Don’t settle for the same old Pabst Blue Ribbons cans at happy hour when you and your friends can drink margaritas at Café Penelope for the same price. This family-owned restaurant with a full bar is a mellow, friendly place for a weekday happy hour with fresh appetizers and drink specials. On Fridays from 4 until 7 pm, margaritas are $1.99 and Miller Genuine Draft bottles are $1. Margaritas are not blended or on the rocks but served straight up in a martini glass with a lime wedge and a salt rim. What a great way to kick off the summer!
Another good pick for happy hour is pizza. Café Penelope has the standard Meat Lovers and Veggie Lovers but also some new flavors such as Cheesesteak, with thin-sliced steak and green pepper and Chili with chili con carne and sour cream. Split the large with your friends for $18 or order the small one for yourself for $10.95. Pizza toppings include eggplant and anchovies and barbecue beef for those who want something different.
The soups at Café Penelope have won several awards and vary daily (vegetarian soups like minestrone are available on Wednesday). Cajun Crab and Corn Chowder and Chicken and Rice are some favorites. You can get a soup and sandwich dinner for $8. The Italian Beef Sandwich is popular here and Italian Eggplant with marinara and cheese is a good hot vegetarian sandwich. My Crabcake Remoulade sandwich combined spicy yellow sauce with a tender crabcake flecked with red pepper on a poppyseed roll, plus roasted red potatoes and fresh coleslaw. The many big fresh salads include spinach gorgonzola and Greek, with grilled and salmon options. Most of the sandwich soup and salad combos are under $10.
If you want to treat your female friends, make reservations for the Monday Martini and Manicure Night. For $20 a person, you and your friends can enjoy a manicure and one of the specialty martinis like Lemon Blueberry, Caramel Apple, or Chocolate.
If your friends like to meet for brunch, Café Penelope serves a great one, which won an Independent Restaurant Award in 2007. Some unique brunch dishes are the chai latte French toast with caramelized apples, honey, and house-made bread stuffed with ricotta cheese. The Eggs Benedict choices include the traditional ham, crab cakes or Caprese with pesto, mozzarella and tomatoes crowning the poached egg and English muffin. Buttermilk pancakes with strawberries or blueberries or your choice of omelets make a great start to your day. Remember that on weekends, Café Penelope is only open until 3, but you can enjoy dinner and drinks there on weeknights. If you need to order food for an event at work, check out their catering site.
Let's be honest here: even if you happen to be fortunate enough to live just a stroll away from just about everything you need, and just about everyplace else you need to get to can be done by hopping on the train, bus or a bike ride, there are just some instances where you really do need to drive a car. Renting one for an entire day seems so illogical and full of hassle, and owning a car for those couple of trips every month is really just so impractical. Be it for industrial sized shopping for the month or getting out to the western burbs for an hour or two, sometimes it sure would be nice not to have to rent a car or call in a favor. For folks like you, may I present I-Go cars: a Chicago based company that's making the city a little greener, one car at a time.
I know you must have seen one parked at the store and it got you thinking a bit. Maybe you have even wondered if it really is as easy as the ads portray. Well let me tell you: I-Go cars are the wave of the future, and now that they have been around long enough to pass the business litmus test, it looks like they really are here to stay! Even my alderman drives one!
It's little wonder why it's so popular: on top of dealing with fighting for a parking spot or dropping hundreds of dollars on car payments, mandatory insurance and maintenance, folks are also waiving paying for city stickers, zoned parking and lot fees. Plus, with so many neighborhoods covered, pretty much anyone can reserve one within walking distance of their homes, right on their computers, for as little as $5 per hour. An added advantage is the cars available are rather nice, with many of them available in hybrid versions!
So hey, why not explore going car free? In this day and age, Chicagoans no longer need to be shackled to cars they hardly drive, now that I-Go has become such a fixture. Of course, folks are also discovering Zip Cars, which operate pretty much the same way and are available in many cities around the country, but for me, I'd rather go with the home team!
This great brunch date spot surpasses the rest with its Swedish delicacies. Named after units of Danish currency, (“three kroners”) this simple white wood restaurant sits near a Scandinavian import store, far out on Foster Street, not too near the delis and breakfast spots of traditionally Swedish Andersonville. However, the authenticity and prices of Tre Kronor make it well worth the trip.
You can bring a date here for breakfast, lunch or dinner, but my favorite is the Swedish brunch. Order the thin, fruity lingonberry pankoeken and smoky Swedish sausage or branch out with tuna salad with grapes and almonds or lox cured in Aquavit, a favorite Norsk liquor transported north across the Equator. Pick the healthy muesli with yogurt and dried fruits and nuts or the Belgian waffle with blueberries and strawberries floating on a whipped cream cloud. Small fresh quiches and flaky pastries are baked here daily.
My hazelnut vanilla pastry combined slivered nuts and delicate cream in a buttery crust. The ioksoppa - baked onion soup - combines onions and thin sliced brown bread and Jarlsberg cheese (a great deal at $4). My date had a spinach and cheese omelet with sausage and brown bread. Omelet selections change daily with plenty of vegetable and meat and fish options. Unique salads include the Swedish Caesar Salad with romaine, Swedish anchovy, Jarlsberg and croutons, Ostallad with mixed greens, goat cheese and bacon and Melonsallad of Bibb lettuce, melon and blue cheese. European-sized portions here are filling but will not overstuff you. The pickles, potato salad, and two kinds of herring are house-made.
If you and your date need coffee to wake up, Tre Kronor will serve you a better cup than many coffee shops. My cappucinno was fluffy and sprinkled with cinnamon (only $2.75). Fresh-squeezed juice and teas are also good complements to the fresh fruit and cheese dishes.
The wood dining room with a fireplace has an Old World coziness, but, like any well-loved brunch spot, it can fill up fast. If you can, sit in the dining room upstairs, a smaller space for quiet conversation by the sunny windows. In summer, try the outdoor seating.
After a fresh, healthy yet fun breakfast at Tre Kronor you’ll feel ready to walk on the beach, peruse the nearby shops or go wherever the day takes you.
Let's be honest here: even if you happen to be fortunate enough to live just a stroll away from just about everything you need, and just about everyplace else you need to get to can be done by hopping on the train, bus or a bike ride, there are just some instances where you really do need to drive a car. Renting one for an entire day seems so illogical and full of hassle, and owning a car for those couple of trips every month is really just so impractical. Be it for industrial sized shopping for the month or getting out to the western burbs for an hour or two, sometimes it sure would be nice not to have to rent a car or call in a favor. For folks like you, may I present