Cheap eats in Beverly

Behind its unassuming exterior, this family-friendly spot is a triple threat: It’s a small-batch coffee roaster, a neighborhood go-to for sweet baked treats like scones, doughnuts and muffins, and a bustling breakfast destination. Set yourself up for the day with hearty breakfast dishes like the smoked salmon benedict, banana batter pancakes, or chorizo and poblano skillet. On your way out, grab a bag of freshly roasted Costa Rican Tarrazu or Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans, along with a cookie or two for later.

Beverly’s first microbrewery is a pleasant, airy space, with rustic beams soaring high overhead and a handsome bar that was built by neighborhood carpenters. With its selection of burgers and sandwiches, pizzas, loaded salads and beer-friendly snacks like spent-grain pretzels, the unfussy food menu casts a net wide enough to satisfy most any diner. Especially popular are the cherry-smoked barbecue offerings, like pulled pork and hot links—the Fat Chef sandwich features both, along with a scoop of creamy slaw. A six-pour flight is a good way to get a taste of the four flagship brews along with seasonals and collaborations, like Ambiguously Grain Duo, a tasty dark Alt created with Revolution.

This 65-year-old Western Avenue landmark delighted locals by reopening in 2014 (under new ownership) following a two-year hiatus. Today, as ever, it’s the neighborhood place for Chicago-style dogs, cheese fries, milkshakes and other such indulgences. For mid-century modern enthusiasts, the building itself is worth the price of admission; with its pops of orange and turquoise, quirky roofline and groovy cascading globe lights, it could be a relic of a HoJo motor lodge. 

Chocolate, strawberry, Palmer House, pistachio, orange sherbet: It’s a flavor combo deeply etched in the consciousness not only of Beverly natives, but also of Chicagoans from further afield, for whom this exuberantly pink ice cream shop has long been something of a pilgrimage site. To wait in line here on a Sunday evening in summer (it looks epic but it moves quickly), to take one’s cone, with its sweet, colorful strata, out to the picnic tables and eat it quickly before it melts, is to feel part of a great Chicago tradition.

Scores of paeans both professional and amateur have been penned to this Beverly gem, now in its seventh decade. And just a glance at the immutable menu and the vinyl- and paneling-dominated interior shows that its long-standing hold on diners’ hearts has nothing to do with style and everything to do with comfort and simplicity. You won’t find pretzel buns or truffle oil or bacon marmalade here, just beefy, freshly ground burgers topped, if you like, with American cheese and sweet griddled onions and served up on a sesame bun alongside a pile of hand-cut fries. Simple and just about perfect.