The Bad Apple

The Bad Apple
4300 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL
Neighborhood: North Center
Bad Apple's website

Craving burgers and beers last Saturday night, we ventured to The Bad Apple, a fairly new bar on Lincoln Avenue in North Center. The Bad Apple is known for their creatively topped burgers and an immense and impressive beer menu. There are 15 burgers (2 are veggie) to choose from such as Elvis's Last Supper (bacon & peanut butter) and The Edmund Fig-Gerald (Edmund Fitzgerald porter, fig and bacon relish, goat cheese and smoked onion).


I had a hard time choosing from the many creative burger choices, but ended up picking the El Dorado, a burger topped with spicy corn and black bean salsa and freshly sliced avocado. The burgers are crafted with hormone-free all-natural beef, and despite the wide array of toppings, the the flavor of the beef was not overwhelmed. The burger was juicy and flavorful and the toppings worked excellently with the beef. This was one excellent burger.

El Dorado Burger

Jenn got the Strange Famous, a house-made wild mushroom, seitan, chick pea and corn burger topped with spinach, goat cheese, carmelized onion and Sage marmalade. The "burger" tasted freshly homemade and not frozen or pre-packaged. All burgers are served with house-cut fries, which can be upgraded with seasonings such as curry, creole and sweet & spicy chipotle. We somehow overlooked this on the menu, so we only got the regular non-seasoned fries, which were ok.

Strange Famous veggie burger

In addition to the great burgers, the customer service was also excellent and the beer menu was immense and reasonably priced for a hip, up-and-coming bar (several micro-brew bottles were around $4). The burgers are reasonably priced as well, with most around $8 or $9. Hopefully they will stay reasonably priced as this place will undoubtedly become more and more popular if they continue doing things right. We will certainly be back for more. We give The Bad Apple an 8.6 out of 10.
Quality of Food: 8.9
Value: 8.3
Atmosphere: 8.5
Customer Service: 8.8
Overall: 8.6

Jury's

Jury's Food & Drink
4337 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL
Neighborhood: North Center
Jury's website
We ventured to Jury's last week with our friends Brad and Lindsey in search of a delicious burger. Jury's has been awarded with several "Chicago Best of.." awards and lists, so we knew we were in for a treat. It was even listed as one of the top 10 hamburgers in the world according to National Geographic.


We sat in a cozy enclosed patio area in back of the restaurant. Jenn ordered the veggie burger and I got "The Judge", a 1/2 pound burger topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, sliced avocado and the usual trimmings of raw onion, roma tomatoes and romaine lettuce. I honestly thought I might have trouble downing a half pounder, but when a burger is this good, it's easier than expected. The burgers are cooked to order and all toppings were fresh. I don't think I've ever had an avocado on a burger before, but it has quickly become one of my new favorite toppings. Jenn's veggie burger was very good, but not great. She's had better she said. In addition to the burgers, we recommend Jury's onion rings, which are HUGE and fried to perfection.

The Judge

Veggie Burger (half eaten)

In all, our meal was about $20 total (sans drinks). Not bad for some above average burgers and some pretty amazing onion rings. While our burgers were delicious, I'm not sure we would agree with National Geographic that they are one of the 10 best in the world. But still worth checking out! We give Jury's an 8.5 out of 10.
Quality of Food: 8.5
Value: 8.0
Atmosphere: 8.8
Customer Service: 8.7
Overall: 8.5

Spoon Thai

Spoon Thai
4608 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL
Neighborhood: North Center
Spoon Thai's website
Spoon Thai is one of the 5 or 6 Thai restaurants along a 2-3 block stretch on Western Avenue and along with Opart Thai, it may be one of the best.


The interior is similar to Opart, with an emphasis on wooden surfaces, although it is less spacious. I ordered the necessary crab rangoon, and although very tasty, they were much smaller than typical crab rangoon. For entrees, I ordered the ginger chicken. The vegetables were large and fresh and the chicken was tender. It was pretty good, but the ginger flavor was a little weak. Jenn got the pad thai. Again, all ingredients were fresh and the portions were large for the price of about $7 per dish. They also have a weekday lunch special with $4.95 dishes.

Ginger Chicken

Pad Thai

Spoon Thai offers delicious Thai cuisine at a very reasonable price. We liked Opart Thai slightly better than this place, but it was still very tasty, authentic Thai food. We give Spoon Thai an 8.6 out of 10.
Quality of Food: 8.7
Value: 8.9
Atmosphere: 8.3
Customer Service: 8.5
Overall: 8.6

Celtic Crown

Celtic Crown
4301 North Western Ave.
Chicago, IL
Neighborhood: North Center
Celtic Crown's website
Celtic Crown is an Irish Pub/Sports Bar located on Western Avenue. If you are in the mood for a decent burger on a Monday, this is the place to be.


