As form follows function, restaurants follow artists. Savvy restaurateurs by the dozens set up camp in former artists’ colonies such as Old Town, West Lincoln Park, and River North. Soon the neighborhoods became more famous for their restaurants than their artists, and the artists moved to less expensive pastures.
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West Town’s original settlers were German and Scandinavian, but they left no remnants as they fled the Poles, who made this the heart of Chicago’s Polonia for more than half a century–though there were Ukrainian, Italian, Serbian, and Eastern European Jewish enclaves within it. Later the area became predominantly Latino–mainly Puerto Rican with some Mexican–as many Euros fled. And recently artists and yuppies–not recognized as ethnic groups by the U.S. Census Bureau–began to fill in a lot of the spaces.
Today there’s still a great little Polish American diner at the confluence of Wicker Park and Bucktown, the legendary Busy Bee (1550 N. Damen, 772-4433), where you can get everything from pierogi to a hot meatloaf sandwich. There’s also a nifty modern Ukrainian spot called Galan’s in Ukrainian Village (2210 W. Chicago, 292-1000) whose borscht and stuffed cabbage will remind you of down-home Jewish cooking. Unfortunately Braverman’s, once the city’s best Jewish deli, is gone, as is Zlata’s Belgrade, its most notable Serbian dining room.
The most exotic of the neighborhood’s Latino restaurants is Rinconcito Sudamericano (1954 W. Armitage, 489-3126), offering the many magical potato dishes and seafoods of Peru. Lydia’s Cafe (1704 N. Damen, 235-7252) is basically Puerto Rican, an amiable spot located in the back of a small grocery that features good black beans and other standards. Well-prepared traditional Mexican dishes are served at Tecalitlan (1814 W. Chicago, 384-4285), in a pleasant dining room adjacent to the take-out section where you enter. The Mexican seafood at Costa Azul (821 N. Ashland, 243-9244) ranges from the enormous shellfish cocktails to the lusty, garlic-glazed snapper.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Yael Routtenberg.
