Turkish people in Chicago (Naperville, Mount Prospect: to rent, neighborhoods, to buy)

[ausguy1234]

Hey all,

moving to chicago in the near future - just wondering, is there 'areas' or suburbs wheres specific ehtnic backgrounds are a majority...

looking to move into a more turkish suburb....

Thanks!

[marothisu]

Merhaba, nasilsiniz?

There aren't really any areas per se where Turkish people are the majority that I know of. They are pretty well integrated into the city even though the population is not that huge (maybe 10,000?). There are a handful of Turkish and Turkic eateries/restaurants in the areas of North Center and Lincoln Square of Chicago for the record and some others in some of the surrounding neighborhoods (like Lakeview). I wouldn't be surprised if there were Turks living in neighborhoods like West Ridge, North Park, Albany Park (more arabic than Turkish), etc too. The Turkish American Cultural Alliance's offices are in the Dunning neighborhood though I'd be reluctant to say there's a big population there or anything.

As far as suburbs go, I believe that Highland Park, Naperville, and Mount Prospect may have communities in them. I know that the Mount Prospect suburb has TASC, which is a Turkish cultural center opened up earlier this year and it's apparently the largest in the US. I have also been to a Turkish market to get my kirmizi biber in the same suburb before, though there are some markets in the city (i.e. in Albany Park and Andersonville neighborhoods) where you can get that stuff and I know of a bakery which makes simit (though I know they are actually Palestinian and not Turkish).

Hope some of this helps..

[ausguy1234]

Merhaba!

Sounds awesome thanks a LOT. Im from Melbourne (around 80k turks here!) so dont want to miss out on soo much of what i am used to....

Though you say that our local Vietnamese bakery also sells simit! and its as almost as good as the simit in istanbul...

Also will be there for a week in the coming month to look for a place to live...started trawling Trulia so see how i go

[Vlajos]

Konak in Andersonville is owned by Turks. Hit them up when you are here. I'm sure they can point you to where most Turks congregate.

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[Chicago60614]

I've been to many Turkish restaurant around the north side, but as far as I know there is no hard core Turkish neighborhood. I'm sure there's a community though, it just maybe not be centered around one specific area.

[Chi-town Native]

Turks seem to be very well educated as a group, and so I'm guessing they pretty mobile and not confined/limited when they come to Chicago.

There are two who train at my dojo, one lives in Roscoe Village, the other in Irving Park (neither neighborhood is considered particularly ethnic in any specific sense).

[jonnynonos]

There is a Turkish festival every year too. It was supposed to take place right at McClurg Court this year. Well, it did take place, unfortunately it was raining.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ausguy1234

Merhaba!

Sounds awesome thanks a LOT. Im from Melbourne (around 80k turks here!) so dont want to miss out on soo much of what i am used to....

Though you say that our local Vietnamese bakery also sells simit! and its as almost as good as the simit in istanbul...

Also will be there for a week in the coming month to look for a place to live...started trawling Trulia so see how i go

Very cool. Yeah there's a lot of Turks there! I am a little Turkish as well and you'd be surprised that there may be more people with a litttttle bit of it than you'd think. Are you looking to buy or rent? Since you may not have been here, I recommend to rent for a year and there's many sites you can look on to find that.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Konak in Andersonville is owned by Turks. Hit them up when you are here. I'm sure they can point you to where most Turks congregate.

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Konak is cool and that is a Turkish word of course. Some of the bartenders are Turkish and you can get Efes and some raki there too. None of their food is Turkish, though they have an awesome eggplant & jalapeno pizza.


There's also a new-ish Pide and Lahmacun place off the Irving Park Brown Line stop called......Pide ve Lahmacun (haha, figures) which is good. It's owned by the people next door at I-Cafe which is another Turkish/Central Asian place and a big cabbie hangout (open til 5am). Most of the Turkish/Turkic based restaurants in town though are in North Center, Lakeview, Roscoe Village, and Andersonville.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Konak is cool and that is a Turkish word of course. Some of the bartenders are Turkish and you can get Efes and some raki there too. None of their food is Turkish, though they have an awesome eggplant & jalapeno pizza.


There's also a new-ish Pide and Lahmacun place off the Irving Park Brown Line stop called......Pide ve Lahmacun (haha, figures) which is good. It's owned by the people next door at I-Cafe which is another Turkish/Central Asian place and a big cabbie hangout (open til 5am). Most of the Turkish/Turkic based restaurants in town though are in North Center, Lakeview, Roscoe Village, and Andersonville.

I had some good nights at Konak talking to the Turkish owner and bartender drinking Efes.