Recommendations Near Wrigley

Any particularly good places around Wrigley (Clark, Halsted, Broadway, Irving Park), other than standard bar food. I know there's "Irish" pubs, but don't know which have decent food. Tuscany would be good, but what else for the over 30 crowd.

TAC Quick, half a mile north.

Erwin, south of Wrigley, on Halsted near Oakdale.

Wilde Bar and Grill on Broadway near Barry is an Irish Pub with food that's a notch above others in the neighborhood.

Yoshi's on Halsted in Boystown.

Pretty decent Italian can be found at Fornello on Irving Park near Sheridan.

Sheffield's; great beer and BBQ, on Sheffield a block north of Belmont

Not the greatest, not the worst, but usually very solid Japanese (with sushi) is Matsuya. One of my favorite "no frills" spots for sushi.

Matsuya
3469 N Clark St

Uncommon Ground
3800 Clark

http://www.uncommonground.com

Tuesday night's are half off wine bottles.

Chicagoric wrote:Sheffield's; great beer and BBQ, on Sheffield a block north of Belmont

I must say, a buddy of mine ordered a pulled pork sandwich the last time we were there and it was much better than I would have guessed. Nowhere near the Honey 1's and Smoque's of the city, but definitely a notch above most similar places. And yeah, their beer selection really is great.

Socca
3301 N. Clark St
Chgo, 60657
773-248-1155
http://www.soccachicago.com

I do like Erwin's as well, but it's just far enough south to be out of striking range of Wrigley. And while I've occasionally had a disappointing entree at Erwin's, I've never had anything but surprisingly good, well-executed, tasty meals at Socca.

Joel

I'd second the Socca choice as well, although I like to eat at the bar rather than in the dining room

Mia Francesca -- on the 3300 block of North Clark. Consistently good Italian fare for the last 15 years, reasonably priced, lively (perhaps too lively) atmosphere.

When I lived in the neighborhood, we enjoyed many good meals at Tuscany on Clark & Waveland.

Wilde B&G sounds good, but a little far for us. What Irish Bar closer to Addison/Irving would be decent for dining?

Cullens at Soutport and Grace?

Cullen's is a good call. Not O'Hagans. Maybe Irish Oak on Clark, but overall Cullen's is the better choice.

Mrs Willie and I both had burgers at HVAC last night prior to the Cubs Game.

Two thin patties that were gray in color, no sear, no flavor, far too much bun. It always amazes me that someone can make a "bad" burger.

HVAC
3530 N Clark St.
Chicago, Illinois

Sweet Willie wrote:Mrs Willie and I both had burgers at HVAC last night prior to the Cubs Game.

Two thin patties that were gray in color, no sear, no flavor, far too much bun. It always amazes me that someone can make a "bad" burger.

HVAC
3530 N Clark St.
Chicago, Illinois

HVAC does not seem to me like a good name for good burger place. It seems like a good name for an HVAC business.

I like Murphy's Bleachers, right behind the bleacher seats. They have very good onion rings. They also own Mrs Murphy's Irish Bistro, and are nice people.

Tango Sur, on Southport & Grace (though it tends to get really crowded).

ETA: Holy necromancy, the OP was from 2008.

Mia Francesca -- on the 3300 block of North Clark.

Our group dined this past weekend at Mia Francesca prior to attending a show at Annoyance Theatre. This was easily one of the most mediocre meals across the board I've had in years, not one of the 6 dishes stood out. Service was very good considering how busy they were, we really appreciated that. Again food was very forgettable.

Mia Francesca
3311 N Clark St,
Chicago, IL 60657

Boy this thread is 10 years old. Seems like a lot of places near Wrigley Field expect you to be drunk enough that you won't notice the mediocrity they are serving. I certainly haven't been to all of them, and on game day I'm only thinking hot dogs in the park, but I do end up around there now and again so I check out what's around. The original poster asked for places that didn't serve bar food and were more for the 30 and up crowd. Can't really help too much on that myself. Al's Beef is still a favorite for a beef sandwich (yes I know it's a franchised location - this is one of the better ones), and Dimo's does a nice pizza slice. A little further west - Bartoli's Pizza on Addison and Damen is the grandson of Gino's East and puts out a great deep dish that is a lesser known gem. Rockit Burger Bar isn't bad right at Clark and Grace next to the park. They have a nice patio to sit outside and eat without noisy music inside.

The Southport corridor is an easy walk from Wrigley, and has experienced rapid commercial development in the years since this topic started. I really like Crosby's Kitchen, and for breakfast/brunch lunch Southport Grocery is consistently excellent (if you don't mind waiting to be seated on weekends). George already mentioned Tango Sur. I haven't been to Grassroots since it morphed out of Deleece, which was always good.

I know the thread is 10 years old, but if anything the choices right near the ballpark are worse now than ever, except for alcohol. Vines on Clark, kiddycorner from Wrigley next to the Cubby Bear, is the only place I'd step into and they only have merely passable pizza.

When a buddy & I attended Dead & Co. last July, I absolutely refused to eat in the vicinity. Knowing we had to park far away anyway, we found a spot near Spacca Napoli on Sunnyside, enjoyed a great Napolitan-style pie, then hoofed it to the show.

