Best square mile for chow

VI's praise for the 3100 block of north Central got me thinking: what's the best square mile for chow in the city?

My nomination has its center at Montrose and California, so it stretches from Kedzie to Western and Irving Park to Lawrence. Spoon Thai, sticky rice, noon-o-kebab, the penguin, semiramis, the cheese stands alone, and many others get squeezed into that tiny area.

Maybe a square mile is too wide an area, though. How about 1/4 sq mi, four blocks on each side instead of eight? Does that change your area completely, or just shrink it a bit?

The problem with gleam's square mile is that the section (or half-section) lines are in the middle of the boundary streets. That means that technically the places on the west side of Kedzie, east side of Western, north side of Lawrence and south side of Irving don't qualify. I would loosen the definition slightly. Either way, it is a great food area and has been albeit with many changes the entire time I have lived within it (since 1976).

ekreider wrote:The problem with gleam's square mile is that the section (or half-section) lines are in the middle of the boundary streets.

I meant to mention that both sides of the street are fair game. If one of your border streets is western, you get both sides. That's why the Cheese Stands Alone made it into that area.

I imagine it'd be fun to do a walking tour of the chow-rich neighborhoods.

And I'd like to officially designate the area housing Rainforest Cafe, Red Lobster, Ed Debevic's, Hard Rock Cafe, etc, as a chow black hole. So few decent restaurants seem to exist in that haven of mediocrity and corporate menus.

since it's my 'hood, I'd say Wicker Park/Bucktown ..

Western - Ashland
Armitage - Division

What do you particularly recommend in that area? What stands out?

gleam, I agree with you now, as I did when VI made the claim

Maybe it's familiarity that breeds content but I'm gonna have to stick with my 'hood as well. Let's take the eight blocks from Argyle north to Bryn Mawr (which is really only about six) and from Sheridan west to Ashland.

We can start with Clark Street alone: Rioja, Hopleaf, La Donna, Jin Ju, Reza’s, Calo, Andie's, Hamamatsu, Ann Sather, Svea, Turkish Restaurant and Bakery, Tomboy, Sushi Mike at Tanoshii, the Sunshine Café, La Tache…and on and on. Rather stay on Broadway? La Fonda, Pasteur, Argyle Street with places too numerous to list, Mei Shung, Furama, Ba Le….

You want coffee houses? How about Coffee Chicago, Café Boost, A Taste of Heaven, or Kopi, just to name a few? Perhaps you’d prefer the delicacies offered by Urban Epicure. What about the variety of grocers? Two Swedish delis on Clark, Del Ray (heavily Mexican-oriented), New World Market (Caribbean and African specialties), Middle East, Pars Persian, and Arya markets, Thai Grocery, Shan’s (on Sheridan) stocks Indian ingredients, several large Vietnamese/Asian grocers, including the beloved Thai Grocery as well as pan-Asian Golden Pacific. It’s all within a six block walk!

Ok, so I'm almost 2000 miles away and am not real familiar with the areas but I'll toss in a couple thoughts:

North Ave area of Elmwood Park/Oak Park/Chicago border: Johnnie's, Massa, Old World Pizza

Taylor St Little Italy area near UIC: Al's and Mario's

I'm sure there are other great places in thes 2 areas as well

Wow, can't believe there is anything better than Oak St. south to the river and LSD west to Orleans. Not exactly neighborhood fare, but it's hard to argue the sheer number of great places to eat.