Long Division

Once an open roost for gangs, Division Street has achieved near total turnaround with a retail strip that shows little sign of slowing down.

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WHERE TO EAT

Milk & Honey, a sunny casual food restaurant and café serving breakfast and lunch, has been drawing people to the neighborhood for years with its gourmet takes on comfort-food classics, including a Reuben made with smoked turkey. A few doors down, Jerry's Sandwiches, the newly opened second location of the Loop stalwart, offers 100 sandwiches on its menu. Letizia's Natural Bakery, around since 1998 and owned by Italian-born Letizia Zorano and her son, Fabio, is an Italian bakeshop that also offers a mean panini—all from natural ingredients and made fresh daily. Its sister store, Enoteca Roma, serves a Roman-style menu, including bruschetta and pizzas, and offers a nice selection of wines by the glass and a big outdoor patio. Newcomer Via Carducci La Sorella, related to the original in Lincoln Park, also serves Italian food, as does Crust, Chicago's first certified organic restaurant, which makes flatbread pizzas, salads, and sandwiches. Mirai Sushi (which is listed in Chicago's restaurant guide) packs in diners on two stories—dinner downstairs, lounge upstairs. Smoke Daddy, in addition to its tangy, wood-smoked barbecue in big portions, offers live blues seven nights a week.