Pilsen/UIC/United Center - inexpensive dinner?

Can anyone recommend a place for an inexpensive dinner in or near this area? Type of cuisine doesn't matter. I'm just looking for a casual bite to eat.

Thanks,
Hikari

Near UIC, you may want to try Tufano's. It has been reviewed both here and the other place many times.

A good Italian place, near UIC, aside from Tufano's would be Caffe La Scala on Racine. It's never too too crowded, is very cozy, and serves reliably good Italian. I've been there many times, and I am never disappointed. They also have a great, free juke box in the bar.

Right between Pilsen and UIC is the Skylark. Limited offerings but not a bad place for Southern-style fried options. Good mac and cheese, too. Ambience: neighborhood bar. Opens at 4:00.

Also, it sounds like you won't be far from Al's Beef, about as casual as you can get, and always a top contender in Beefathons.


Skylark
2149 S. Halsted St.

Al's No. 1 Italian Beef
1079 W. Taylor St

Hi...
I'm one of those guys that would rather eat dog food than go to Al's....hehe
here are some places to try....

Pompei
1531 W Taylor
quick and cheap...good salads...kind of cafeteria style

Thai Bowl
1049 W Taylor
not the best not the worst....10% off with student ID (I love being a 43 year old student...hehe) Lunch specials too!

for what it's worth...
Leona's
1419 W Taylor
its a chain, it's cheap, it's filling, it's Chicago

Giordano's
815 W Van Buren (Halsted )
it's a chain, it is what it is....
they have lunch specials
student discounts as well!

Jimmy John's
900 W Van Buren
I eat at the one on State (it's near my school)
I like the sandwiches better than Potbelly's

Let me think of more....good eating

Delk sez: "I'm one of those guys that would rather eat dog food than go to Al's"


Delk, so many folks say things like that, but it's often just idle hyperbole.

But you back it up, with examples. "Thai Bowl ... Leona's ... Jimmy John's."

My advice to the OP is to mine the substantial, nay stupefying wealth of prior posts here on Pilsen, Taylor, Tri-Taylor, Oakley, Chinatown, Bridgeport even the South Loop, then come back at us with a more detailed request.

I mean, really. This ain't that other board.

P.S. OK, sorry about all that. If you are completely unfamiliar with the area, you might try Nuevo Leon in Pilsen for starters. A rare combination of quality and general popularity. Same for Bruna's on Oakley. Let's say Tufano's and Gennaro's on (or near) Taylor, though nothing on Taylor gets me too excited, save Conte di Savoia, Mario's, and yes, Al's, though none fit the quiet dinner requirement.

You know you'll be awfully close to Greektown as well.

For a low-key meal, dinner at the bar at Bruna's or Bertucci's corner sounds like heaven to me, though.

So sorry to offend you Jeff....
The hehe after the Al's remark was meant tongue in cheek but I guess you take your food a bit more seriously then I do...

I could have named a bunch of places, yet, I guess I misunderstood casual and inexpensive, stupid, stupid, stupid me...

From now on I'll just shut up and eat dog food

Thanks

JeffB wrote:
My advice to the OP is to mine the substantial, nay stupefying wealth of prior posts here on Pilsen, Taylor, Tri-Taylor, Oakley, Chinatown, Bridgeport even the South Loop, then come back at us with a more detailed request.

I mean, really. This ain't that other board.

I live in the area (along with probably several hundred thousand other people) mentioned by the o.p., Hikari, and write regularly about places in this part -- nay, these parts -- of the city; in terms of quasi-official nomenclature, the zone mentioned includes presumably all of the Near West Side and at least much of the Near Southwest Side and, insofar as the West Loop isn't just part of the Near West, then a bit of the West Loop as well; neighbourhoodwise that includes Greek Town and the stretch of territory extending to the west, out I suppose to whatever they call the area around where CrazyC lives, and then to the south of the highway (Eisenhower) also Taylor Street, Tri-Taylor, Pilsen and Heart of Chicago. And adding in the South Loop (as being 'near' UIC), as JeffB suggests, isn't stretching things too far... (I'm not so sure though about Bridgeport)...

Anyway, I tried writing a response twice yesterday and ended up scrapping both because they sounded too cranky. The fact is, as JeffB points out, a really broad request of the sort made hereabove should probably be narrowed down a bit through use of the search-engine of the site. Once the request is focussed a bit more, answering it seems to be no longer an open-ended chore but rather a doable and gladly done task in which one gets to share one's knowledge.

P.S. OK, sorry about all that. If you are completely unfamiliar with the area, you might try Nuevo Leon in Pilsen for starters. A rare combination of quality and general popularity. Same for Bruna's on Oakley. Let's say Tufano's and Gennaro's on (or near) Taylor, though nothing on Taylor gets me too excited, save Conte di Savoia, Mario's, and yes, Al's, though none fit the quiet dinner requirement.

You know you'll be awfully close to Greektown as well.

The above are (probably) all appropriate suggestations, though the vagueness of the original request leaves one in some doubt. To that list, albeit with lingering doubts, one might add Artopolis on Halsted between Jackson and Van Buren, Wishbone at the corner of Washington and Morgan, the Palace Grill (a diner) at Loomis and Madison, Cous Cous (Moroccan) at Taylor and Bishop, Polk and Western Hot Dogs (:o *) at, that's right, Polk and Western.... There are many good, inexpensive and casual places in this fifth of the city in which to eat without having to resort to chains.

Yeah, the request ought to be a bit more focussed... Are the suggestions just to be for general reference or for some particular occasion (e.g., before or after an event at the United Center)? Give us a little more info and I promise you'll get some good suggestions.

Antonius

* I mention this place only because it was cited somewhere on the board in a post yesterday as being among the best purveyors of hot dogs in the city. I have no opinion on the matter, having not yet eaten there, despite the fact that I pass within smelling distance of the place almost every day -- they need to change the grease in the deep-frier more often, in my humble opinion.

Tufano's is inexpensive and consistently good. I just wish they still had cavatelli, but apparently no one can make it as good as Grandma and she passed away several years ago. They tried, but it just wasn't the same, so they took it off the menu.

Although I am probably partial. My dad lived across the street from the family for years. His house was torn down to be the UIC parking lot. Been to Tufano's many times and they know us well. I used to go flirt with the valet guys as a teenager while my family enjoyed their Sambucas.

Pompei is also owned by family friends. Good, but a completely different feel. Pompei is stand-in-line-cafeteria-style, $5-10 items, whereas Tufano's is $10-20, sit down, homey Italian, menus on chalboards, homemade pasta kind of place. For the price difference, I'd go to Tufano's everytime.

Christine