It almost seems like a restaurant near Wrigley doesn't have to really serve anything special because there will be heavy foot traffic every weekend and during Cub games no matter what. People will be drinking and partying and if the food is no big deal - oh well. They'll just assume they chose the wrong place and not worry about it too much. For the rest of us it means eat elsewhere. A few new restaurants are opening now in the new Zachary Hotel.

My two most recent pre-Wrigley stops were Tac Quick and Ceres Table

This is all set to change for the better with Big Star already opening and Mordecai (Matthias Merges), Dutch & Doc's (Boka Group), Smoke Daddy and Tony Mantuano's concept coming soon right across from the ballpark.

While it's true that there's a lack of decent food in the immediate vicinity of Wrigley, you don't have to go far. There are plenty of very-good-to-excellent options within a half mile of Wrigley, mostly on Southport but also on Irving Park. Here's a laundry list in no particular order:

Toons - solid bar food
Tango Sur - Argentine steak, BYOB, often has long waits
Bodega Sur - same owners as Tango Sur, similar food, booze sold onsite
El Mercado - market w/empanadas sold by the register, also same owners as Tango Sur
Coalfire Pizza - fantastic Neopolitan-ish pizza, typically super fast
Panino's Cafe - underrated Neopolitan-style pizza
Cafe Tola - takeaway empanadas, non-traditional but amazing
5411 - empanadas, not nearly as good as Tola or El Mercado but has seating and booze
Tac Quick - excellent Thai
Byron's Hot dogs - solid dog
Sushi Mura - perfectly fine neighborhood sushi joint #1
Rise - perfectly fine neighborhood sushi joint #2
Crosby's Kitchen - well-done family-friendly American fare with full bar
Ella Elli - wine bar owned by same people as Crosby's Kitchen
Corridor Brewery - decent beer, upscale bar food
Jeni's Splended Ice Cream - great ice cream, long waits in the summer
Dairy Queen - because sometimes you just want a Blizzard

A little further but all within about a mile of the park:
Roost Carolina Kitchen - Nashville hot chicken
Cere's Table - upscale Italian
DryHop Brewers - good (mostly hoppy) beer, upscale bar food
Cafe Tola #3 - another outpost of Cafe Tola, just a bit further west on Addison
Cafe Orchid - solid Turkish food, not my favorite but it's gotten some love on the board
Cafe El Tapatio - Mexican
Coda di Volpe - good pastas and pizza
The Spanish Square - tapas
Fahlstrom's Fish Market - great seafood, if a bit inconsistent in my experience
Murphy's Red Hots - for my money one of the best hot dog stands in the city

Probably my number one (newish for me) recommendation for interesting food around Wrigley, whatever that means, would be Rice 'N Bread. It's about a block away from Wrigley (3435 n. Sheffield). To use it's tag line, it's an "American diner with a Korean twist".

So you can get a traditional omelet, or bulgogi and eggs. You can get a burger or Korean fried chicken. I've only been there twice and both times I got the dol-sot bibimbap (it was very cold out, needed comfort food). It was excellent.

I don't think they have booze. Maybe they're BYOB? So that may pose an issue before a Cubs game, but I love that joint.

Sweet Willie wrote:

Mia Francesca -- on the 3300 block of North Clark.

Our group dined this past weekend at Mia Francesca prior to attending a show at Annoyance Theatre. This was easily one of the most mediocre meals across the board I've had in years. Not one of the 6 dishes stood out. Service was very good, considering how busy they were. We really appreciated that. Again, food was very forgettable.
Mia Francesca
3311 N Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657

Perhaps it was exhaling deeply as having been spared from destruction for the CTA's Brown Line overpass.
I am really surprised no one here in the thread has mentioned Sheffield's. It has a barbecue cuisine. It is not world class, but it is certainly servicable. I go there for the beers, anyway.

pudgym29 wrote:I am really surprised no one here in the thread has mentioned Sheffield's. It has a barbecue cuisine. It is not world class, but it is certainly servicable. I go there for the beers, anyway. [/color]

Actually, mentioned a couple times in this thread, positively. (See post #4 and #7).

(ETA: I think there is needs to be an internet rule, as with pretty much every internet message board I've belonged to, that when a post starts "I can't believe no one has mentioned XXX," that XXX has, in fact, been mentioned.)

pudgym29 wrote: I am really surprised no one here in the thread has mentioned Sheffield's. It has a barbecue cuisine. It is not world class, but it is certainly servicable. I go there for the beers, anyway.

Binko wrote:Actually, mentioned a couple times in this thread, positively). See post #4 and #7).
(ETA: I think there is needs to be an internet rule, as with pretty much every internet message board I've belonged to, that when a post starts "I can't believe no one has mentioned XXX," that XXX has, in fact, been mentioned.)

{...elbows Binko in the ribs when no one is looking}
You know - when people click on a thread link here on LTHF, it brings them to the entry dated later than when they last logged on. In threads with scores of replies, including many with high-bandwidth images , backing up for prior posts is impractical. Some threads here on LTHF remark on how much of a jump it was between replies (I think the record here is 10½ years.).
I am not complaining about being corrected any more than I complain about those responders who post those 1 MB images in threads.
So if you really, really have b**eball tickets for that team (everybody is on its bandwagon now), just go to Sheffield's, OK?