My new year’s resolution is to eat and drink at as many places as possible that I've never been. I like running starts, so I put my resolution into effect at the beginning of this week. Unfortunately, looming work deadlines are cramping my style these days, and I’ve had to limit my new food adventures to places where I can eat
and be industrious.
I am on a winning streak. Monday was
Bridgeport Coffee House. Yesterday was
Star Coffee Lounge in Humboldt Park. Today was the clincher. Thanks to a tip from Mike G, I ventured north and west to Norwood Park to visit to the
mentioned-only-once-by-Pie-Lady Kouks Vintage Café and Resale Shop.
I felt like Sharon in Wonderland here. On an otherwise industrial stretch of Northwest Highway, Kouks is basically an expansive, split-level house teeming with fantastic possibilities for "Guess the Café" clues: from the Mr. Rogers-like mannequin seated with crossed legs and suitcase on a bench out front; to the Botero reproduction of a dancing couple above the bar; to the giant ceramic Miss-Piggy-with-jester-hat piggy bank that presides over the seating area. And these clues are only from the front, café area of Kouks.
The barCafé seating areaToward the resale shop in backFurther clues abound on the second, rear level where the resale shop is concentrated and outside on the large and for now snow-covered patio. According to Georgia, one of the owners, Kouks opened eight years ago. An Italian restaurant previously occupied the space and, "way back," it was a mom-and-pop shop selling eggs and bread in the front portion of the building with said mom and pop residing in the back.
Kouks Café serves: pizza by the slice (cheese and sausage/peperoni, $3), spanakopita ($3.75), pastries (danish, $1.75; mungo cookie, $1) and other snacks (banana, $.75; hard-boiled egg, $.50). Georgia also mentioned an egg sandwich. Cold drinks include: Italian sodas, Jarritos, Coke and smoothies. Kouks brews Java Joe coffee with one chalkboard extolling the Meaning of Life blend as award-winning and the best in Chicago ($1.50, 12 oz.; $1.75, 16 oz.). The café also offers “Coffee Yummies,” specialty drinks that include the Black Tie Affair and house creations the Double Nut Case and Chitown Brownie (prices not listed on the menu). To my delight, Kouks is also serious about tea with at least ten loose black, green and herbal varieties, steeped with timer precision (16 oz., under $2; pot, up to $6.25; leaves by the ounce to take home, $2.50 and up).
Better-than-Greek-fast-food spanakopita was served hot from the toaster oven. The pastry was crisp, flaky and sufficiently buttery, and the spinach and cheese filling deftly proportioned and seasoned. Presented with retro utensils and on a gleaming--albeit covered with wax paper--silver platter engraved with the name "Stevie's," I felt very dignified eating my spinach pie.*
SpanakopitaServing platterI also had an Earl Grey tea which, fortunately that I might be able to sleep tonight, was not as strong as it looked and smelled. The blood orange tea I enjoyed even more. It had a less tart flavor profile than most citrus-flavored teas I've tasted. Also, it seemed to have a hint of woodiness, like a rooibos.
Kouks, like any coffee shop, has its regulars, who were--without exception--as warm and friendly to this newcomer as Owners Georgia and Andy. With the aid of free and fast wi-fi, I put in a few very productive hours of work and then explored the Wunderhaus that is the retail shop. I enjoyed the array of ceramics.
Cookie jarDecantersLooking at what I chose to photograph today, I must have had drink on the brain.
Chalices and noisemakerStirrersCopper vesselsBeer cansMy purchases, in fact, included a pair of snifters and a pair of beer steins, for which I paid a total of something like $3.00, with all glassware at Kouks currently 30% off. I regret passing up a copy of
The Mystery Chef's Own Cookbook in good condition and books on other topics, all very reasonably priced. A few more photos I took at Kouks can be found in this
Flickr set, but there is much more to peruse at this unique Northwest Side one-two punch than my images suggest.
I left Kouks to meet Mama happy_stomach for an early dinner nearby, where I gifted her with one of my finds--a Snow Crest syrup container-bear bank. Guess the restaurant.
Kouks Vintage Café and Resale Shop5653 North Northwest Highway
Chicago, IL 60646-6153
773-594-8888
Open Tue-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 10am-3pm
*The only Stevie's I can guess is Stevie's Latin Village, the Decatur location of which is discussed in this thread. However, a Stevie's server once told 66 News!, "All the dishes, menus, ashtrays, etc. had [Stevie’s] caricature on them." The silver tray at Kouks today had no caricature.