Here are my locations:
Neighborhood Favorites
Cafe 57 at 57th Street under the Metra tracks (the IC tracks, for older folks)
Seminary Co-op Bookstore, now at 58th & University but rumored to be moving to Woodlawn.
57th Street Bookstore, a less-intellectual cousin of the Sem Co-op
Hyde Park Produce, in Kimbark Plaza: Hummus, great (expensive) chunky salsa that goes particularly well with rice crackers (also costly, but what the heck), very good vegetables. Bread from Medici Bakery, if you're a bread-eater. Lots of cheese, but not as much as Treasure Island.
The Sit-Down, 53rd immediately east of Kimbark Plaza, where Jesselson's Fish Market was, 30 years ago. Finally, decent sushi (& sandwiches, salads, etc) in Hyde Park.
Istria Cafe on Cornell at 50th (in the Hyde Park Art Center building) --a relative of Cafe 57, bigger, neater, with equally good coffee; but you can't beat Belinda & Mike and the old-shoe feeling down under the tracks.
The jogging path in what the signs call "Burnham Park," along the lake.
The Point, of course, in fine weather.
Office Depot, Ace Hardware, and the Laundry in what they used to call the Hyde Park Co-op Shopping Center. Pedestrian; but heck, they have cool pens and file folders; everybody loves hardware; and they iron my shirts!
Rush Street on a summer evening. Heck, a summer afternoon ain't bad, either! Just walk anywhere, from the bottom of the street at the river (okay, the first couple of blocks aren't much) to its terminus at State and Elm. There is always something to see.
South Dearborn. The 700 block, to be precise: Kasey's, a bar where you can sit outside in nice weather and watch the street traffic. Also Flaco's Tacos, just a few doors away: great, and cheap, Mexican food. For more, go a bit further to Hackney's (excellent burgers and super-crisp fries), or to Bar Louie all the way at the end of the block, in Dearborn Station. And maybe the best part is that, while sitting (inside or outside) at Kasey's enjoying a beer or shots of Jack, you can order from Flaco's or Hackney's and they'll have it delivered and add it to your tab! Felicity, thy name is Kasey's!
Others
The Blue Line. Formerly known as the Dearborn Street subway, extended 2 or 3 decades ago to O'Hare, this has lately (fall, 2011) become the venue for most of my daily commute. I found myself, at 3:30 in the afternoon on a recent Monday, without a car at a work location in the suburbs. Rather than call Jessica to drive all the way out to pick me up in rush hour, I looked into the bus situation. Long story short: now, 3 days a week or so, I travel from home to the intersection of Oakton & Touhy, about 23 miles, by bus and train, with the majority of the trip on the Blue Line.
And it's great. my blood pressure is lower than it's been in about 20 years; I have a couple of hours a day to read (on my super-duper new jiffy Kindle!). Most of all, I feel connected to the city, to the people, to the life around me: some mornings are just a character study. cheaper than a drink at an outdoor cafe, the people-watching on the train is just as interesting, or more so. And I don't care about the cars in front or beside me, or that idiot truck driver, etc (except, on the stretch of rail that goes down the median of the Kennedy Expressway, I do get to watch my former compatriots, one per car, gnaw their lips or sit disconsolately, unmoving, if there happens to be a sprinkle of rain). So, here's to the CTA!
