For nearly 20 years I lived in Decatur, Georgia, a close-in Atlanta suburb with a two-lane main drag and a town square that underwent a major revitalization during the time we lived there. Every empty storefront attracted a new tenant. There was the one-off antique store, clothing boutique, or indie book store, but mostly bars and restaurants. Even the long-dormant train depot got a facelift and a liquor license.
My wife and I used to love walking into town on Saturday night and just letting the gods choose our dinner. There were a handful of great restaurants where we might snag a couple of barstools or an early table with a pledge to vacate it in 90 minutes. But it was the legion of pretty good restaurants I was most grateful for — places that we didn’t anticipate dining at but could squeeze us in and, as a result, choose dinner for us. It was the not knowing part, the “you’re in luck we’ve got one table” part, the confounding cravings part: it all makes food taste better.
Finding that right mix and concentration of choice is in my mind the essence of a great dining stretch, and here in Chicago I feel that the top contender is Armitage Avenue in Logan Square — let’s say west of Western Avenue and east of Kimball and a block north or south. Among the many, many solid choices we have:
- Table, Donkey and Stick — Great wine, seasonal Alpine menu
- Lonesome Rose — Good cocktails, Tex Mex that hits
- Osteria Langhe — Italian regional food from Piedmont
- Bar Parisette — French bistro faves with a good wine list
- Small Cheval — R.I.P. The Freeze
- Gretel — pub food with a celebrated burger
- Bungalow by Middle Brow — Pizzas, salads, beers and wine, all made in house
- Dante’s Pizzeria — Loyal I.Y.K.Y.K. clientele
- Parson’s Chicken & Fish — Not the sensation it once was, but a Negroni slushie with something fried is never not a good idea
- Omakase Box — Best value premium sushi
- Scofflaw — Cocktail bar with a decent menu
- Giant — Inventive small plates and pastas in a busy space
- Best Intentions — Bar with great cocktails and a $6 bar burger that goes down like a hot doughnut
Last Saturday we set out for a walk with Giant as our destination. Maybe the patio would have a spot for us? No luck, unless we wanted to come back two hours later, so we thought Bar Parisette might work. There’s a steak frites on the menu there that always satisfies. Alas, it was closed that evening for a private party. Osteria Langhe, which I haven’t been to in years, was across the street. As it turned out they did have a free two top on their back patio, which we accessed by a walk down the narrow gangway. We sat next to a wood-slat wall festooned with plastic ivy that had been set up to hide the whirring HVAC unit. It was all so charming in such a summertime-in-Chicago way.
The service was warm and welcoming, and the food was enjoyable in that way you know you’re eating the 2,500th iteration of the dish: those signature plin pasta, tiny agnolotti filled with La Tur cheese; a version of vitello tonnato with the addition of a breaded and deep-fried soft boiled egg and rare roast beef standing in for veal; a salad showered with roasted hazelnuts. As a restaurant reviewer I might feel compelled to mention the yellowing arugula or the complete lack of seasoning in a plate of fresh tagliatelle. As a guy walking around town with his favorite person who happened into a patio table on a warm Saturday night, I was so happy the universe had brought me fresh, housemade pasta.
I have two more comments to make about Armitage Avenue. If you feel like walking around on a Tuesday, that’s the night for both Terroir Tuesdays at Table, Donkey and Stick (I was drinking Chablis and eating a great tomato and strawberry salad there just last Tuesday) and tavern-style pizza at Middle Brow (which can take a while but is worth the wait.) The other comment is that if you strike out at every single restaurant, there’s always Red Hot Ranch. This street wants to make sure you get fed.