One of the great joys of Chicago is the incredible number of ethnic groups that live the city and suburbs and their ability to share cultures from around the world with all of us.

For any ethnic group to which you are a member or know a good deal about, please share with us an itinerary that could be used for a "special day" to access what that group has to offer in our great city.

How does one truly get to enjoy Irish Chicago, black Chicago, Mexican Chicago, Greek Chicago, Jewish Chicago, Polish Chicago, Chinese Chicago, Italian Chicago, German Chicago, Korean Chicago, and all those other wonderful Chicago's on one special day?

We're all American....why not start with

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL4wXE2lOA0

Nothing in any currently tribally-defined territory on Earth can come anywhere close to compare with the amazing beauty of Chicago's lakefront an a summer day. Sayonara tribes.....hello Americans........

Well, you can enjoy some fine Irish cuisine in Bridgeport. Nothing beats cabbage, potatoes, and guiness...

We're all American....why not start with

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL4wXE2lOA0

Nothing in any currently tribally-defined territory on Earth can come anywhere close to compare with the amazing beauty of Chicago's lakefront an a summer day. Sayonara tribes.....hello Americans........

and i thought we were all globillians

One of the great joys of Chicago is the incredible number of ethnic groups that live the city and suburbs and their ability to share cultures from around the world with all of us.

For any ethnic group to which you are a member or know a good deal about, please share with us an itinerary that could be used for a "special day" to access what that group has to offer in our great city.

How does one truly get to enjoy Irish Chicago, black Chicago, Mexican Chicago, Greek Chicago, Jewish Chicago, Polish Chicago, Chinese Chicago, Italian Chicago, German Chicago, Korean Chicago, and all those other wonderful Chicago's on one special day?

you forgot the most and ever nicest one, Filipino :lol:

By going to Andy's Fruit Ranch.

Well, you can enjoy some fine Irish cuisine in Bridgeport. Nothing beats cabbage, potatoes, and guiness...

Where? I live in Bridgeport and have not went to a real Irish cuisine restaurant. I feel so embarras. :ohno:

Where? I live in Bridgeport and have not went to a real Irish cuisine restaurant. I feel so embarras. :ohno:
i'd say bridgeport today is probably more known for Chinese food than Irish.

We've lost so much of the endless Jewish deli's in the city (today there's a lot more in the north suburbs than in the city itself). Still, if you want the old time experience, happlly Manny's still stands at Jefferson & Roosevelt, piling up corned beef and pastrami enough to clog anyone's arteries...and serving a pretty mean matzoh ball or kreplach soup. You can't beat Manny's for comfort food or for the taste of a bygone era.

Certainly a world apart from its old days, but the Maxwell Street of Jewish pushcart fame has been transformed, regretably by attaching the skin of the old buildings to the new, more upscale Univ Village near Manny's. Soon you will be able to complete the South Loop Jewish tour with a stop at the new Speretus Museum on Michigan Avenue.

Guess I'll have to save the North Side for another occasion.

Devon St is the most kick-ass non-Latino ethnic district in Chicago.

My sister visited three summers ago and we did an ethnic chicago tour over a couple of days. Most of it involved window shopping, walking, and stopping for food

Saturday morning: Dim Sum in Chinatown at the Phoenix followed by browsing through the grocery stores and shops w/ a special stop at the tea store on Wentworth.

Saturday afternoon: a visit to the cultural center in Pilsen w/ a stop for horchata and carnitas.

Sunday morning: A walk through Ukranian village during Sunday service (church bells everywhere), followed by a trip to Avondale for Polish food at the Red Apple for lunch.

Sunday afternoon: shopping for fabric for a designer friend of hers at the sari stores on Devon. A trip to the grocery stores where she got to sample some Indian candies and supari. We went to Udupi for dosa and lassi later.

We easily could have spent more time in any of these areas, but she loved the feel she got from each place and still asks to go back to some of the areas when she visits. She said she felt like she was on a real world Epcot tour.

Saturday morning: Dim Sum in Chinatown at the Phoenix followed by browsing through the grocery stores and shops w/ a special stop at the tea store on Wentworth.

i'm not familiar with the Phoenix. Is it good? I always go to Three Happiness which, due to its incredibly large size, is incredibly varied for its dim sum offerings.

i'm not familiar with the Phoenix. Is it good? I always go to Three Happiness which, due to its incredibly large size, is incredibly varied for its dim sum offerings.

When the Phoenix opened up a few years back, they forced a few of the dim sum restaurants to step up their game. Three Happiness widened their variety considerably back about 7 years ago to compete with what the Phoenix is doing, but IMHO, the food quality at the Phoenix is still slightly better.

I was introduced to the Phoenix by a friend from Malaysia and another from Cambodia (both of Chinese descent). They've hit them all 6-7 times and in their opinion, the Phoenix is the place to go.

The only drawbacks are the wait if you get there a little too late and the prices, which are slightly higher.

