Step inside the doorways of these charming Chicago restaurants, and
you will be transported back in time. This was Chicago before north Michigan
Avenue was magnificent and the John Hancock was dwarfed by other
skyscrapers.
Many of Chicago’s original restaurants have disappeared, but
a few remain operational. Walk by those chain venues that you can find
in any city and visit one of our original Chicago icons.
The Italian Village
has been in Chicago since 1927, and their website claims they are the oldest
continual operating restaurant in the city. This place is pure charm – I have
loved it since I was a little girl. When you enter, walk up the narrow steep
staircase to the Village (one of the the buildings three restaurants). The
Village – perched at the very top – is decorated to resemble a little outdoor
Italian city with the fake facades of buildings and twinkling lights that are
strung crisscrossed around the room. Old school male waiters might scold you if
you don’t finish your enormous plate of pasta.
You don’t really go to the Italian Village for the food –
yes, the pasta is good and pizza is not bad – but the atmosphere will delight
you. My parents would go here to celebrate their anniversary after their marriage in 1962.
It is a place where time has almost stood still. Romantic, cozy, and full of vintage
charm.
Italian Village – 71 W.
Monroe, Chicago, IL
La Creperie on
north Clark Street is a Parisian style crepe restaurant. The restaurant, which
has been in its same location since 1972, has a dark-wooded interior with
uneven floors, wooden furniture and travel posters. In the far back, there is a
tiny patio with vine-covered walls and a burbling fountain.
This place, in the words of one reviewer, makes you think
you are in a 1960s French film. Quaint and simple. No avant-garde French fusion here. Order the chicken and
mushroom crepe with a house salad. Save room for a chocolate and banana
crepe for dessert and a coffee.
When a family member died, La Creperie shuttered its doors.
But, the recent word in Chicago is that the place has been bought and will
reopen in its original location and with nothing substantial changed. C'est magnifique!!!
La Creperie - 2845 N.
Clark, Chicago, IL
Billy Goat Tavern is a Chicago journalism icon. Newspaper
writers and editors from the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times would gather in the
back room to argue, eat greasy hamburgers, and have a beer. To find Billy Goat,
you have to climb the stairs below Michigan Ave. (just north of the river). In
the dark underbelly of lower Michigan, the neon glow of the Billy Goat sign
will greet you.
The hamburger joint was immortalized by John Belushi and Dan
Akroyd on Saturday Night Live. You order at the counter, and the only real choice
is a double cheeseburger and a coke. “No fries, chips.” The burgers are
excellent with home-baked buns and thick-cut pickles, but it is the lingering
scent of grease and the smoke-stained walls that make this a Chicago icon.
Recent news has suggested that the location is threatened to
close due to renovation on Michigan Ave. I, for one, will be sad if this place
ever shutters its doors. Chicago will not be the same!
Billy Goat Tavern,
430 N. Michigan Ave. (lower level), Chicago, IL
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