Chicagoans, I need your help.
For the last week I've been an outsider, taking trips down to the city while staying with my parents in the suburbs, the guy who has to find his way back north again when the night is through, spending cash on the Metra train, bumming rides back from friends. From my quiet vantage point up here I can just see a faint outline of the skyline.
Nick's a well-worn Chicagoan at this point, and he's showed off his city well, tempting me with the city's gorgeous architecture, its butchers, its hot dogs, and more than a couple wonderful bars.
But there's a reason he's been so eager to usher me around: my stint in Europe is over, I'm getting married in August, and Elin and I have some exciting news: we're moving to the Windy City. At long last, Nick and I will be in the same city again for the first time since Brooklyn, where we used to wreak havoc in the kitchen more than two years ago.
But! Elin and I don't have an apartment yet, and that's where you can help. Where we should live? Which are the best neighborhoods for eating and cooking? Nick lived it pretty fancy in beautiful Bucktown, which reminds us a lot of Brooklyn, so that's at the top of the list. But overall our priorities are good walkable options for cooking, since we don't have a car: grocery stores, produce, butchers, and cheese people. Sing the praises of your Chicago neighborhood!
(You might have to convince me that living next door to Stanley's Produce isn't the only option: that place is incredible. The Park Slope Food Coop was one of my favorite things about New York, with its superb and inexpensive selection of produce--but when Nick took me to Stanley's, where I saw artichokes the size of soccer balls for 2 bucks each, I fell in love. Even the lines were long, making me feel like I was right back in Brooklyn.)
So let's have it!
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Traitor!
Do you know the story of the founding of Chicago?
Back in the olden times, a bunch of New Yorkers got together and said. “You know, I like the crime, and I like the pollution, but DARNIT, it’s just not cold enough, let’s move west.”
BK may be the hipster peninsula of the moment, but at least it is close to real New York.
I live in Lincoln Square, right next to HarvesTime foods – a multiethnic grocery store with giant meat counter, a deli that offers 5 distinct kinds of Feta and makes their own salsas, guacamole, and shrimp ceviche, and pretty decent produce. Not the selection and price of the very awesome Stanley’s, not the beauty and organic goodness of a Whole Food’s, but pretty good.
We have a farmer’s market through the summer months, where I get vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, honey, bread, and free range meat from C&D Family Farms – the owner, Crystal, raises happy pigs. Happy pigs are delicious pigs. She also sources chicken, beef, lamb, and goats from neighboring farms, and offers beautiful eggs with golden yolks. She will take orders and drive into the Square weekly throughout the winter, too.
On the Square’s main drag, Lincoln Avenue, there is a pretty fountain, a public park with a pool and workout center, a giant Library, the Old Town School of Folk Music, a fantastic wine shop called Fine Wine Brokers, and a wine shop/gourmet grocery called Provenance where they have a table of $11 wines. A huge German sausage emporium is in the works but hasn’t opened yet – I salivate. I should also recommend the Lincoln Quality Meat Market, another source of quality meat. Also in Lincoln Square, you will never be far away from coffee, dessert, sausage, beer, fresh bread, or tiny delicious ethnic joints like Nhu Lan, the bakery/Vietnamese sandwich joint with great bubble tea.
Wherever you settle, I hope you love it and keep making and eating great food.
I highly suggest Lincoln Square, Albany Park (just west of Lincoln Square) or Budlong Woods (north and west of Lincoln Square). JenniferP pretty much summed up the big selling points of Lincoln Square above. Proximity each other is a selling point for all three neighborhoods.
Albany Park has tons of great Middle Eastern restaurants, several good Mexican places and more. In addition to HarvesTime, you have Andy’s Fruit Ranch for groceries.
Budlong Woods has lots of Korean BBQ (San Soo Gap San, Woo Chon, Solga, etc.) Tampopo is a great Japanese restaurant. Sweet Collective is great for ice cream and chocolates.
There are also a few good threads about just this question on LTH Forum here and here. (And if you’re not familiar with LTH Forum, it’s essential for anyone in Chicago who’s passionate about food.)
I dont live in Chicago, but for a first look http://www.walkscore.com gives you a decent idea of a specific address. You could use it to compare two places in the same neighborhood. Good luck!