Well, I am from the Polish-American community in Chicago, though my old neighborhood, Cragin, is now mostly latino (no problem with that, before we came there it was Connecticut Yankee and Swede/Norwegian)....

...so from what I recall for Polish Chicago, any of those old churches in the neighborhoods off of Milwaulkee. St Stans Kostka is the mother parish of Polonia, but there are others.

Chicago Polonia is, or was, pretty spread out...there are north and south side communities. For the best Polish food experience there is this place on Archer, Bobaks, I think. Definetly worth the trip. One of the best ethnic markes for Central European stuff Ive seen....really good meat department, too.

Another thing worth checking out is the Taste of Polonia up in Portage Park. Its sort of a big cultural event.

Belmont Avenue seems to have become a big Polish shopping area, between, say, Cicero through Belmont and Central.

Also, Avondale around St Hyacinth parish, used to be pretty Polish (this would be Milwaulkee Avenue north of Logan Square).

I am also part German, so for a great German/Austrian cafe/pastry shop experience Cafe Lutz on Montrose is most certainly worth the trip. Very trad. North Lincoln, near Lutz, north of Wells Park, used to be a good German area, but that has faded now. Then there was the wonderful Kuhns, near Lincoln/Belmont/Ashland. Thats gone now, too.

I think there are a few German places left on North Lincoln, a small deli, two restaurants, and Merz, the homeopathic apotheke.

My partner is chicano so we always stop off in Pilsen. He gets some good Mexican pastries from Nuevo Leon on 18th.

When the Phoenix opened up a few years back, they forced a few of the dim sum restaurants to step up their game. Three Happiness widened their variety considerably back about 7 years ago to compete with what the Phoenix is doing, but IMHO, the food quality at the Phoenix is still slightly better.

I was introduced to the Phoenix by a friend from Malaysia and another from Cambodia (both of Chinese descent). They've hit them all 6-7 times and in their opinion, the Phoenix is the place to go.

The only drawbacks are the wait if you get there a little too late and the prices, which are slightly higher.

thanks, Nat; I'll give it a try.

BTW, I love going down to Chinatown, especially for the restaurants (Emperor's Choice is my favorite). Chinatown's huge variety of restaurants is impressive and inviting. It allows you to choose the spectrum between the simple ma and pa places and the large number of classy, dare I say more upscale restaurants, as well. Chinatown tends to be rather complete, IMHO.

I live n.w. of the city. Rare is the visit I've made to Argyle Street, even though its North Side location is a lot closer than the "real" Chinatown. I'm aware that the North Side counterpart is more southeast Asian than Chinatown is, that its ethnic and curinary mix differ, but there is still overlap.

For those who know the two (as opposed to me with knows the one), am I right for heading further south to the original Chinatown, particularly when I want to be a more attractive dining setting with more of a sense of place, or am I missing the pleasures that one can get on Argyle? Does going to Argle give you that sense of "being somewhere" in the sense that Chinatown does, or is it really small potatoes (small won tons actually) in comparison to its South Side counterpart?

^edsg, I advise you and any other person interested in Chicago's food culture to check out lthforum.com. The forum covers just chicago, and is by far the most comprehensive and knowledgeable source for Chicago's culinary offerings, both ethnic and otherwise. The list of great neighborhood restaurants is a great place to start exploring.
A few favorite ethnic restaurants of mine:
Albany Park has a lot of great persian and lebanese eateries(semiramis and noon-o-kebab are my favorites), right next to the brown line kedzie stop. The northern Thai restaurants Spoon and Sticky Rice are both just off the brown line western stop and are both fantastic. To get the real shit there though, you have to get the english translations of the thai menus that one of the forumers on LTH has made. Also, the korean BBQ at western and foster is good and is open 24/7. Check out that site for much more information.

I was really surprised when I heard how significant Chicago's Korean population is. I had always thought the Windy City's Oriental population was mostly Chinese and Vietnamese. My grandma says Albany Park is pretty 'loaded' with Koreans.

I was really surprised when I heard how significant Chicago's Korean population is. I had always thought the Windy City's Oriental population was mostly Chinese and Vietnamese. My grandma says Albany Park is pretty 'loaded' with Koreans.


There are a lot of Korean restaurants on Lawrence. A couple of months ago, I went by one of my favorites on abt 2800 W Lawrence, unoriginally named "The Korean Restaurant". The place had closed down. t wasn't fancy, but it reminded me of the food a friend's mom cooked for us all the time back in high school.

^edsg, I advise you and any other person interested in Chicago's food culture to check out lthforum.com. The forum covers just chicago, and is by far the most comprehensive and knowledgeable source for Chicago's culinary offerings, both ethnic and otherwise. The list of great neighborhood restaurants is a great place to start exploring.


Another good one that I trust is chowhound.com, which contains various forums for different parts of the country. The Chicago forum is eclectic to say the least.

This was the place where I found an Ecuadorian joint to try cuy (guinea pig).