Help on Howard

I live near the end of Howard. I'm in need of some good places to eat out up here. Any suggestions are welcome!

Candlelite is about a block south of Howard on Western for very good thin crust pizza.

theswain wrote:I live near the end of Howard.

Which end?

Dude, Fish Keg!

eatchicago wrote:

theswain wrote:I live near the end of Howard.

Which end?

That would help, wouldn't it? Lake end.

AHava wrote:Dude, Fish Keg!

I don't know this one....where is it?

You have an extraordinary number of dining out options within a few mile radius of Howard and the lake.

You might find that you'll get a good response to your query if you are a little more specific with your request. How far are you willing to go? What price range are you looking for? What types of food are you looking for? A little guidance will help narrow down the choices.

http://centerstage.net/restaurants/fish-keg.html

2233 W. Howard - between Ridge and Western.

I haven't been in a couple of years but the Keg has always been reliable for tasty fried fish or shrimp, complete with greasy brown bag. Yum. May need to schedule a visit soon myself......

eatchicago wrote:You have an extraordinary number of dining out options within a few mile radius of Howard and the lake.

You might find that you'll get a good response to your query if you are a little more specific with your request. How far are you willing to go? What price range are you looking for? What types of food are you looking for? A little guidance will help narrow down the choices.

In the neighborhood. Suggestions on Western for example are fine, but going to the other side of Western kind of gets one out of the neighborhood for example. At this point, price range isn't the real issue--I'm just looking for places that people who like good food would go eat. Same with types: I enjoy almost anything as long as it is tasty and prepared well and shows some creativity. Fish Keg would be a great place to grab a quick and tasty meal of fish, but if going to the movies Wolfie's place has a nice pizza that I like, if a bit pricey.

So I'm asking where would a foodie go...I see several holes in the wall, which may or may not serve good food....(Fish and Chicken for example--lots of catfish filets in fat and grease with fries, at least that's my impression walking by every day.)

The one place that comes to mind immediately for me is Cafe Suron, probably my favorite place for dining out in that part of the city.

Original post re: Cafe Suron.

AHava wrote:Dude, Fish Keg!

I know a lot of people who love The Fish Keg - I'm not one of them. Not into heavily breaded greasy fish.

But there's a great little Italian place just a few feet from The Fish Keg:

La Cucina di Donatella
2221 W. Howard Street
773-262-6533

nr706 wrote:

AHava wrote:Dude, Fish Keg!

I know a lot of people who love The Fish Keg - I'm not one of them. Not into heavily breaded greasy fish.

But there's a great little Italian place just a few feet from The Fish Keg:

La Cucina di Donatella
2221 W. Howard Street
773-262-6533

Hey thanks!

You're in Evanston, have you been to any of those places on Chicago near the Main stop---a bistro and another place that looks good, can't recall the name, near the Firestation. (Sorry, new to the area and still learning where things are.)

You might enjoy reading this post from last February on Chowhound by A Okrent: "Howard Street, The Gateway, and Montenegro"

http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards ... 41839.html

theswain wrote:You're in Evanston, have you been to any of those places on Chicago near the Main stop---a bistro and another place that looks good, can't recall the name, near the Firestation. (Sorry, new to the area and still learning where things are.)

Are you thinking of Bistro Campagna (aka Campagnola)? It's excellent; semi-upscale. There's also a very good Mexican place - Lupita's - on Main just west of the train tracks. I was there a week and a half ago, and it was jammed.

East on Main there are many good places - Lucky Platter (retro, great for brunch), Oceanique (upscale French seafood), Kuni's (sushi & other Japanese), and (around the corner on Chicago) Cross-Rhodes (Greek, pretty casual). All very different, all very good. I'm sure I'm missing a few, and I'm deliberately leaving out coffee shops ... but one other important place, not a restaurant, but important to foodies ... Belgian Chocolatier Piron - hand made chocolates from a master.

And of course Kabul House started in that block before it moved to Dempster in Skokie.

Then there's always Buffalo Joe's on 1841 W. Howard, my favorite place for wings (though I first tried BJ's at its downtown Evanston location, which also sports a slightly more upscale appearance). Some people have been known to order fries or a baked potato with their wings, but I always prefer to stick with a single or double order of suicide and a gutbuster drink (usually RC). Ten bucks will take a single diner far; the party pans await larger groups. BJ's on Howard is just west of Clark/Chicago, on the south side of this somewhat dangerous-looking street. You could order ahead to save time waiting (especially with carry-out), but I'd recommend eating in to experience the wings at their best. It's the only way I do it now. Let me know if you like it. Also, here's the Centerstage Chicago description, if an extra link helps.

Let me second Buffalo Joe's. When I moved out of Rogers Park, this was one of the places that I would always go out of my way to go to if I was even remotely in the area.

The Fish Keg is another place I have to second. It's been there forever. And at least once, try the fried chicken in a bag. But I still miss the fried shrimp.

