Bananas Foster Cafe
Housed in a small corner space by the Granville Red Line stop, Bananas Foster Cafe seems to be filling a much-needed niche in Edgewater, drawing droves that are routinely lined out the door. And I can certainly see why it’s a popular neighborhood spot for brunch: though the place was packed, service was smooth, and our food—eggs Benedict with Irish back bacon and standout ham and eggs with potatoes and baked beans—was well prepared and came out promptly. An English influence shows up in the lunch offerings, which include not just shepherd’s pie but also fisherman’s pie, chicken pot pie, bangers and mash, and steak, mushrooms, and ale pie. I wouldn’t exactly call this fine dining—it’s a former coffee shop with a garish yellow awning. But that’s all the better these days. —Kate Schmidt
At this large, shabby-comfortable Edgewater storefront there are savory watts (stews) with beef, chicken, lamb, and fish, but vegetarians never need feel deprived. Vegan options include a spicy red lentil watt; yellow split pea watt; gomen (oniony collard greens); slightly sour tikil gomen (cabbage and carrots); and a mild watt made with potatoes and large chunks of carrot, all served on injera, the large, spongy pancake made with flour from teff, a tiny grain indigenous to Ethiopia. For appetizers there are sambusas, samosa-like pastry triangles stuffed with meat or vegetables and served with lemon and a tamarind sauce. Meat dishes include the classic doro watt, chicken stewed in a spicy red sauce with a hard-boiled egg; kitfo, described on the menu as “Ethiopian steak tartare”; and tibs, cubes of various meats or seafood available in a range of preparations and spice levels. There are African beers, served in frosty mugs, and tej, honey wine; service too is honeyed—the staff here couldn’t be more genuinely welcoming. —Kate Schmidt
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Huaraches Doña Chio is a modest restaurant with no decor to speak of, and the TV on the counter is usually turned to Univision. But it’s one of very few Mexican restaurants in Chicago serving huaraches, gorditas, and sopes handmade from fresh masa. This means your huarache is patted out, pressed, and grilled to order, so it’s slightly crispy on the outside and moist and chewy on the inside, never tough or stale or dry. You can get your huarache prepared with a layer of red or green salsa under the rest of the toppings (or fillings, if you’re ordering a gordita), but I recommend going without—that way more of the fried masa stays crispy. (And you can always add it yourself from the bottles on the tables.) The selection of toppings is impressive too: not just standards like pastor, asada, and chorizo, but also tinga (spicy marinated chicken), rajas (grilled poblanos with onion), squash blossoms, nopales (cactus), brains, and huitlacoche mixed with whole kernel corn. Doña Chio also offers sopes, tacos, tortas, tostadas, burritos, and enchiladas as well as breakfast. There’s posole and menudo on weekends, but given the quality of the masa, I’d be hard-pressed to forfeit a huarache for them. —Philip Montoro
Indie Cafe serves Thai and Japanese food way above average in terms of quality, presentation, and value. The Andaman Salad, for instance, a substantial melange of steamed shrimp, succulent scallops, and calamari tossed with red onion, shredded carrots, and a sauce made with lemongrass, lime, and hot peppers, perfectly balances sweet, salty, spicy, and crunchy. The richness of the red curry and the subtle sweetness of the coconut milk in the Indie Signature Curry are likewise exquisitely counterpoised—it’s tempting to slurp the leftover sauce straight from the bowl when you’re done with the tender chunks of beef and potato. The sushi is delicious too. The Volcano Roll is nori rolled tight around thick slices of smoked salmon, yellowtail, crab, and octopus, with a luscious spicy mayo and speckles of bright red sriracha hot sauce on top. Everything is arranged beautifully: maki slices stand in a circle next to tiny mountains of ginger and wasabi and swirls of spicy mayo dotted with black sesame seeds; curries have sprigs of greens jutting out at acute angles and frilly herb garnishes. —Laura Levy Shatkin
The bulk of the dishes at this Edgewater eatery are Colombian—including starters like the wonderfully crisp spinach-and-mushroom empanadas, delicate arepas (white corn cakes) topped with mushrooms and cheese, and morcilla (blood pudding) with guajillo chile sauce—but Mexican and Cuban influences show up, as in black bean soup. Entrees like lengua en salsa roja (beef tongue simmered in a creamy tomato sauce with green peas) and arroz con camarones (yellow rice with shrimp, peas, onions, and peppers) are so generously portioned they’d be best shared, perhaps with soup or an order of churrasco (grilled loin of beef served with chimichurri sauce and sweet plantains). To drink there are margaritas, mojitos, sangria, and a concise but well-selected list of inexpensive wines. A lunch buffet Tuesday through Friday offers a limited sampling of the dinner menu for $8.95. —Laura Levy Shatkin