Wicker Park/Bucktown are awesome! Lived here for 2.5 years and don’t want to move to any other neighborhood. Lincoln Park or Lakeview would be ok if you had to.
I can tell you where not to live: West Lakeview. I’m near the Southport station now, and it’s pretty awful as far as interesting places to eat or buy food. The only positive point I can think of is that I am close to Paulina Meat Market, but with their prices, I’m becoming less and less excited about that.
Man, I haven’t been to The Little Island in years. Never really seemed worth it when I had to drive right by Sarkis to get there.
Hi Blake,
When Allen Zimmerman got sick of ordering cheese at the PSFC, he made me do it. For 17 years. My wife’s job was transfered here so I had to leave the beloved cheese dept at PSFC, the boogie-down-boro, friends, and all behind. I work at Pastoral now in Lakeview and the Loop. I don’t have much I can write about where to live in this short forum (it’s too important a decision). Get in touch at my email if you feel like it.
Marty
@Tom Tom, yours is the kind of New York elitism that never appealed much to me. I assume you’d agree with Humboldt’s condemnation of Charlie Citrine from Saul Bellow’s novel: “He’s perverse, why’s he burying himself in the sticks?” But I can hardly be called a traitor moving to the city I was raised in. Besides, New York is too big a city to be betrayed; I reckon it is nothing towards me but indifferent. It churns on and on.
@JenniferP @Eli Lincoln Square has come up more than a couple times as a really livable place with a strong German presence, green, beautiful, etc.. I am really eager to check out all the links and recommendations. Thank you!
@gabe Great resource I didn’t know about, thank you!
@Brad People seem really loyal to Bucktown/Wicker Park when they live there. That’s a good sign.
@Nat Sarkis was a tradition for me in high school. I’ve never found another restaurant remotely like it. That’s a planned stop for me very soon.
@Marty I’ll miss my chats with Allen at the Park Slope Coop, including his discursive discussions about which watermelon is the best that week. Cheers, I’ll send you an email.
I’ve lived between Logan square and Bucktown for the past three years and I’ve never found any reason to leave. With or without a car, most of the year its possible to get great produce and local goods at either the Wicker Park or Logan Square farmers markets! Its located close enough to other neighborhoods that if you can’t get it here, its a brief train ride away!
The Wicker Park farmer’s market is also one of the only ones that is open on Sundays!
I used to live in Wicker Park and would vouch for anywhere between there and Logan Square. I’m in Lakeview now and it’s definitely not an interesting place for food (aside from the great farmers market in Boystown I hit up every Saturday).
Best of luck finding a place – hope to see you around!
Uptown/Andersonville.
With no car, there is a ton of transportation options: bus, metra, train, igo…
In terms of food – what better place than the far northside. There is the Edgewater Produce (sister to Harvesttime), all of Argyle, all the African stores you could think and a Jewel for the non-staples.
I live near JenniferP’s Lincoln Square (in North Center/Southeast Ravenswood), and it really is pretty swell for all the reasons she listed. Todd’s right on about Uptown/Andersonville, too. The neighborhoods are different, though, Uptown has been gentrifying verrrry slowly since I moved to Chicago seven years go, while Andersonville (I believe) never really went downhill and has been consistently a safe and comfortable place to live. Uptown’s further east, so closer to the Lake and the Red Line, which are both lovely things.
Andersonville’s farmers’ market is on Wednesday nights, which is kind of different for Chicago (most run 7a-3p), and could be useful for you. You’ll probably also find better values for your apartment dollar in these two places than in Bucktown/Wicker Park (where I could never live, because I’m not hip enough), but Bucktown is absolutely a restaurant hotbed.
Plus, Andersonville has In Fine Spirits and Middle East Bakery. It was my first neighborhood in Chicago, and I miss it.
while I don’t want to encourage my rent to go up, I’ve been in Logan Square for the past 4 years. no, there isn’t a good grocery store here, but there is Lula. where might you be working? I can often pick things up at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s in River North (near the office) on the way home.