The Caribbean American Bakery, at 1539 Howard, has really great, spicy Jamaican meat patties and island sweets of various kinds. They also have carry-out jerk chicken and etc., though I haven't sampled that stuff. You can't eat there, though. I've also heard good things about Jamaica Jerk, at 1631 Howard, which also has jerk chicken, oxtails, curried goat, and etc. You can eat there, and we have friends who love it. I think folks have written nicely on this board about My Place For?, on Clark just south of Howard, but I haven't been there since my youth, myself. I believe that folks have also written favorably about the Caracas Grill, pretty close to Howard at 6340 Clark, so you could search for that as well.

Speaking of Caribbean/Jamaican near Howard, I did try the jerk chicken once at Linette's Jamaican Kitchen, 7366 N. Clark St. (773-761-4823). Not too shabby, though I'm no expert on Jamaican. I must say, though, that the temperature of the food was superb: that chicken was extremely hot. LJK's a couple blocks south on Clark, just south of Rogers Ave. (about halfway between Touhy and Howard). Street parking is workable, especially with the park lined with spaces across the way (on the east side of the street).

Taquerias and such abound further south into the city, but that may be pushing things a bit too far. Just be wary of the Mexican(?) place with the strange decor next door to the Kitchen (the food temperature fell on the other extreme here, though the large party may have helped things out a bit). Seeing the (original?) Cap'n Nemo's across the street did pique my interest, however. You can actually see it while eating inside Linette's (7367 N. Clark St., closed Sundays).

At any rate, good luck on your chow adventures, one and all.

--Dan

No one has really given much info about the taquerias and such just a little south on clark. working south

Supermercado Morelia is a very nice grocery store, with some nice stuff for takeout in the back by the butcher, roast chickens, seafood salad are particualrly nice

Taqueria and Mercado Chapala (across from ther adelphi theater) is probably my favorite spot for tacos in the area, as you can see the meat and flames coming off the grill in back, and all tacos are served with grilled cebollitas and jalapenos on the side

mornings, across from the Mcdonalds, there is a nice tamale vendor

Quesadillas Dona Lolis just south of lunt, is well known for their masa preps, I am particularly fond of their gorditas, their namesake quesadillas are large D.F. style with huitlacoche and flor de calabaza available

next door, la cazuela is a nice seafood spot, especially for fish tacos and octopi and whole fish

a little further south molcajetes has hand made tortillas (on the thinnish side) and nice table sauces

reaching devon, chorritos has some more interesting stuff avaialble such pata (feet) and tepache- the fermented pinapple drink

Yeah, after being a slave to ordering burritos as every Mexican place I could find, I've begun to branch out a bit and try some new stuff. At Taqueria Hernandez, on the southeast corner of Lunt and Clark (6983 N. Clark St., 773-274-1519), the chorizo burrito I had failed to impress, but the tacos were hot and tasty (even if the ground beef leaked profusely onto my hands and basket for my order). That reminds me, the head-sized portions at El Famous Burrito (7047 N. Clark St., 773-465-0377) just don't do it for me anymore. Maybe the suburban locations do a better job these days. (There's a thread about this here). On the drink side, it's always good to try different versions of horchata.

You seem to have tried a lot of places on Clark, zim. Have you made the rounds of all the taquerias yet?

--Dan

ToniG wrote:The Caribbean American Bakery, at 1539 Howard, has really great, spicy Jamaican meat patties and island sweets of various kinds. They also have carry-.

BTW, there is also another Jamaican place (which I havent tried yet) -
Spice Garden Cafe at 2055 West Howard (this is east of Western by
a couple of blocks or more). Has tables etc too, so could qualify as a
sit-down place.

On Western just off Howard (to the North, by half a block) is the famous
1930's burger spot, Bill-or-Mikes Drive-in (I think its Bill's, but always
thought it was Mike's, or vice versa, Iam now thoroughly confused).
Basically its next to the IHOP, and its mostly carryout (with some
counters) and it does a fine burger (had a double-cheese there
today, so I really should know the name. Oh well).

Second Fish-Keg, BTW - nice enough spot IMHO.

Also, on Western just South of Howard (maybe a couple of blocks
South of Candelite?) is "Thai Home-Made" which has been well
regarded on this group - some think its as good as any Thai restaurant
in the city, even. (There is also another Thai spot even closer to
Howard, between Howard and Thai Home-Made - that is called
"Thai Pasta", and is not anywhere nearly as highly regarded on
this group I think).

Oh, and on Howard itself, just east of Western, is a branch of
Gold-Coast-Dogs - which is a quite famous Chicago spot, really.

c8w

..the Board of Health shut it down about 6-8 months ago. It's been replaced by a brand-new barbeque place called Bar-B-Que Bob's. Haven't tried it yet, but I picked up menus just yesterday. Looks promising.

