Northside Bar & Grill, Chicago

Posted by Nicole

After waking up nice and early to drive to San Francisco, we waited for our flight to take off to Chicago. We had lots of fun roaming around the San Francisco O’Hare Airport. We were very impressed by Tyler Florence’s market and the Cat Cora restaurant. Too bad it was 10AM, otherwise we would have enjoyed some decadent Belgian waffles or rotisserie chicken from the airport’s swanky eateries.

We arrived at my Aunt Cindy’s house around 6:30 and immediately headed out to dinner in the downtown (totally hipster-tastic) Bucktown neighborhood. Cindy suggested we dine at Northside Bar & Grill (1635 N Damen Ave, Wicker Park, Chicago IL 60647), a nice restaurant with many beers on tap and lots of great menu items.

We were lucky enough to grab a table for 7 in their outdoor patio area. The Giants v. Cubs game was on, which was entertaining!

The adults ordered beers while I sat there feeling like a little kid. Luckily, I had these two cutie-patooties to make me feel somewhat mature.

We soon ordered and our food and it came out about 10 minutes later. This was good, because Lauren and I were about ready to eat each other’s arms from airport hunger!!! I swear, traveling makes me 23491023 more hungry.

I ordered the “Falafel Wrap– all vegetarian falafel wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla with hummus and Jerusalem salad garnish $8.25.” Basically, it was a falafel on a whole wheat wrap, loaded with tomatoes, cucumber, and a generous amount of hummus. It was also served with tahini sauce for dipping. It also came with a side of sweet potato fries and two ranch-like dipping sauces. It was fantastic! The fries were so sweet and not overly fried. The falafel was also great. It was my first time having a falafel, so I didn’t have much to compare it to, but I would say it was a winner!

Lauren ordered the “Chicken Chopped Salad– tender grilled chicken, bacon, crumbled bleu cheese, green onions, pasta, avocado, and fresh tomatoes $10.45.” She ordered it with Dijon vinaigrette, and loved it! Her favorite parts were the really thick bacon pieces and the addition of pasta salad. The chicken was juicy, and there was a nice balance of flavors. They were also very generous with the avocado! I snuck a few bites of the avocado and lettuce and it tasted very fresh, especially coated in the tasty vinaigrette.

My aunt Cindy ordered “Grilled Catfish– farm raised catfish served Cajun-style, lightly blackened over an open flame, with tangy spices served with stir-fried vegetables and fries $12.25.” The catfish had a nice smoky flavor to it. I was lucky enough to snag some of her cauliflower and green beans. I love me some veggies!

David ordered the “Super Northside Bacon & Egg Burger– juicy 1/2 pound angus burger, crispy thick-cut bacon, topped with a pan-fried egg, swiss cheese, on a chewy pretzel roll $9.95.” He said it was “very very good” and he ate every last bite of the juicy, eggy burger.

After devouring everything but the plates, we headed over to…

Forever Yogurt. Don’t act like you’re surprised… you know how we roll ;)

Just as we prefer, it was a self-serve frozen yogurt joint with about 8 flavors and lots of the traditional toppings. 45 cents an ounce… kind of overpriced but whatevuhhh. One special topping I noticed was a pumpkin spice drizzle sauce… it was pretty good, but I didn’t put any on my froyo for the sake of weird flavor mixing.

I got a small cup of red velvet (tasted just like Orange Leaf’s chocolaty red velvet) covered in waffle pieces (unfortunately stale), Reese’s PB chunks, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. Lauren got a cup of red velvet and heath, topped with Captain Crunch cereal and cheesecake bites.

The twins got each got a tiny cup of froyo that made Lauren and I look like froyo hoarders. I reassured her by saying that we are triple their size, so we deserve triple the froyo.

We then walked about half a mile back to the car and drove to stay at Cindy’s house! Thanks for letting us spend the day/night with you and your beautiful family, Cindy! When you come visit us, we will be sure to treat you to an awesome dinner and froyo dessert :)

Today was super busy, and we will recap all about our amazing breakfast at Tempo Cafe and our experience at the Giants/Cubs game soon! We hope your week is going well!

Q4U: Which of our four dishes would you order?  Falafel wrap, chicken salad, catfish, or burger?