber fees round trip to get to any of the places in Wicker or Logan. So I'm just not sure there really is a workable solution here if parking/Uber/Lyft/Taxi costs are a concern

The further out you go, free parking gets easier to find.
If they see these people often, parking adds up quite a bit, especially depending on the time of day. Already the prices you mention are enough for a small meal in and of themselves. If the OP is like me, s/he'd also rather stick it to the man.

Pursuit wrote:With an app like Spothero, you can park in the Loop of Gold Coast for $15-$20. Possibly less.

I was going to post something like this, but hesitated. You're absolutely right, though. I've been using the bestparking.com website with great results. It works as an app with your smartphone, as well as a website without a smartphone. You enter your arrival and departure time, and it calculates rates for all the public garages and lots. At some of them, you can prepay for parking, at rates significantly less than for those arriving without advance payment reservations. (You scan a barcode for your advance reservation, either on your phone or printed from the website.) Instead of getting stuck driving into whatever garage you see and paying $30 or more, I usually end up paying $10-15, sometimes less. It's also worth mentioning that most downtown restaurants offer valet parking, usually in that same $10-15 range, and you can find out their valet rate in advance on their Opentable information page. Bottom line, at those rates you might not be saving all that much by dining elsewhere, just off the Kennedy - and your friends who live in the city will have to pay as much as you do to park in that area, thereby doubling the total parking cost, but splitting it between you and your friends.

What we often do in such situations is, rather than trying to dine midway between us (which can be mutually inconvenient), we alternate dinners, one near where our friends live, alternating with one near our own home.

Still, if you're looking for restaurants off the Kennedy (and Edens), you've got plenty of suggestions here.

Thank you Pie Lady for understanding the intent of the original post. I am aware of spot hero, parking whiz and the like. Sometimes suburban people I.e., my husband, struggle with paying for parking, especially when, as mentioned, the cost is as high as drinks or maybe an entree in a casual spot. Sometimes you have to change plans and can't make your parking space, must cancel before a deadline to avoid being charged. Sometimes it's just a hassle to deal with downtown traffic.

As for the value of my friends and the snarky tone, I'll simply thank everyone else for the places and areas mentioned. We don't know the neighborhoods all that well and these were helpful.

Another idea is Greektown, right off the expressway and with free valet. Personally, I usually choose Greek Islands, but there are a number of good options...

Another meet-halfway idea very near Ronnie's suggestion of Psistaria is L. Woods, which offers a Wisconsin supper club ambience, Lettuce Entertain You dining points, prime rib, ribs, cocktails, and a large free parking lot. I'm in a group of ladies, some in the city and some in the northern and western suburbs, who've met there several times for dinner. It's also one of the very few place in the Chicago area that serves beef ribs, a favorite of mine, although they do sometimes sell out of them on busy nights.

L. Woods Tap and Pine Lodge
7110 N. Lincoln Avenue
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
(847) 677-3350