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Andersonville residents and visitors have plenty of solid dining and drinking options.
Garrett Sweet/Eater Chicago

Where to Eat and Drink in Andersonville

The Swedish neighborhood continues to evolve

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Andersonville residents and visitors have plenty of solid dining and drinking options.
| Garrett Sweet/Eater Chicago

Originally founded by Swedish immigrants in the late 19th Century, Andersonville has become known for its Scandinavian influence. But there’s more to the neighborhood than Scandinavian cuisine and culture. Today, it’s also one of the city’s largest LGBTQ communities, and full of adorable businesses, shops, and restaurants. From martinis and mulled wine to a few of the city’s best restaurants for breakfast and brunch, here are Eater’s the top spots to eat and drink in Andersonville.

As of August 20, the city has mandated that everyone wear facial coverings while indoors. For updated information on coronavirus cases, please visit the city of Chicago’s COVID-19 dashboard. Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; the latest data about the delta variant indicates that it may pose a low-to-moderate risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial transmission. The latest CDC guidance is here; find a COVID-19 vaccination site here.

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m.henry

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M.henry is known throughout the neighborhood as one of the top spots for weekday breakfast and weekend brunch. Diners can devour a “Fannie’s killer fried egg sandwich,” which arrives with eggs, bacon, sliced plum tomatoes, gorgonzola cheese and fresh thyme, or sink their teeth into vegan tofu scrambles, fluffy pancakes, and more.

Little Madrid Tapas-Café

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First-time restaurant owner and native Spaniard Francisco Bolaños has a hit on his hands with Andersonville’s only Spanish restaurant. A mellow storefront spot, the restaurant has earned a following with a broad selection of tapas, pintxos, palleas, and more. It all goes down beautifully with cafe con leche.

Uvae Kitchen and Wine Bar

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This charming corner wine bar has become a neighborhood destination with special tastings, prix fixe wine dinners for two, and a food menu laden with meat, seafood, and vegetarian dishes. Ownership aims to soon open a retail spot and tasting room next door called the Fromagerie where patrons can while away the hours among top-notch cheeses.

Little Bad Wolf

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Little Bad Wolf serves filling fare and carefully crafted cocktails until the wee hours of the morning. The menu includes orders of mussels served with crostini, tacos and bao buns stuffed with steak, chicken, and fish, and big burgers topped with bacon, cheese, and runny fried eggs. It’s a sister spot to Gretel in Logan Square.

Andersonville has a number of Middle Eastern options to choose from but modern Israeli spot Fiya, which replaced sandwich spot Jerry’s in June 2020, sets itself apart by representing the more than 180 nationalities that populate the state. Dishes and ingredients draw on the culinary traditions of Palestine, Iran, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, and beyond, with hits including a massive za’atar chicken schnintzel (torshi, tahina, amba, pita) and two types of Georgian khachapuri.

A Taste of Heaven

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How are pancakes served in heaven? According to this Andersonville brunch spot, they’re presented as buttermilk “Katie cakes,” which are topped with three-berry compote, lemon streusel crumbs, and a generous dollop of whipped cream. Other menu items include bountiful omelettes, sandwiches, and cookies or sizable slices of cake from the bakery.

Nobody's Darling

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This newish queer cocktail spot tucked on a residential street is making major waves as Chicago’s second Black-owned LGBTQ bar. The lively spot, located in the former of home of lesbian wine bar  Joie de Vine, tends to draw one of the most diverse crowds in the neighborhood with playful drinks like the Pink Kitty and Darling Mule, delivered in cut glassware.

A bartender holds a metal cocktail shaker inside a black-and-red bar space
Nobody’s Darling arrived with a splash in Andersonville.
Garrett Sweet/Eater Chicago

Marty's Martini Bar

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The namesake drink at Marty’s Martini Bar arrives strong and filled to the brim. The signature cocktails here are served in inventive varieties that include chocolate hazelnut and strawberry shortcake martinis. Marty’s bartenders also pour beer and glasses of wine.

Big Jones

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Big Jones has brought top-notch Southern cuisine to Chicago and has earned national spotlight. Though the Andersonville eatery is celebrated for its crawfish etoufee and pickle platter, the big favorite here is the fried Amish chicken, which is brined in herbs and spices and fried in leaf lard, ham drippings, and clarified butter. Fans of Popeyes should take note: chef Paul Fehribach admires how the chain fries chicken and has adapted those techniques in his kitchen.

Lost Larson

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Carb load in style at this dreamy bakery by ex-Grace pastry chef Bobby Schaffer. Breads and Baked goods include whole wheat, Swedish limpa, and their wildly popular cardamom buns. Customers with substantial appetites can choose from the open face sandwiches piled with fresh ingredients, or Lost Larson’s signature light green duchess cake, a twist on traditional Swedish princess cake. There’s a smaller second outpost in Wicker Park.

