I don’t live in Chicago (to my dismay) but I was raised there and go home frequently. I have always eaten at The Uptown Snack Shop, a little 50/60’s diner run by three Greek brothers since 1958. I started going in there when I was 18–27 years ago. I know/knew the owners well, and would go in every morning to chew the fat and read the trib.
“Progress”, in the form of gentrification, has felled my favorite restaurant. (it was on the corner of Broadway and Leland in Uptown—right between Lawrence and Wilson Avenues)
I need to find a new breakfast place. It can be anywhere from Hyde Park To Rogers Park and as far west as Ashland Avenue. (tho I’d like to avoid heavily congested places like Diversey & Clark etc) Just a simple place to eat breakfast and read the paper. (No Starbucks, Tim Horton’s etc etc—just a little diner somewhere tucked into a neighborhood)
I really liked the Melrose at Broadway and Melrose in Lakeview. It’s not “period” in any sense, but the breakfasts are very, very good and is definitely a diner menu.
I’m a big fan of Pick-me-Up a couple blocks south of Wrigley field, but for obvious reasons it’s completely miserable when there’s a gang on. Salt and Pepper is great, too, but definitely the Lincoln location over the Wrigleyville one.
It may not be what you’re looking for, but I always like to recommend Ann Sather’s as the best breakfast place in Chicago. The cinnamon rolls are excellent; I highly recommend them.
I’m also a big fan of Ann Sather’s, but it can be a bit of a zoo on weekends. For more yummy Swedish breakfasts, with less chaos, I also love Svea. (That would be my vote for a small, low-key, homey place - I love the fruit soup, and I like the Swedish pancakes much better than the ones at Ann Sather.) Or if you want to get a tad fancier, but still very neighborhoody and low-key, Cafe Selmarie makes some kickass breakfast.
Thanks for all the great replies. I received Sarahfeena’s response and I was heading over to the **Diner Grill **and my brother called and I ended up at Walker Brothers in Glenview. (I think. On Green Bay Road)
I haven’t been to Ann Sathers in many years. I need to go there. I don’t know how I missed Valois—it must be right near Mellow Yellow on 53rd, and I’ve been in Hyde Park almost every day—at that Borders, and the Third World Cafe. I’ve never paid attention I guess. It’s near one of my favorite neighborhhod bars, the Falcon Inn.
Well…I have a good list. I plan to visit them all, believe it or not.
The Original Pancake House is always good, although on weekends you have to wait forever to get in. There’s one in Hyde Park (Harper and 51st) and another one downtown. In Hyde Park, Salonica (Blackstone and 57th) and Medici (Kenwood and 57th) have good breakfasts on the weekends. My personal favorite is TOPH though. If you go on a weekday the wait isn’t bad.
Cool. I’ll make them first on the list actually. I’m usually in Chicago during the week. (I’m self employed and need little encouragement for a road trip from SW Ohio)
Hyde Park is my favorite neighborhood, and my default place to hang out. Need to find another pub as well…There used to be a place called “Siral’s House of Tiki” that was hands down the coolest place in Chicago to be between 3 and 5 a.m. Unfortunately, it’s gone too.
Also quite a fine choice (and there’s one on Green Bay Road in Wilmette - is that the one you’re thinking of?). If you’re willing to go that far north, then you should also try The Lucky Platter, Clarke’s, and Prairie Moon if you’re having breakfast on the late side.
Yes, that was it. I couldn’t remember what town that was.
Thanks for the links. I have a lot of friends in Evanston, and some family also. (I have a dozen bro/sis and they’re spread out over the Chicago area) I’m in Evanston pretty often.
Not that I’m qualified to speak about breakfasts in Chicago – having lived there for only one year when I started grad school at UChicago – but I have a large soft spot in my heart for Valois.
A bunch of us were typically poor grad students, and UChicago’s programs tend to be rather intense. (Only place I ever went to school that scheduled – and held! – classes the day after Thanksgiving.) We agreed to try to meet for Sunday breakfast at Valois, if only to make sure we were all still alive and relatively sane. The fact that, once a week, someone else would do the dishes was an additional plus.
I was poorer that most of my cohort, but managed a cheese-and-mushroom omelette with coffee each week. My order was boringly regular to the point that the cook would have my omelette started before I got to the front of the line to order. Mind you, we’re talking processed yellow cheese and canned mushrooms.
I couldn’t afford to stay at UChicago and transfered to another grad school. I did have the opportunity to be back in Chicago visiting pals a year after I left, and we went to Valois for breakfast on Sunday.
I got to the front of the line and ordered my mushroom and cheese omelette. The cook used his spatula to point at the grill – where my omelette was already cooking – and said “Where you been?”
Yep, I have a definite soft spot for Valois. (That’s val-oise, btw. None of that fancy accented or silent letter stuff!)
Heh. Most of us tend to hang out at Woodlawn Tap on 55th and Woodlawn. A few of us visit The Falcon Inn or The Cove (on 55th and… Cornell, I think?) every now and then, but they seem to be a place for locals rather than students.
I agree. I’m not a student, and when I lived in Chicago I was a local. I haven’t in the Cove in a long time, and never in the Woodlawn. Is the Woodlawn mostly students?