Flavors of the West Loop

From military lattes to meatball sandwiches, Indian to Italian, this tour hits affordable highlights in Chicago’s trendiest neighborhood.

Theme
Food & Drink
Location
West Loop, Chicago
Duration
4 hours 30 minutes
Designer
Uptaste

Experience

Begin with a military latte at Sawada Coffee before trying colorful vegan fare at Uncooked. The cacio e pepe with kelp noodles is anything but bland. Who knew nutritional yeast was such a good substitute for parmesan? Hit Nonna’s Pizza & Sandwiches for a hearty meatball sub or eggplant parmesan before trying Japanese okonomiyaki – savory cabbage pancakes – at Gaijin. End the evening at ROOH Chicago, the best contemporary Indian restaurant in the city. Everything on the menu is a home run but if you only have the stomach space for one dish, it should be the butter chicken. The sauce is simply sublime.

Route

Sawada Coffee

Sawada Coffee is a rare coffee shop that really knows how to whisk their matcha too. Fresh-baked doughnuts from Doughnut Vault are available daily. There’s plenty of bleacher-style seating and a few tables too.

Uncooked

Uncooked specializes in raw, vegan and gluten-free food with breakfast and lunch options in a grab-and-go format. There are juices, smoothies and creative lattes too.

Nonna’s Pizza & Sandwiches

Nonna’s Pizza & Sandwiches is a casual grab-and-go concept adjacent to more elegant Italian restaurant Formento’s next door. The meatball sub and eggplant parmesan are classics, along with the antipasti chopped salad.

Gajin

Gaijin is a casual Japanese restaurant that specializes in okonomiyaki – savory Japanese cabbage pancakes – and kakigori shaved ice. Customize your okonomiyaki and pair it with sake or a seasonal highball.

ROOH Chicago

ROOH Chicago strikes gold with its elevation of traditional Indian home cooking with artful presentation and a delicate balance of flavors. Chef Sujan Sarkar’s butter chicken is the best in North America.

About

This route was designed by Uptaste.

Uptaste

What is Uptaste? We’re something like a travel agency business (although we don’t sell flights or hotels). Instead, we specialise in finding the right place to eat, wherever and whenever you are, using location intelligence combined with expert and community curation. Uptaste destinations will rarely be restaurants; they’ll be shops, they’ll be street traders, they’ll be local markets, or some other easy-to-miss but hard-to-forget place.

https://www.uptaste.com