Eats in Humboldt "Heights"?

I recently moved from Ukrainian Village to Humboldt Park, just west of the park itself, a block south of North Ave, an area that my landlord insists is called Humboldt Heights. Very fancy. I'm curious about food options in the area. I love Taqueria Puebla and the various trucks in the park, and I've been to Hot Spot on Armitage as well as Streetside, but other than that, I don't know too many restaurants, bars or even produce markets/grocery stores/bakeries in the immediate vicinity.

Anyone have any suggestions, or links to topics that I missed on LTH?

Thanks in advance!

Liz

Oooh, lots of good choices nearby.
Papa's Cache Sabroso is my favorite spot for a jibarrito.
For upscale/trendy-ish places (but with good food), try Maiz and Flying Saucer (both around 1000 block of California)
There are some great spots in Logan:
I like Buona Terra on California for consitently good, inexpensive Italian (owned by a really nice couple).
Lula's is fairly close too (Milwaulkee/Logan blvd).
I just heard about a cafe called Atlas but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

Pico Rico, on North just west of Pulaski.

Pico Rico
4107 W. North
Chicago, IL
773-252-Rico (7426)

And here's a thread on what's around Fullerton and Pulaski:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=546

A few places of note...

Borinquen, for the original Jibarito...
1720 North California Avenue

Hachi's Kitchen just opened right by Buona Terra, decent neighborhood sushi joint
2521 N. California Ave
http://www.hachiskitchen.com/

Feed is just down the way at California/Chicago
some reviews: http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... light=feed

Good bar nearby is Green Eye - decent beers on tap, good bartenders.
2403 W Homer St

Taqueria Moran at Milwaukee/California is a good place to have sit-down mexican. Good tortas...

Roeser's bakery is nearby as well... you can find some references if you search for it on LTH.
3216 W North Ave

Pizza: I generally order delivery from John's (I like the thin, not bad for delivery imo, 2104 N Western Ave) or Guy's (pretty good place all-around, 3948 W North Ave)...

Also, Humboldt Pie on Augusta/California just started delivering pizza, I haven't tried it yet, but do look forward to it - nice place to get coffee.

Aren't there a couple of pozolerias near Pulaski+North? Also worth considering.

Yeah, I've heard rumors of a great pozoleria in that area, but I can't remember the name. Not that it would be too much of a hardship to explore! There's also a teeny little Puerto Rican sandwich shop around the corner from me on Kedzie, I'll check that out soon and report back.

Thanks everybody for the suggestions so far--some I know about from my years in Ukrainian Village, but some I've never heard of, so I'm looking forward to trying them out. I'm happy to be so close to Roeser's Bakery...

Over here is a post by VI about the North+Pulaski intersection.

Don't forget Taqueria Puebla west of Humboldt Park almost at Pulaski.

geli wrote:... and the various trucks in the park,

I was driving through Humboldt Park just last weekend. I was thinking of posting a query if the red and blue trucks were still there. Now that you have mentioned it, geli, could you update us on the truck situation?

Thanks!

Regards,

I'll look more carefully tomorrow morning, but today on the way to work I drove through the park and saw one truck on the west side of the park, just north of Division on one of the interior roads. It was a big white one with an awning, and it had a frog (?) on the side of it, and something written about the Comidas Unidas de Humboldt Park, I think. Or maybe it was camiones and not comidas?

There were no red or blue trucks in that particular area, but there may well have been some on the east or north side that I missed. Tomorrow I will pay more attention.

Geli,

The Marroon and Blue vans are (or were) a weekend phenomena around Humboldt Park on the weekends. To give you a taste, I am linking you to a post on the other board by ligament who moved from the area.

Regards,

Cermak Produce has two stores in the general area while Tony's Finer Foods' oldest store isn't too far away. The Cermak Produce store on North Avenue doesn't have quite the diversity of products for the non-Hispanic market that the store on Kedzie has but is still a very good option for produce and meat. I haven't been in the Cermak Produce store at Armitage and Kostner, but it appeared to be pretty good sized when I drove past. I have not been in that particular Tony's, but a fair number of posters including me use the the Elston store quite happily.

Cermak Produce
2701 West North Avenue
4401 West Armitage

Tony's Finer Foods
3607 West Fullerton

Geli,

I found another thread on the vans.

Regards,

Cathy,

To avoid possible confusion, the trucks in H Park are things like La Esquina De Sabor, i.e., Puerto Rican food trucks sanctioned by the City and having onboard kitchens and sanitary resources. They are in the park proper, usually near North Avenue.

The Maroon and Periwinkle vans (the colors have changed many times over the years) are in Logan Square, off of Milwaukee adjacent to the Max Gerber parking lot and a stone's throw from Marianao. These are Mexican establishments that are not officially sanctioned and may come and go.

Here is the authoritative string:

http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards ... 25548.html

The main van is associated w/ Sy. Sylvester, nearby at the top of Humboldt Blvd.

Jeff,

Thanks for the clarification. After numerous accounts several years ago, they had simply fallen off the radar. I began thinking about them recently and wondered if they had simply disapeered (literally) or all the gas was out of the discussion.

I have never gone to the vans, which were always of keen interest to me.

The HOURS are Saturday and Sunday (only) starting at 7 a.m. until the food is all sold, which is about 1 or 2 p.m.

Thanks again for the link and clarification.

Regards,

I can't believe I forgot to mention El Paisa on the 3500 block of Fullerton. They specialize in birria, carnitas. I learned about it from LTH and it's one of my new faves.

"I recently moved from Ukrainian Village to Humboldt Park, just west of the park itself, a block south of North Ave, an area that my landlord insists is called Humboldt Heights."

Tell your landlord that the Encyclopedia of Chicago shows NO listing or reference to "Humboldt Heights."

Actually since I've lived here I've heard a lot of people--including people who've lived in the neighorhhod most of their lives--call it Humboldt Heights. And a quick google search does seem to pull up a bunch of apartment listings etc using that name to describe the area to the west of Humboldt Park itself. I think it's a (recent?) effort to differentiate the west side of the park from the sketchier areas on the east side of the park.

Whatever it's called, it's Home Sweet Home for me!