Sarah is also mistaken, as the Logan Square farmer’s market is open on Sundays…
Others mentioning Lincoln Square and Andersonville — those would be my next two choices. both would be better for grocery stores and more restaurants, but they are also more densely populated neighborhoods (yet both seem very family-oriented as well).
where I would recommend NOT living: Lakeview and Lincoln Park; unless you can afford it and like that sort of thing. far too dense and filled with post-college fratty types.
let’s face it though, farmer’s market season here is June-October. the Green City Market has started to run in the fall and every other weekend in the winter, which is easily accessible via the Diversey bus on Saturday mornings (I should know, I’m right off it in Logan… so there you go, my last plug for Logan Square
)
I recommend uptown. I’ve lived here for two years and it’s got what you need. access to the red line, mere blocks from the lake and great beaches, and food. argyle street, with its vietnam wonders, lots of regional mexican, and walking distance to andersonville’s casual dinner spots. walk to the jewel, whole foods, or summer farmers markets in lincoln square or andersonville. check out the variety of african food on boadway, lawrence, and wilson, too.
I had a friend who lived at N. Maplewood and W. Chicago Ave. across from “Chicago’s #1 Used Police Car Dealer” and that was very cool. Not trendy and you could see the Sears Tower from his window.
I have lived in Lincoln Park, where everything is accessible and within walking distance, even the lake. You might like it there because you will have the ability to use multiple forms of public transportation. While parking is a nightmare, the neighborhood is beautiful, near and away from the college (DePaul). You will find a very large variety of foodie-favorites there as well, from markets to restaurants…and there is a farmer’s market that begins in the spring and runs through to the fall. You might also like all of the amenities available. The only thing that would detract from this area might be the steeper rents and housing costs, but if you look hard enough and are willing to negotiate a little bit strongly, you’ll find a great price in that too. This neighborhood is more for a bustling lifestyle.
I currently live in Albany Park, where there is also a good, diverse accessibility to food, culture, and transportation throughout the city. The only drawback here is that it is further north, so it has the possibility of being remote if you want to make daily trips downtown or further each day, but I drive from here to the suburbs south of the city (40 miles one way) and still make it in an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes on bad days. Albany Park is also a sort of hub. Surrounding it are many popular neighborhoods where food and night life are more active (North Shore, Edgewater, Rogers Park, Andersonville, Boystown, Wrigleyville) and you can retire back to a homey-type neighborhood when you’re done with being “out”. Here, you’ll probably want to look at areas near North Park University and even a few blocks north of there if you’re wanting something that feels residential and quieter.
I have also lived in Rogers Park, Hyde Park, and the western suburbs (near O’Hare). All three of these places feel more suburban than urban, but will give you access to everything you could want from the city: beautiful architecture, great hole-in-the-wall restaurants, fancy-schmancy restaurants, cultural variety in shops and neighbors, PARKING, generally safe surroundings, access to downtown within minutes (yes, even from O’Hare if you know when to travel), and reliable public transportation.
Uptown, Logan Square, Bucktown, Wicker Park, and Andersonville are very popular places to explore, and I have a lot of friends who love living there as well. However, just as is true in Hyde Park, Albany Park, and Rogers Park, you will need to shop carefully for your living space because the areas are mixed.
(Pre-)welcome to Chicago!
Didn’t realize you had already left Tallinn! Sorry we never managed to link up… But Chicago’s great, excellent decision! Good luck!
Welcome! I live in Hyde Park, but I would probably recommend living near Argyle Street. My friend lives there now, and I was very envious that she is near Vietnamese restaurants, Chinese restaurants, and all the exciting things that Andersonville has to offer. She can pick up a roast duck for dinner and eat banh mi whenever she wants! Glorious!
Hyde Park is great. It has a wonderful produce market and two farmers’ markets. It’s right by the lake — and accessible via Metra, bus, and red line. You can get an affordable and large apartment. It is, however, a little quiet, and its restaurants are less than exciting (although things may change). Plus, you could get a first-hand look at the Olympics if it comes to Chicago — and Barack Obama would be your neighbor.
Wicker Park or Lincoln Square would be my call… Hyde Park a close third…
UPTOWN.