Anteprima

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This rustic Italian restaurant has two faces: quiet, romantic, and intimate most weeknights, crowded and raucous on the weekend. Friendly, knowledgeable servers squeeze between the tightly-packed tables, delivering dishes including griddled scamorza cheese with smoked mozzarella and pickled cabbage, bucatini with braised calamari and octopus, and slow-cooked lamb shank with English peas.

George's Ice Cream & Sweets

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This beloved local ice cream shop tops its sweet treats with a bevy of candies, nuts, and sauces. George’s gets its ice cream from Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, a family-run ice cream company in Madison, Wisconsin.

Lady Gregory's Irish Bar & Restaurant

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Many Chicago neighborhoods have a beloved Irish pub, and Andersonville has Lady Gregory’s. The food here is simple and goes well with a pint of beer. Expect comforting dishes like chicken pot pie, meatloaf, lobster mac and cheese, and decadent sandwiches. But the pub grub isn’t the only star here: Lady Gregory’s bartenders pour around 100 brews and 300 whiskeys, and the establishment also has a beautiful seating area with a library and fireplace. There’s also an Old Town location and the owners operate Wilde in Lakeview.

Svea Restaurant

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True to the neighborhood’s Scandinavian roots, Svea serves Swedish pancakes with lingonberry sauce and “viking breakfasts” with potatoes, eggs, pancakes, and falukorv — a type of Swedish sausage. The eatery also has been known to break out lutefisk — the infamously stinky Nordic fish — from time to time. If you plan to dine at Svea, take note that the restaurant only accepts cash.

Simon's Tavern

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Simon’s Tavern is famous in winter for glogg, the warm, mulled wine. But this is a beer and shot spot with occasional live music and and analog jukebox holding some one of the best music selections in the city.

Classic Korean dishes mingle with inventive cocktails at this modern Andersonville spot. Orders of dol sut bi bim nap arrive served in a sizzling hot stone pot with soybean paste soup on the side, and pair perfectly with cool soju-infused martinis. The restaurant is dimly lit and full of intimate ambience, making it ideal for first dates.

Middle East Bakery & Grocery

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Middle East Bakery & Grocery is a longtime local supplier of pantry goods, grains and rice, savory pies, and pastries. The store also operates a restaurant with falafel sandwiches, shawarma, and fresh kabobs carved from a rotisserie behind the counter. One offering in particular — the “shawafel wrap” with a satisfying one-two punch of falafel and chicken shawarma.

Taste of Lebanon Restaurant

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This shotgun-style storefront restaurant emphasizes substance over style, and once the food arrives the surroundings melt away. Diners feast on falafel, hummus, and lavosh wraps containing lamb kebab, chicken or beef shawarma, but the real showstopper is the lentil soup.

Hopleaf

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Hopleaf is one of the country’s most-celebrated beer bars, and a destination for beer lovers all over the city. The gastropub fills its taps with a huge and rotating selection of domestic and imported brews. But the beer isn’t the only reason to visit this Andersonville bar: Hopleaf also serves mussels and frites cooked Belgian-style or in a white wine and cream broth, and a delectable grilled cheese that marries sourdough bread, house-made cashew butter, fig jam, and gooey raclette cheese.

m.henry

M.henry is known throughout the neighborhood as one of the top spots for weekday breakfast and weekend brunch. Diners can devour a “Fannie’s killer fried egg sandwich,” which arrives with eggs, bacon, sliced plum tomatoes, gorgonzola cheese and fresh thyme, or sink their teeth into vegan tofu scrambles, fluffy pancakes, and more.

Little Madrid Tapas-Café

First-time restaurant owner and native Spaniard Francisco Bolaños has a hit on his hands with Andersonville’s only Spanish restaurant. A mellow storefront spot, the restaurant has earned a following with a broad selection of tapas, pintxos, palleas, and more. It all goes down beautifully with cafe con leche.

Uvae Kitchen and Wine Bar

This charming corner wine bar has become a neighborhood destination with special tastings, prix fixe wine dinners for two, and a food menu laden with meat, seafood, and vegetarian dishes. Ownership aims to soon open a retail spot and tasting room next door called the Fromagerie where patrons can while away the hours among top-notch cheeses.

Little Bad Wolf

Little Bad Wolf serves filling fare and carefully crafted cocktails until the wee hours of the morning. The menu includes orders of mussels served with crostini, tacos and bao buns stuffed with steak, chicken, and fish, and big burgers topped with bacon, cheese, and runny fried eggs. It’s a sister spot to Gretel in Logan Square.

Fiya

Andersonville has a number of Middle Eastern options to choose from but modern Israeli spot Fiya, which replaced sandwich spot Jerry’s in June 2020, sets itself apart by representing the more than 180 nationalities that populate the state. Dishes and ingredients draw on the culinary traditions of Palestine, Iran, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, and beyond, with hits including a massive za’atar chicken schnintzel (torshi, tahina, amba, pita) and two types of Georgian khachapuri.

A Taste of Heaven

How are pancakes served in heaven? According to this Andersonville brunch spot, they’re presented as buttermilk “Katie cakes,” which are topped with three-berry compote, lemon streusel crumbs, and a generous dollop of whipped cream. Other menu items include bountiful omelettes, sandwiches, and cookies or sizable slices of cake from the bakery.

