hidden food gems and what do transplants from Chicago miss (food wise) (Lincoln: college, restaurants)

[SavannahInChicago]

I miss Hopcat i GR, Mich. Rumor is they may expand into Chicago in the future (fingers crossed). I missed West Mich breweries. Founders, Hopcat, Perrin, GR Brewing Company, Brewery Vivant, Harmony In GR and Bells In Kalamazoo. Voted Beer City USA two years running.

However, Chicago has such great food and I have not even made a dent. I love Crisps, Cheesie, Big & Little's, to start.

[5thgencincy]

Found it -> Bombacigno's J & C, 558 W. Van Buren, so a "couple more" blocks west than I thought, my apologies.

Still there, hours still only 11a-2p M-F, talk about boutique. Reviews seem to be love/hate, majority love, ranging from "Top 5 sandwich in the U.S.A" to "never go back".

Price wise "Pasta of the Day" is now $8.50 vs. under $5 (incl. soda) in the late 80's, so food prices in general really must have risen I suppose.

[billiken]

I miss the ethnic food. In particular, Turkish....nowhere to be found here in Denver, CO.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by billiken

I miss the ethnic food. In particular, Turkish....nowhere to be found here in Denver, CO.

Chicago does have some pretty good Turkish food in reality. I've had a few places in town that were comparable in taste to places I've had in Turkey (been there more than once, don't worry) which friends who lived there told me were good.

[glass_of_merlot]

Taste of Lebanon Restaurant - Andersonville - Chicago, IL | Yelp

[eskercurve]

Here in the Pacific NW, Mexican or hispanic food in general is SORELY lacking. There's 1 place I recommend. 1. Maybe 2. Out of a population of 4 million, that is a severely underserved market.

Chicago style pizza of any kind. I used to distinguish Giordano's from Uno's and the rest. Now I don't care.

Portillo's, though thank the Lord in heaven I found a place near me that is a family run craft brewery that actually has a killer au jus and polish sasusage.

[BigSmooth56]

Living in Miami (south beach) now, mostly missing -

El Presidente on Ashland
Fontanos off Taylor St.
Portillos
Giordanos
Lou Malnatis
Q's Pizza in Hillside
Mr. Greeks in Greektown
Clark Dog - Lakeview
Freddy's in Cicero
Leon's BBQ
Captain Curts BBQ sauce in stores

Irish pubs - Halligan in Lincoln Park

Essentially anywhere with good cheap food and beer conveniently located. But I sure did love sending those palm tree pics this year to everyone back in Chicago in January.

[Atlanta_BD]

I just miss Chicago food period, my favorite foods there being the pizza, hot dogs, polish sausage and Harold's Chicken, and my favorite ethnic foods there being Indian, Chinese and Greek. I really didn't eat a lot of Mexican food when I lived in Chicago outside Pepe's which I loved (I don't know how good it is anymore). I also miss Garrett's Popcorn.

I didn't really start eating Mexican a lot until I moved to Atlanta. Some places were good, most were mediocre. The Indian food in Atlanta wasn't nearly as good as the Indian in Chicago and the Chinese was just plain disgusting by comparison. Because I spent so many years living in Atlanta, I also compared the food to Chicago a lot and it just wasn't as good. Not even close.

I'm now living in Texas and haven't had any ethnic food here yet to compare it to back home in Chicago. Well, I did have a couple of tacos at a taqueria stand at a flea market here in Texas and I must say, those were the best tacos I ever had in my life!

I miss that in Chicago you could get a lot of really good food cheap. Since leaving Chicago I've developed celiac disease so now when I go home to visit, I can't eat the foods that I love anymore, WHICH SUCKS MAJOR A**!!!

[ChiGuy2.5]

I am moving up towards Addison and Lake Shore in a week and my dad and I went to visit my new condo. While there we decided to hit up a local restaurant for lunch.

We chose El Mariachi at 3420 N broadway not the one at 3906 N Broadway. I was VERY impressed! Its definitely a hole in the wall that you could easily miss if not searching for anything specific. The food was super authentic and homemade. My dad and I both said "you know the place is good if the refried beans aren't out of a can". This place obviously had hand mashed refried beans, etc.

[myrc60]

Originally Posted by 5thgencincy

Found it -> Bombacigno's J & C, 558 W. Van Buren, so a "couple more" blocks west than I thought, my apologies.

Still there, hours still only 11a-2p M-F, talk about boutique. Reviews seem to be love/hate, majority love, ranging from "Top 5 sandwich in the U.S.A" to "never go back".

Price wise "Pasta of the Day" is now $8.50 vs. under $5 (incl. soda) in the late 80's, so food prices in general really must have risen I suppose.

Love that place. As I recall they used to reopen for dinner. Was introduced to the place through a coworker. We had a few meetings there from time to time too. Can't remember what my fav was. Rueben maybe? It was a bit farther than I preferred to go for lunch so it was a treat every time I did!