Dear MenuPages,
A friend of mine is visiting me next week, but there’s a problem. My car broke down, so we can’t drive to restaurants. I live near the Halsted bus on 18th street - could you give me some recommendations for restaurants that can be easily reached on that line?
Thanks,
Penniless in Pilsen
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Dear Penniless,
A shame to hear about your loss. Here are some close-to-the-8 ideas for you and yours that won’t break your evidently tight budget. Actually, some of them will, but, you know, live a little:
• Trattoria 31 in Bridgeport is practically walking distance (if you consider a mile and a half to be walking distance, which you ought to), and is purported to have some of the best Italian food in the neighborhood.
• Haro in the Heart of Italy is not on Halsted, but it is right off the Cermak bus. Who wouldn’t walk a mile for authentic, relatively inexpensive tapas?
• Sepia in the West Loop just opened today-ish, and we were pretty impressed with the menu. You can be on the cutting edge!
• The Dining Room at Kendall College on Goose Island is an intriguing way to try some high-end experimental cuisine on a dime. Well, on $28 for a dinner prix fixe. Also, everything is cooked by students. So it’s a crapshoot, but people seem to like it. And really, what isn’t a crapshoot these days?
Hope this helped. You can also just walk to Chinatown, but you knew that already.
[Photo: transit options along Halsted, CTA]