Nobody's Darling

This newish queer cocktail spot tucked on a residential street is making major waves as Chicago’s second Black-owned LGBTQ bar. The lively spot, located in the former of home of lesbian wine bar  Joie de Vine, tends to draw one of the most diverse crowds in the neighborhood with playful drinks like the Pink Kitty and Darling Mule, delivered in cut glassware.

A bartender holds a metal cocktail shaker inside a black-and-red bar space
Nobody’s Darling arrived with a splash in Andersonville.
Garrett Sweet/Eater Chicago

Marty's Martini Bar

The namesake drink at Marty’s Martini Bar arrives strong and filled to the brim. The signature cocktails here are served in inventive varieties that include chocolate hazelnut and strawberry shortcake martinis. Marty’s bartenders also pour beer and glasses of wine.

Big Jones

Big Jones has brought top-notch Southern cuisine to Chicago and has earned national spotlight. Though the Andersonville eatery is celebrated for its crawfish etoufee and pickle platter, the big favorite here is the fried Amish chicken, which is brined in herbs and spices and fried in leaf lard, ham drippings, and clarified butter. Fans of Popeyes should take note: chef Paul Fehribach admires how the chain fries chicken and has adapted those techniques in his kitchen.

Lost Larson

Carb load in style at this dreamy bakery by ex-Grace pastry chef Bobby Schaffer. Breads and Baked goods include whole wheat, Swedish limpa, and their wildly popular cardamom buns. Customers with substantial appetites can choose from the open face sandwiches piled with fresh ingredients, or Lost Larson’s signature light green duchess cake, a twist on traditional Swedish princess cake. There’s a smaller second outpost in Wicker Park.

Anteprima

This rustic Italian restaurant has two faces: quiet, romantic, and intimate most weeknights, crowded and raucous on the weekend. Friendly, knowledgeable servers squeeze between the tightly-packed tables, delivering dishes including griddled scamorza cheese with smoked mozzarella and pickled cabbage, bucatini with braised calamari and octopus, and slow-cooked lamb shank with English peas.

George's Ice Cream & Sweets

This beloved local ice cream shop tops its sweet treats with a bevy of candies, nuts, and sauces. George’s gets its ice cream from Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, a family-run ice cream company in Madison, Wisconsin.

Lady Gregory's Irish Bar & Restaurant

Many Chicago neighborhoods have a beloved Irish pub, and Andersonville has Lady Gregory’s. The food here is simple and goes well with a pint of beer. Expect comforting dishes like chicken pot pie, meatloaf, lobster mac and cheese, and decadent sandwiches. But the pub grub isn’t the only star here: Lady Gregory’s bartenders pour around 100 brews and 300 whiskeys, and the establishment also has a beautiful seating area with a library and fireplace. There’s also an Old Town location and the owners operate Wilde in Lakeview.

Svea Restaurant

True to the neighborhood’s Scandinavian roots, Svea serves Swedish pancakes with lingonberry sauce and “viking breakfasts” with potatoes, eggs, pancakes, and falukorv — a type of Swedish sausage. The eatery also has been known to break out lutefisk — the infamously stinky Nordic fish — from time to time. If you plan to dine at Svea, take note that the restaurant only accepts cash.

Simon's Tavern

Simon’s Tavern is famous in winter for glogg, the warm, mulled wine. But this is a beer and shot spot with occasional live music and and analog jukebox holding some one of the best music selections in the city.

Related Maps

Jin Ju

Classic Korean dishes mingle with inventive cocktails at this modern Andersonville spot. Orders of dol sut bi bim nap arrive served in a sizzling hot stone pot with soybean paste soup on the side, and pair perfectly with cool soju-infused martinis. The restaurant is dimly lit and full of intimate ambience, making it ideal for first dates.

Middle East Bakery & Grocery

Middle East Bakery & Grocery is a longtime local supplier of pantry goods, grains and rice, savory pies, and pastries. The store also operates a restaurant with falafel sandwiches, shawarma, and fresh kabobs carved from a rotisserie behind the counter. One offering in particular — the “shawafel wrap” with a satisfying one-two punch of falafel and chicken shawarma.

Taste of Lebanon Restaurant

This shotgun-style storefront restaurant emphasizes substance over style, and once the food arrives the surroundings melt away. Diners feast on falafel, hummus, and lavosh wraps containing lamb kebab, chicken or beef shawarma, but the real showstopper is the lentil soup.

Hopleaf

Hopleaf is one of the country’s most-celebrated beer bars, and a destination for beer lovers all over the city. The gastropub fills its taps with a huge and rotating selection of domestic and imported brews. But the beer isn’t the only reason to visit this Andersonville bar: Hopleaf also serves mussels and frites cooked Belgian-style or in a white wine and cream broth, and a delectable grilled cheese that marries sourdough bread, house-made cashew butter, fig jam, and gooey raclette cheese.

Related Maps