Not too far from Howard is Belizean Flower's Pot (I was meaning to ask about that apostrophe, but forgot). We had a large party and had some wonderful food family style, including notable oxtails. The food is fairly close to Jamaican, but perhaps not quite as spicy (at least what we ordered). The owners were really extremely nice.

Belizean Flower's Pot
7328 N. Clark

Oh, and on Howard itself, just east of Western, is a branch of
Gold-Coast-Dogs - which is a quite famous Chicago spot, really.

Stay far, far away from this place.Undercooked fries,stale buns ,surly help.
They got it all goin on!

JSM

rather than reply and quote a number of folks individually I'll try to put all the points in this one post, hopefully that will make sense

1. Spice garden cafe wasn't so great, though they did import really nice coconut water, i wrote about them after they opened on CH. There's a real new jamaican spot on Dodge and Emerson which i havent' yet tried, in the old Homecookin' spot - it's called Klaire's Korner

2. I try to try all the taquerias in the area, though i'm not sure I'm quite up to date, as they change hands quite a bit, the ones I mentioned above are probably my favorites, though I also do like taqueria mi pueblo on Touhy and ridge, though it's dining atmosphere leaves something to be desired.

3. I kinda like flowers' pot, though they are very uneven, really slow and most of the stuff on the menu isn't available, but when they're on they make some mean oxtail

4. I like thai home-made quite a bit, it's not real refined cooking but some of the stuff is pretty nice, especially for me, the kor moo yang nam tok

5. I don't know how far south I should go on clark, but just across the intersection of devon, there's also caracas grill, a venezualan spot which has outstanding arepas.

zim wrote:2. I try to try all the taquerias in the area, though i'm not sure I'm quite up to date, as they change hands quite a bit, the ones I mentioned above are probably my favorites, though I also do like taqueria mi pueblo on Touhy and ridge, though it's dining atmosphere leaves something to be desired.

Thanks for the feedback. From what you've said, it may be better to order takeout from Taqueria Mi Pueblo (on Touhy and Ridge). If so, what would you suggest I order?

--Dan

on weekends they sometimes have tamales de ceniza, "ash tamales", which instead of being steamed are roasted in the ash of fires, (if you want quite a bit more info on this search out some of RST's posts on CH), which I like quite a lot. Other than that I have stuck to your basic taq. fare, usually my default taco order is lengua, the veg. wife, liked their rajas huarache decently well, though she still prefers that at Dona Lolis

Despite rumors of closing, Gulliver's on 2727 Howard, is apparently still open. My favorite stuffed pizza is there, as well as a huge italian food menu, lots of ornate chandeliers and antiques. They deliver too.

Just tried Dona Lolis yesterday - WOW. Or I should say, wow with qualifications. The wow was the eye-opening experience of handmade corn tortillas - I've never understood why anyone would voluntarily eat raw corn tortillas out of the bag; but my Mexican friends do. NOW I get it - those are the Mexican equivalent of Wonder Bread (you need something to hold your sandwich even when you don't have time to make bread) HERE is the real thing.

We had the quesadilla con flores de calabaza - delicious if a little greasy. You could really taste the squash flowers in the filling; they are kind of like Swiss Chard, but with a light hint of zucchini flavor. It was greasy only because the lard in the tortilla kind of oozed out when it was heated, which wasn't all bad. Anything that came out of the kitchen made of masa was amazing; the sopes, the gordita, the tortillas. The rest was OK, but the masa stuff was incredible.

I had the chicharron sopes, which was the best thing overall, if a little on the heavy side. It is a little "boat" of masa, kind of an open-face tamale, with a rich sauce comprised of a delightfully gloppy mixture of beans, pork skin, and possibly roasted onions and peppers. I also had a gordita carnitas - the two crisped corn tortillas that formed the function of bread in this sandwich were heaven - but the filling was just OK - a little bland for me. If I had used the fire-hot salsas provided, it probably would have been better, but I'm not a fan of the burn.

My husband had some kind of beef in a black chile sauce which was surprisingly bland, but came with the tortillas so we didn't care. My five-year-old ate an entire plate of guacamole (very good, (not as good as mine) and we were able to order sin chile - nice) and flautas, which were fine and covered with sliced avocado - I'm expecting him to change color and match a 70's kitchen any minute now.

I liked this meal so much overall that I had demolished what was on my plate before I thought of my cell phone camera...sorry - will try again next time.

Here are a few thoughts on what sounds like a good day at Dona Llolis: Chicharones for antojitos are us. simmered in a tomatillo salsa, which would likely include some onion and chiles. The meat is placed on to p of a schmear of beans. The grease from the quesadilla is more likely from the cheese and/or lard on the griddle. The tortillas themselves have relatively little, or no, lard. Gorditas are us. a thickish disk of masa that is split open after frying, as opposed to two tortillas.

If you enjoyed the sope, as it seems you did, you might try the picadas from the blue/red vans in Logan Square. For decent sopes in a pinch Downtown, there's Mi Cocina in the South Loop.

Thanks for the update on this old favorite. Good to hear.