Exit the Addison stop on the red line and it’s hard to miss the almighty presence of Wrigley Field; go west to Clark Street and you’re in the heart of Wrigleyville, expectedly saturated with sports bars paying homage to the Cubs. But post-game nightcappers aren’t the only crowd you’ll find here. Eclectic and offbeat with a definite punk quotient, this stretch has restaurants of every style and ethnicity, from southern Cajun to fancy Ethiopian to kitschy Thai, record stores, an improv theater, tattoo parlors and vintage shops filled with roaring ‘20s dresses and biker jackets. Head east toward Halsted and you’ll run into the major entertainment strip of Boys Town, Chicago’s gay district, as rainbow-lit Sears Tower replicas welcome you to the Wrigleyville/East Lakeview divide.
Panhandler rating: Game-day populations equal increased opportunities. Requests follow in suit.
Safety rating: Constant crowds mean pick-pockets trump figures in dark alleys.
Best of the nighttime world
Metro
A venerable rock palace, this legendary alternative live music venue is the reason why the other half flocks to Wrigleyville. A converted theater with the seats torn out to provide plenty of moshing opportunity, up-and-coming and established local, regional and national acts play on the hallowed sound stage where Nirvana and R.E.M. performed “before the bandwagon” gigs, where the Smashing Pumpkins, Urge Overkill, Liz Phair and Veruca Salt all cut their teeth, where James Brown, Iggy Pop and Prince performed to sold-out shows and Bob Dylan performed two shows to celebrate the club’s 15th anniversary in 1998. More recent acts include The White Stripes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Stephen Malkmus, Sonic Youth, Sleater Kinney, Ben Lee, Zwan and the Foo Fighters.
The cover varies widely according to the who’s performing; see local acts for as little as $3 or $4 (you can get tickets at the door); larger acts sell out for $20 well in advance. Metro has its own box office, so you needn’t pay exorbitant Ticketmaster charges. Most shows (with the exception of late-night weekend shows, which are usually 18+) are all ages. After-hours revelers who are over 21 can go downstairs to the Smart Bar, Metro’s resident dance club, where some of the city’s best DJs spin a variety of dance music until 4 a.m.
In-the-know spots
Cozy Noodles & Rice
Breeze past some of the rowdy sports bars that greet you as you exit the Addison stop and you’ll spot Elvis doing a pelvis thrust down the sidewalk. Walk closer and you’ll realize that it’s one of the many kitschy, trippy fixtures of this Thai-fusion eatery, which looks like an ‘80s attic gone bust. Dining tables are crafted from antique sewing machines, and sunny yellow walls are lined to the nook and cranny with Tonka toy trucks, Barbie doll parts and long-lost Lego pieces. Thousands of Pez dispensers decorate the walls of the women’s restroom; not to be outdone, the men’s room has fast food kid’s meal toys plastered from ceiling to floor. While the decor keeps this place buzz-worthy, the cheap, fast and reliably good food ensures that it stays perennially crowded. Expect appealing favorites like potstickers, pad thai, crab rangoons, spicy wide noodles and curry dishes at even more appealing prices: only one dish, the spicy shrimp over jasmine rice, exceeds $6.
Addis Abeba
Who knew? Amidst the smoky beer and hot dog haze of Slugger's, Sports Corner and the Cubby Bear is a treasured Ethiopian dining institution. Settle into the woven-basket tables, take in the African art-adorned walls and prepare for a not-so-ordinary dining adventure. Utensils eschewed, meals arrive on a large platter and are eaten with the hands using a spongy, crepe-like bread called injera. Vegetarian must-trys include inqoudai (mushrooms and split peas) and yemiser wot (cardamon-accented red lentils); meat and fish dishes like flavorful yesiga wot (spicy beef stew) and asa (sauteed fish) stand out as well. Wash it all down with a Mamba (African beer).
Arena for the a.m.
Nookies Tree
A regular haunt for the locals of Boys Town and popular with hangover recoverers everywhere, this upscale diner serves pancakes, waffles, omelets and other brunch fare all day and is open 24 hours on the weekends. Other menu options include sandwiches, burgers, crepes and soups (customers swear by the cream of asparagus and split pea). Perhaps appropriately named, it’s purportedly a great place to meet a date.
Dinner-date destinations
Matsuya
A modest storefront belies the history and popularity of this unpretentious sushi restaurant. It’s been drawing maki-craving devotees for 20 years, since the owner Michie Yokomori added a sushi bar to complement the original tempura- and teriyaki- heavy menu. Always bustling, regulars squeeze into tightly spaced but warmly lit banquettes accented by Japanese lattices to sample the moderately priced and crowd-pleasing platters of nigiri (raw fish on top of rice), sashimi (pieces of raw fish) and makimono (or maki, sushi rolls). Specialty maki include the Philadelphia, with smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado and onion; and the Windy City, with cooked tuna, mayonnaise, avocado and cucumber. Specials are planned around the freshest seafood of the day.
Twist
A tapas bar that puts a “twist” on traditional Spanish tapas, Twist features “international” tapas, inspired by the cuisines of Mexico, Morocco, China and Italy. Alongside superbly executed favorites like gambas al ajillo (shrimp, olive oil and red pepper flakes), solomillo con cabrales (grilled beef tenderloin encrusted with Spanish bleu cheese) and calamares a la plancha (grilled calamari with lemon-herb vinaigrette), you'll find Cantonese shrimp skewers, jalapeno gnocchi, small pizzas, Moroccan-spiced chicken brochettes and a guacamole and brie melt with sun-dried tomatoes. A pitcher of homemade sangria completes the experience.
Always humming with the chatter of twenty-somethings on casual dates or post-work outings, the space is a melange of works from local artists, mosaics of brightly colored geometric tiles and a ceiling painted a vivid midnight blue. Sit at the tapas bar and watch the chefs prepare your food, or at one of the tables set on a raised platform in the window, where in the summer you can people-watch into a patio enclosed by a sculptural stainless steel fence.
Late-night locale
Exedus II
This reggae dance club featuring live music six nights a week boasts an international clientele. Rastafari worshippers from Africa, Jamaica, Haiti and Belize converge to drink Jamaican rum punch, smoke bidis (Indian hemp cigarettes) and groove to music from the likes of Dub Dis and Devon Brown Doggie-Indika. DJs spin danceable reggae mixes from artists like Shabba Ranks and Patra. Here, the later the hour, the bigger the crowd. The stage is at street-level, inviting bleacher bums and other curious passersby to peer into the loudest act on the block and offer the occasional “hollah!” Jamaican accents, including a postcard scene of Jamaica above the bar and bold red, green and yellow paint strokes across the walls, fill the scene. Two bars offer standard selections, as well as Jamaican brews like the Dragon Stout (a very strong lager with honey), but the libation of choice is the house specialty, a potent sugar cane and white rum punch. There’s no cover on Sundays and on Wednesdays before 10:30 p.m. and for the ladies.
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