Lane Tech Area - Quick And Interesting

Howdy, Y'all.
Pre-high school sports game dinner. I'll have about an hour. 5:30pm. Trying to stay within say, 1.5 miles of Lane Tech, so we don't stress too much about parking, and getting to the field on time when we are done with the meal. Just looking for interesting, quick-ish, casual. Dives are totally fine, dare I say preferred. I was kinda eyeballing that Soul And Smoke place, cuz...grits and bbq. Also wondering about Little Goat Diner. Our issue is, we love to eat just about anything and everything. Indian, Thai, Sushi, tacos, Jibaritos, burgers, falafel - we're down. I have a feeling that the geographical restraints will probably rule out some of those options. No Italian, tho. Anyone have a secret spot in the area that won't be crowded on a Thu night right around 5:30? Anything goes, really. I've already mapped and viewed ratings, but wondering if someone knows a spot they'd hit up for sure. I'm not 100% sure if Carnicerias Guanajuato is going to fit the bill for us, but that's also a thought.

I live very close to this area, so I have a lot of thoughts, which may be more than you are looking for:

Pi-Hi is falafel and pizza and is pretty good and is directly across the street from Lane Tech.

I've enjoyed Reclaimed the few times I've been; it calls itself a Southern gastropub, which is fairly apt.

You mentioned jibaritos; there is a spot Borinquen a couple of blocks north of Lane. I've only been once and pre-pandemic (and am also not an experienced jibaritos eater) but I thought it was good.

A little further afield, a little north of Irving Park on Western there is Kraken which has solid sushi/thai food.

Finally, even further afield but definitely doable, would be stuff around Montrose and Lincoln, which would include a Small Cheval, Menya Goku (my favorite ramen in the city, though it's small and I'm unsure how busy it would be at that time), Taqueria El Asadero (no frills taco/burrito shop, cash only).

That's what I've got off the top of my head and probably others will have great suggestions too. Hopefully you will be able to find somewhere that can hit the spot for you!

seebee wrote:Howdy, Y'all.
Pre-high school sports game dinner. I'll have about an hour. 5:30pm. Trying to stay within say, 1.5 miles of Lane Tech, so we don't stress too much about parking, and getting to the field on time when we are done with the meal. Just looking for interesting, quick-ish, casual. Dives are totally fine, dare I say preferred. I was kinda eyeballing that Soul And Smoke place, cuz...grits and bbq. Also wondering about Little Goat Diner. Our issue is, we love to eat just about anything and everything. Indian, Thai, Sushi, tacos, Jibaritos, burgers, falafel - we're down. I have a feeling that the geographical restraints will probably rule out some of those options. No Italian, tho. Anyone have a secret spot in the area that won't be crowded on a Thu night right around 5:30? Anything goes, really. I've already mapped and viewed ratings, but wondering if someone knows a spot they'd hit up for sure. I'm not 100% sure if Carnicerias Guanajuato is going to fit the bill for us, but that's also a thought.

Not really a dive but I think Thattu (just around the corner from Lane) is the answer you're looking for. Incredible Indian based on Kerala cuisine.

They have 5:30 available.

Edit: They're very quick getting food out. No requirement to have a lengthy multi course experience.

Roost is not far on Roscoe if you want some chicken and excellent biscuits

Taqueria la Zacatecana- carne asada

Tepalcates on Belmont (between Western and Oakley). I don't see a previous mention of it on LTHForum.

Titus wrote about it on his blog at
https://chibbqking.blogspot.com/2023/12/five-of-kind-new-tacos-in-town.html

--
edc

Lots of great ideas here. The most helpful thing I can add is that traffic around there can be very bad at times. So plan accordingly.

Menya Goku, Kraken, Cho Sun Ok, Dapper's East, Zacatecana

Bad traffic around 5:30 on a weekday is likely. That time makes parking risky around Lincoln and Montrose due to the youth baseball games in Welles Park so Menya Goku and the others mentioned by Northcenter Joe around that intersection would be problematic.

The Addison Street bridge over the Kennedy Expressway is scheduled to be cut to one narrow lane in each direction starting Monday, May 12, which will make traffic even worse.

Borinquen Lounge is a sister restaurant to the one in the Humboldt Park community that originated the jibarito. It is a lot fancier than the others farther west. I also have not been there since covid.

All within a mile or so I've got pushpins for Honey Butter Fried Chicken, Chief O'Neill's, Mrs. Murphy & Sons, (Bartolli's Pizzeria but you said Italian was out), The Globe Pub, Laschett's Inn, The Wolfhound, DMen Tap, and Kuma's Corner. Walking each way would use up much of your hour but parking near one to eat and then walking to Lane Tech could make parking easier.

There's a really good little Mexican restaurant in the area I've been going to a lot called Tepalcates at 2326 W Belmont. Quality and price is spot on and the owner is super nice. I've had a bunch of things including a shrimp burrito, and tacos (pastor, pulp, birria). Great homemade aqua fresca too.

Does Jimmy's Pizza Cafe count as Italian?
Hard to beat for a pre/post-game meal in the area.

https://www.instagram.com/jimmyspizzacafe/