Category: Eclectic

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.

Do you wish that you could take your sweetheart to exotic foreign places? Do you dream about sharing coffee and cake in Vienna, Russian tea in St. Petersburg or Thai iced tea in Bangkok? Then, do you wake up and realize that you can’t afford to leave the city?

Yeah, me too.

At times like this, I take my date to Kopi Cafe, on Clark Street and Berwyn in Andersonville. Billing itself as “a café for travelers,” Kopi brews a wider selection of tea and coffee than any café I’ve encountered. The affordable, tasty menu spans several continents and breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. Clocks on the wall tell you the time in Katmandu and Tokyo as Jalan Jalan Boutique sells clothes, jewelry, bags, incense and travel books in the back of the shop. Stop in for a cup of tea or coffee or enjoy a full meal, most for less than $10 per person.

Taking its name from an Indonesian word for “coffee”, Kopi Café serves up coffee in all its forms - from simple espresso to fluffy Viennese coffee, Thai iced coffee and frozen espresso treats. Traditional and trendy teas abound here: Darjeeling, red roobios, gunpowder green, anti-oxidant rich white tea, and many healing herbals like Women’s Libertea with dong quai and licorice root. My favorites are white teas with blueberry, strong black Russian tea with sour cherry preserves and yerba mate, a naturally caffeinated South American herb tea. The ultimate shippable indulgence here is Thick.Hot.Sipping,Chocolate, a melted dark chocolate indulgence like a French chocolate pot or the cioccolata I lived on as a student in Florence.

Brunch gets crowded and noisy at Kopi, but with good reason. Brunch items range from old-fashioned croissants, scones, eggs and lox to experimental dishes like Breakfast Pizza of the Future, topped with scrambled eggs, vegetarian sausage and cheese. Crepes and healthy fruit smoothies, including the lychee mangosteen start your day off right or help you recharge after a late night out. No matter how busy brunch gets, servers stay friendly and keep the tables and floor spotless.

The lunch and dinner menu features Greek, Italian, French, Mexican and American inspired soups, salads and sandwiches, making Kopi a good pick if you and your date each want a different cuisine. If you like cheese, split a cheese platter or enjoy the Chevre Chaud salad with crisp goat cheese baguette toasts on a big bed of mixed greens and tomatoes. A unique Greek salad includes a block of feta and tomato pesto with olives and greens. Sandwiches range from Black Forest ham and smoked salmon to Tofurkey sausage and black bean burgers. Panini selections include Caprese Pesto and The Elvis, a fried peanut butter and bananas sandwich.

If you have room for dessert, check the glass cake cases for flourless chocolate cake, carrot cake, fresh cookies and brownies, and puffy yellow Lemon Blossom cookies. You can start or end a date pleasantly at Kopi, which stays open late, or relax in the afternoon on the cushions by the low tables in the front. Peruse the travel books from Jalan Jalan and imagine your next trip to Australia, Brazil, Belgium or Vietnam. Even if you’re on a budget, maybe saving up for your next journey, Kopi encourages you to try new flavors and dream big.

For a good date in Wrigleyville, pass up the noisy sports bars and meet at Uncommon Ground on Clark Street. The restaurant has two bars, a big one in the front and a smaller one in the back. It offers coffee drinks as well as beer, wine and cocktails and a menu from breakfast to desserts from Bittersweet Bakery. Your date may be impressed with the organic, seasonal menu and both meat-eaters and vegetarians can find tasty dishes here.

In summer, grab an outdoor table on the sidewalk. In winter, settle into some cozy leather chairs near one of the two fireplaces. Enjoy the local art on the walls, all of which is for sale. Even the restrooms are decorated with paintings; I liked the big tree on the ladies’ room wall. The front room tends to be brighter and louder, while the lights and sounds are lower in the side room. Enjoy local bands here or the sounds of the Monday night open mic.

Share a plate of Spanish tapas with Manchego cheese, Serrano ham, Marcona almonds, quince paste and olives. The menu ranges from pizza, pasta, and burgers (including a veggie burger), to duck, salmon and even buffalo. The distinctive, healthy Sunshine Salad combines seasonal farmers’ market vegetables with sprouts, sunflower seeds and avocado in organic cider vinaigrette. For a breakfast date, try the Uncommon Huevos with eggs over easy on a black bean corn cake topped with ancho chili sauce and Chihuahua cheese.

Uncommon Ground prides itself on one-of-a-kind cocktails. Two of the most promising are the Frida Kahlo with dark chocolate liquor, vanilla vodka, cinnamon and cayenne pepper, and the Cold and Flu Buster, a whole pot of chamomile tea spiked with ginger vodka, honey liqueur and a lemon slice. Local beer, a good selection of wine and Uncommon Gound’s famous coffee offer enough variety for any date to drink what he or she enjoys.

As a coffee shop, bar, restaurant, and music venue, Uncommon Ground stands out in a crowd and makes you feel welcome. The Clark Street restaurant opened in 1991 and a new Uncommon Ground coffee shop opened recently at 1401 W. Devon. Check them out for a great and uncommon date.