Loop Lunch Roundup
I have spent the past year and a half working in the Loop, and I can tell you that lunch hour is challenging. For a section of the city that is extraordinarily densely populated for the vast majority of the week, the Loop has painfully few outstanding lunch options.
Before you start sending me emails about your favorite little spot, please note the use of the word "outstanding" in the paragraph above. There are plenty of places to eat, most of which are perfectly satisfactory, but few, if any, would draw you to the Loop if you didn't have to work there. Perhaps it is the sheer volume of people that these places have to serve that forces them to compromise their quality. If you owned an eatery and 98% of your business happened during the same ninety minute period, five days a week, you'd probably be tightly focused on feeding more people rather than focusing on feeding them better food.
I'm interested in the Loop places that can strike the happy medium of putting together good food, and doing it fast enough to keep the doors open. I'm not too interested in places that you have to put your name on a list or wait in line to get a table. This is a list for people who need to get something good to eat, and get back to work. So, I present, after an eighteen month study, the EatChicago.net Loop Lunch Roundup:
The six things that I actually enjoy, in no particular order:- Camembert? Parma ham? Gruyere? Nutella? Fresh-baked bread? Black forest ham? A wall of European chocolate? It's gotta be Hannah's Bretzel, the only Loop sandwich shop that cares about the quality in every single part of the sandwich. It's a great little spot and the only place that I would say even comes close to being a "destination". Hannah's one drawback is that only 3 people can actually sit and eat there.
- La Cocina. There's far better Mexican food in this town, but La Cocina serves sopes, decent tacos, horchata, and chilaquiles (at breakfast). You could do a lot worse.
- Pork bulgogki at Korean Express. Thinly sliced pork, marinated in a slightly spicy sesame-soy paste and pan cooked (not grilled) with green onion. Served over sticky short grain rice with shredded cabbage. The first time I ate it, I was surprised that I liked it as much as I did. Beef bulgogki and galbi is also available. I'd only order the galbi if they're serving it straight off the grill.
- BBQ Pork from Sixty-Five Chinese Restaurant. It's fatty, chewy, a little too sweet, and tastes great covered in Chinese mustard with some white rice. Everything else at Sixty-Five is embarrassingly bad.
- Morrocan Chicken (Tuesday special) at either Oasis Cafe or Petra Cafe (which are basically the same restaurant). For the most part, the rest of the food at these places is just mediocre, but I really like the Moroccan Chicken and I enjoy their foul (fava beans). Petra/Oasis is the best Middle-Eastern food in the Loop, which is like being the tallest dwarf in the room. Many people love Oasis, but I think that's partly because of the location at the back of the Jeweler's Mall--it makes you feel like you've discovered something secret.
- Matzoh ball soup at Finkl's Deli. These are sinkers: slightly yielding on the outside and dense in the center, and that's the way I like 'em. The lunch special of a junior sandwich and a soup is a lot of food for just over five bucks. I don't like the cheap meat that they use in their sandwiches, so I usually order chicken salad with hot giardiniera on an onion roll. Also, Finkl's is probably the only place where, after placing your order, you get to hear an Indian woman yell "una matzah, por favor" to a Latino guy. Makes me smile every time.
Honorable Mention:
- Fried Halibut at Ceres Cafe (Fridays only). It's simple fried fish with lemon and tartar sauce and it hits the spot. I was also recently introduced to the fried perch in the coffee shop in the basement of the Palmer House, but I give the nod to Ceres.
- Skrine Chops. Decent grilled pork chops and chicken.
- If I was in the mood for a cafeteria, I'd go to the basement of the Board of Trade for the best food or the lower level of the Chase Bank Building for variety.
- Luke's Italian beef. It's the best beef in the loop (another tall dwarf) but they charge extra for hot giardiniera, which I find insulting.
- Perry's Deli. Big sandwiches. Not bad.
- Harold's Chicken Shack. Wings. Gizzards. Hot sauce. Makes me happy.
The also-rans:
There are a lot of other places that people fill up during the lunch hour that I dislike. Don't email me telling me that I really need to go to these places. I've been there and I don't like them: Tokyo Lunchbox, Elephant and Castle, Sopraffina, Poletto, Heaven on Seven, Ada's Deli, any of the reheated-grilled-chicken joints, Alonti, Uncle Abe's, Shalom Deli, Billy Goat, Haifa Cafe
And definitely don't mention Potbelly's (or Chipotle or Corner Bakery). Yes, it's true, there are people there who don't like Potbelly's.
Obligatory contact info:
Hannah's Bretzel 180 W. Washington, 312-621-1111. I won't link to their website because it makes noise.
La Cocina Multiple Locations: 45 N Wells, 312-346-1638, 406 S Clark, 312-922-8211, 11 W Jackson, 312-427-2094
Korean Express 330 S Wells, shares an entrance with Billy Goat at Van Buren, 312-986-8009
Sixty-Five Chinese Multiple Locations: 201 W Madison, 312-782-6565, 176 N Wells, 312-346-6565, 111 W Jackson (entrance facing the CBOT courtyard.) 312-566-6565. More locations just outside the loop.
Oasis Cafe 21 N Wabash Ave, At the rear of the Jeweler's Mall. 312-558-1058
Petra Cafe 331 S. Franklin, 312-913-9660
Finkl's Deli 400 S Financial, 312-360-9911, also a Kendall College Location
Ceres Cafe 141 W. Jackson, inside the CBOT building, 312-427-3443
Skrine Chops400 S. Financial, 312-566-9334,
Board of Trade Cafeteria 141 W. Jackson, Lower Level
Chase Bank Building Cafeteria Monroe, between Clark and Dearborn, Lower Level
Luke's 215 W Jackson
Perry's Deli 174 N. Franklin, 312-372-7557 www.perrysdeli.com
Harold's Chicken Shack Many locations. In the loop at 39 N Wells, 312-345-1200
