Where to Eat on the Northwest Side: Avondale, North Center, Lincoln Square and Beyond

Most food guides stop at Logan Square. Keep going northwest and you'll find some of the city's best eating, in neighborhoods where the blocks are quieter and the restaurants cater to the people who live there. This is where to find Chicago's Polish dining rooms, its old German taverns, some of its best beef stands, and a growing crop of breweries and bakeries.

Avondale

Avondale sits right above Logan Square along Milwaukee Avenue, and it has quietly become one of the city's best food neighborhoods.

• Honey Butter Fried Chicken: crunchy, juicy chicken that you top with honey butter yourself. Get the combo with corn muffins.
• Kuma's Corner: the loud, dark heavy-metal burger bar that started Chicago's burger craze in 2005. Get the Kuma burger with a beer.
• Staropolska: the classic sit-down Polish dinner on the old Polish stretch of Milwaukee Avenue. Share the Polish Plate for two. More Polish food →
• Soul & Smoke: Black-owned barbecue in a riverside beer-garden complex. Order brisket, ribs and mac and cheese.
• Revolution Brewing Taproom: Chicago's biggest independent brewery, at its production brewery on Kedzie. Drink an Anti-Hero IPA.
• Sleeping Village: part bar, part music venue, with a long list of beer and cider drafts.
• Mornings: Loaf Lounge for a bear claw and Milli by Metric for an espresso and a Paradise Bun.

North Center and Ravenswood

• Borinquen: the family of the man who invented the jibarito still makes the original steak version here. What's a jibarito? →
• Resi's Bierstube and Laschet's Inn: two old-school German taverns a few blocks apart on Irving Park Road. Order a German draft with a brat or schnitzel.
• R&A Sourdough: the naturally leavened bagels critics keep putting at the top. More bagels →
• Taqueria El Asadero: a no-frills taqueria with charred, well-seasoned carne asada. Neighbors have lined up for decades.
• Menya Goku: Ramen Wasabi's sister shop. Order the tantanmen.
• Hop Butcher for the World: hazy-IPA specialists, with the freshest cans at the taproom.
• Side Practice Coffee: a Filipino-owned café. Try an ube or pandan latte.

Lincoln Square

• Del Sur Bakery: Filipino flavors meet French lamination. Time Out calls it Chicago's best bakery. Get the longanisa croissant. Temporarily closed for renovations, with a reopening planned for autumn 2026.
• Half Acre: one of the breweries that built Chicago's craft scene. Drink a Daisy Cutter in the Balmoral taproom and beer garden.

Irving Park, Portage Park and the Far Northwest Side

This is beef-stand and neighborhood-grill country.

• Bob-O's and Roma's: two neighborhood Italian beef stands that critics and locals both love. How to order →
• Riviera Foods: an Italian grocery where local Italian families shop. Get the Italian sub with hot giardiniera.
• Smoque BBQ: the city's longtime benchmark for Texas-style brisket.
• Central Gyros: a Northwest Side institution serving its own beef-forward gyros for about half a century. More gyros →
• Lenci's Greek Pita: a newer Greek spot in Dunning carving pork gyros, which are hard to find in Chicago.
• Polish Bistro: a cozy, cabin-like room serving generous Polish home cooking. Order the potato pancake topped with goulash.

Jefferson Park

• Superdawg Drive-In: a 1948 drive-in with carhops and the famous hot dog mascots on the roof. Get the Superdawg with crinkle fries. More on the Chicago dog →
• Smakosz: a family-run Polish spot near the Copernicus Center since 1985. Get handmade pierogi and the baked pork knuckle.
• Red Apple Buffet (Czerwone Jabłuszko): a Polish buffet running since the 1980s, the easiest way to try a little of everything.

One more worth the detour

In Albany Park, Great Sea Restaurant is an old-school Chinese restaurant that everyone visits for its sticky, spicy lollipop wings.

Just south of here, see our Logan Square, Wicker Park & Bucktown guide. Thinking about living on the Northwest Side? ChicagoApartmentBuildings.com is our guide to apartment buildings across the city.