I’ve moved around the city a lot and have settled here for the last 5 years primarily on account of the food offerings and *incredible* ethnic diversity. A professor at Truman College told me that Uptown Chicago has more languages spoken at home than the UN, and the post code represents more ethnicities than any other in the US, quite possibly the world.
Lincoln Square is a great neighborhood. Has always been and now is even better. Very hip with a multi ethnic family atmosphere. Lots of cool restaurants. Great transportation, Brown line. Would love to move back there when we’re empty nesters.
Andersonville is very cool. Very vibrant. Also very family (read stable) oriented. Great shops, restaurants, transportation, Red Line, Clark street bus (22), Broadway bus (36) Both busses are great ways to see the North Side.
Andersonville. Hands down. The lower rents have driven a lot of great chefs to open nice cheap restaurants up here. And the new farmer’s market on Wednesdays is small but a really great addition to an already fantastic neighborhood. You also have a couple of jewels and the incomparable Edgewater Produce. I’ve also lived in lakeview east/boystown, and I loved it, but for food, Andersonville is just way better. We have: good pizza (great lake and antica pizzeria) good beer/mussels (hopleaf) good wine/cocktails: in fine spirits and the best brunch spots (too many to name). I love the random places like anteprima that are surprisingly delicious for the price.
Very walkable. I don’t have a car.
I’m surprised to see people recommending Hyde Park–it’s pretty and all, with great bookstores, but if you’re not affiliated with the University I don’t know why you’d cut yourself off from the rest of the city that way.
I love love love Ravenswood- its within short walking distance of Lincoln square and uptown, and close to andersonville, but retains a lot of the residential neighborhood vibe.
Also, if you end up on the northside, Rogers Park fruit market is a great (and sometimes superior) alternative to Stanleys. In Hyde Park, you also have hyde park produce which is delish.
Try Edgewater. It is right close to Andersonville, but not as fancy or expensive. You can walk to all the Andersonville shops, or west to Devon, or down Broadway for East African, a good pan-Asian grocery, and then down to Argyle for Vietnamese. Also, you’ll be close to the Lake which makes the neighborhood a lot cooler in the summer than West Side neighborhoods.
I live near the University of Illinois at Chicago. South of the west loop, and west of the south loop. Roughtly between interstate 290 (N) and Rooselvet Road (S) and Halsted (E) and Ashland (W).
Within walking distance of my home there is Little Italy, Pilsen (a Mexican neighborhood, 18th street is becoming one of the best food streets in the city), Chinatown (long walk fine bike ride) Greektown, a college neighborhood (on Halsted), the loop, the meat and fish wholesale district, restaurant supply district, and an area known as “restaurant row” (Randolph Street.) There is a Whole Foods, Jewel and Binny’s all within walking distance, not to mention the ethnic gorcery stores and Maxwell Street market. Blue line, Pink line and plenty of bus routes.
Additionally I am 2.5 miles from the lake, and with all the college students apartments are plentiful and not too expensive.
If you haven’t cheked it out yet, I know you are going to LOVE
http://lthforum.com/bb/index.php
The greatest congregation of foodies in Chicago ever.
You also might wat to use their GNR guide to see what neighborhood you might like.
Thanks so much, everyone. Truly, this was an amazing resource for me.
From the many comments, it seemed like life up north in Lincoln Square, Andersonville, Edgewater is great, people rave about it up there, and then you have the loyal people further south on the Blue line in neighborhood like Wicker Park, Bucktown, and Logan Square. We looked in both areas but in the end, we couldn’t deny how much we loved the more urban, walkable vibe in neighborhoods off the Blue Line. There seemed to be more restaurants and street life, and since we don’t have a car this was super appealing to us.
Anyway, we lucked out with a cute place on the border of Wicker Park and Bucktown for a great price. So we’re happy, and thanks everyone for the help. Chicagoans, I’ll see you around!
Hello Blake,
Congratualtions on being back in the States, and on moving to Chicago – and getting a place.
Lindsay was asking me if I had heard from you, and I said I had to write a ‘Hello’ as I knew you were in Chicago.
Congratulations in August to you both !
Let me know how you are and if you are ever coming back to NYC.
Jennifer S
I live a stone’s throw from the Little Island and haven’t been yet (shame on me). Thanks for the great pic.