Monday is $2 burger day (or $3 deluxe burger with cheese and fries) and we couldn't pass up the deal. The burgers are large (1/2 lb I believe) and cooked to preference. Add a slice of cheese and crinkle fries (or tater tots!) for only a dollar more, and it's still a pretty fantastic deal.

The burger was satisfying, but not great. The crinkle fries (or tots) are hard to pass up. Jenn got the Veggie Flatbread Sandwich and tater tots. The veggies were large and fresh, and it was an overall decent sandwich. The beer selection isn't that great (standard Bud/Miller/Corona/Sam Adams, etc), but it seems that everyday they have a different drink and/or dinner special.

Cheeseburger and Crinkle Fries

Veggie Flatbread Sandwich and Tots

Again, nothing incredibly spectacular about this place, but the Monday $2 burger deal is hard to pass up. We give the Celtic Crown an 8.2 out of 10.
Quality of Food: 8.1
Value: 8.5
Atmosphere: 8.2
Customer Service: 8.1
Overall: 8.2

Drew's Eatery

Drew's Eatery
2207 West Montrose Ave.
Chicago, IL
Neighborhood: North Center
Drew's Eatery website

Drew's is a health-conscious eatery that specializes in vegan and vegetarian hot dogs, soups and sandwiches. The menu isn't entirely vegetarian. They do have a few meat options for the carnivores out there, but the idea is to offer a completely organic and mostly healthy menu. I say mostly healthy because they are also known for their ice cream. And even though their ice cream may contain the obligatory dose of fat and calories, they have a variety of vegan ice cream flavors and their entire menu is free of artificial preservatives, trans-fats, nitrates, artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup.


The interior of Drew's is pretty small, but it was very clean, and unfortunately rather empty. We were tempted by the ice-cream, but we came for dinner so dinner we had. I got the Sloppy Drew, a sloppy joe-esque sandwich made with organic beef and white cheddar cheese, served on a wheat hot dog bun. Jenn got the Vegan Polish Kielbasa, a tofu sausage with garlic spices. We also shared a bowl of vegan southwestern chili. Everything was delicious, and all ingredients fresh and natural as promised. They even have their very own all-organic juice bar!

Sloppy Drew

Vegan Polish Kielbasa and Vegan Southwestern Chili

In a day and age of preservatives and additives, it's often unknown exactly what is added to our food at restaurants, but at Drew's Eatery, you can count on an all-natural, organic array of ingredients. And not only is it an organic, healthy dining option, but tasty, unique and a good value too. We give Drew's Eatery an 8.6 out of 10.
Quality of Food: 8.7
Value: 8.6
Atmosphere: 8.3
Customer Service: 8.6
Overall: 8.6

Opart Thai House

Opart Thai House
4658 North Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
Neighborhood: North Center
Opart Thai's website
We absolutely love thai food and since we probably won't be able to visit all the thai restaurants in Chicago, we sought some advice from the Chicago Reader. In their Best of Chicago 2010 issue, they rated Opart as the best thai restaurant in Chicago. There are three Opart locations in the Chicago area: one up in Wilmette, one on South State St. and the one we went to on Western Ave near Lincoln Square.


Upon walking into Opart, we were impressed with both the friendly service and the hip ambience. The interior was modern and stylish with lots of wood surfaces and large windows. It was also surprisingly spacious.


Coming in with high expectations, we were not disappointed. The food was excellent. We started with some appetizers of crab rangoon and fried tofu. The crab rangoon was some of the best I've had and they give you 8 large pieces for $4.95! We were also impressed with the dipping sauces. The sweet and sour and the peanut sauce were both spiced and prepared to perfection and clearly did not come straight from a jar.


We were in the mood for curry, as we usually are when we get thai food. I got the Gaeng Gari curry, which is like a red curry with sweet potatoes and chicken. Jenn got the Gaeng Keow Waan, which is a green curry with Thai eggplant, green beans and tofu. Both were incredibly delicious and the servings were well-sized. The prices were also pretty low for the quality of food we were getting (about $8 for curry).

Gaeng Gari curry

Gaeng Keow Waan (green) Curry

As mentioned above, the service was friendly and very fast, but not rushed. Our appetizers came out in about 5 minutes and our curry came shortly after that. It is also BYOB, which is good to know for the future. Overall, we were glad we took the Chicago Reader's advice as Opart Thai House has become one of our new favorite Thai places. The menu has a lot to offer, so we will definitely be coming back to sample some more of their wonderful dishes. We give Opart Thai House a 9.1 out of 10.
Quality of Food: 9.4
Value: 8.9
Atmosphere: 8.9
Customer Service: 9.0
Overall: 9.1