The Restaurant That Keeps Me Coming Back By: Noel

Noel is a professional dancer and dance studio owner from Lincoln Square. She loves Yoga, cooking, wine tasting and photography. She loves trying new foods and being in different atmospheres and she treats dining out as an escape from her typical every day routine because it gives her something to look forward to!

Some of my most memorable restaurant experiences are going to the places that I frequent often. The owners or waiters recognize us, and we are greeted warmly, hence the reason I keep coming back. 


A Greek restaurant in my neighborhood is the perfect example of this warm hospitality. Barba Yianni always serves up authentic and delicious Greek food. The owner has become so familiar with my husband and I that he remembers special occasions, such as birthdays and anniversaries, and on such occasions, is always sure to have a tray of sangria or baklava sent over to our table. My favorite dish to order from Barba Yianni is the Filetto Kotas, which is chicken broiled in lemon juice and Greek seasoning. The chicken is so moist and flavorful. The side dish completes the meal. Consisting of a baked potato, peas and rice, while it sounds pretty standard, the red sauce that tops the vegetables is to die for. It’s rich and gives the vegetables a hearty flavor. I have gone so far as to just order a side of peas, just so I could have the red sauce. One of the best parts about ordering an entrée is the homemade soup that comes with your order. The egg lemon is amazing, but I don’t think anyone makes a better chicken noodle. It tastes like home. 


Nothing beats walking up to this place on a summer night, sitting outside and drinking a glass of Sangria before a perfect meal of Filetto Kotas, chicken noodle soup, and then topping it off with baklava. 


Delicious.


Barba Yianni
4761 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 878-6400
http://www.barba-yianni.com/home.html

Northdown Café and Taproom: A Plaid Shirt has Never Tasted So Good By: Laura

Laura Young is an English teacher from Roscoe Village. Her favorite type of food is Indian cuisine and her favorite dish is either Malai Kofta from Essence of India or Chile Relleno from El Tapatio. Laura enjoys dining out for three main reasons: it gets her dressed and out of the house with other grown-ups, ambiance is part of the enjoyment, and there is nothing to clean up at home.

Before children, the Mister and I made a decision to try one new restaurant a week. That, as it turned out, was overly ambitious even without a toddler and a newborn, so our weekly endeavor became a “special occasion” endeavor. Like any upstanding hipster living in Chicago, we only wanted to go to a place that met the following criteria:

• Great beers on tap
• Socially conscious (in both business practices and food preparation)
• Cool, but not trendy-no lines, no overly publicized chef, no amuse-bouche
• Within walking distance-this is the one that really draws us in.

All the Mister had to say was “reclaimed wood” and I was lacing up my Justin’s. Northdown Café and Tap is like entering a mod-industrial rural farmhouse cum retro eatery; a few tables up in the front room, more in the back, the two rooms divided by a nice selection of pinball machines which, as a World Cup Soccer wizard in my previous life, is dear to my heart. The propaganda sign declaring “If Attack Comes” incites a dystopian warning, so the presence of handlebar-mustached and suspendered bartenders stationed below offer a kindly dash of steampunk relief.

The food at Northdown is downright tasty. With a comfort food focus, ingredients are fresh and used in identifiable ways. The Short Stout-braised short ribs on Ciabatta is more than satisfying, and the tomato soup is nicely seasoned and pairs well with the sourdough grilled cheese. While neither of us have ever ordered it, the deep-fried Compact Turkey Dinner-all the fixin’s rolled up into a ball and battered until crisp-appears to be hipster-grade feel good food (and probably an amazing hangover cure).

On the “Food Trends That Have Grown Tiresome” list, Northdown manages to avoid #5: the long reading of the daily specials-they are nicely handwritten on a board by the door, #26: the “gourmet burger”: the Mister thinks they are deliciously unfussy, #42 the cupcake-you really can’t compete with ten homemade pies of the day, and while they try hard to be as local and sustainable as can be, it isn’t overly advertised and to be honest, a server has never used those words. So refreshing.

The fact that this is the only restaurant of its kind that is within walking distance to our humble home is the first reason why we keep going back. But without meeting our other criteria-the quality of the food, service, atmosphere-we wouldn’t have made it a regular haunt. Add to that the fact that they have a small, but amazing selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes (not to mention the daily pie specials sometimes into the double digits and the butter of the day), Northdown has established itself as our go-to both on date nights, when meeting friends, and even entertaining our parents from the suburbs out yonder.

Northdown Cafe and Taproom
3244 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 697-7578
http://www.northdownchicago.com/