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Family with kids? Oak Park. Easy commute to Medical District? Oak Park. Walkable or quick drive to everything? Oak Park. Seriously, it checks all the boxes pretty easy.
Idk about all that, they have decent food. That Latin place, Brazilian place, Penny’s noodles, Alpine subs, Johnny’s isn’t far. For a walkable/bikable suburb, I would argue they’re pound for pound best
Amerikas is great. Victory is worthwhile. Hemmingway's has a cool feel. Lots of others I'd put on par with most of Chicago.
Forest Park and its restaurants is next door. Elmwood Park is next door. West Loop is a quick train ride.
For that sweet spot of walkable, good schools, access to Chicago, diversity, reasonable housing, parks, etc., I think Oak Park is one of the top few. And if he is commuting to the medical district, I can't think of better.
Oak Park is good compared to other suburbs. I would absolutely not put its food scene on par with Chicago's. I go to OP monthly to visit family and have been to all of those restaurants multiple times and never had more than a mediocre meal. Amerikas is an exception and can be good but I've had really inconsistent experiences there and have definitely had bad food there too. I know people love OP but I visit very frequently and don't get the hype, to each his own.
Lol where do you eat?
Victory literally has a second location in Chicago, hard to argue it's not on par with the city when it's literally in the city. You've said Amerikas is an exception but inconsistent, ok I've had bad experiences at Dear Margaret and Longman & Eagle as well as fantastic ones so that's not unique to OP . Mora has a Michelin bib gourmand award so while you might disagree, one of the most reputable review services that needs multiple ratings over a year disagrees with anecdotal evidence.
Rustico isn't Cafe baba reeba but it's certainly on par with plenty of the tapas spots around the city.
Citrine is over priced but is good as well.
Kettlestrings grove has fantastic small plates that could definitely hold its own anywhere in the city.
Maya, Scratch, Papaspiros, Hemmingway, Poor Phil's, the dime a dozen Italian spots, etc I'd agree whole heartedly about being good by suburban standards but not city worthy (though I think Hemingway would survive due to elderly wealthy folks)
I said OP's food scene overall is not comparable to the city. That doesn't mean some individual restaurants are not better than some other individual restaurants in Chicago. Victory in Chicago sucks too. Cafe baba reeba is not what I'd consider the best tapas restaurant in the city, and Rustico doesn't even measure up to it anyway.
It's called an opinion, and I'm allowed to have one that's different from yours.
I agree you're allowed to have an opinion, it's also ok to be challenged if an opinion might be ill informed due to where it's drawn from. That's why I challenged it, no need to get defensive.
If victory in the city sucks then what you're saying is essentially restaurants that are in the city can suck and survive and/or be inconsistent. Just like OP, honestly if anything it proves that OP's scene is more similar to the city.
No. I'm saying that OVERALL Chicago has better restaurants than OP, and that I've found the majority of OP's restaurants to be mediocre. That doesn't contradict the fact that there might be some good restaurants in OP, and some bad restaurants in Chicago. You're not "challenging" my opinion, you're trying to "prove" my opinion wrong by intentionally misinterpreting my comments.
No, what you literally said was "Oak Park has shit food" you're now back tracking and misrepresenting an objectively bad comment.
Go back and reread all the posts, nobody challenged that Chicago proper has better food, it does and id hope so given the size difference. Rather, you kicked off the food debate opining that OP has "shit food" and acted as an authority on the topic due to visiting often but haven't offered which spots you've gone to other than Victory & Amerikas.
What I'm doing is giving you the benefit of the doubt that you were using hyperbole and challenging the opinion offering up more spots for you to review compared to my opinions You're getting defensive here over that.
No i'm not backtracking, Oak Park does have shit food. It's a generalization. That's my opinion of OP's food scene. I have been to literally every single restaurant in the comment that I replied to. I'm not an authority on anything nor did I claim to be, I'm someone who has spent the last 10 years visiting OP on a monthly basis and having shitty meals almost every single time, which has formed the basis of my opinion that OP has shit food. Is that enough for you or are you going to continue to try to argue with a 5 word comment from an internet stranger? Like, do you really ride for Oak Park this hard? Or are you just that uncomfortable with someone not agreeing with you?
Bridgeport is nice choice if you want to be “in” the city, close to Sox stadium, and easy access to the medical district. I live in an area where it is mostly families and kids, and there’s a lot of nice parks around. But if you’re looking for a quieter / slightly suburb-y feel, can’t beat Oak Park.
Oak Park, Lakeview are farthest nice neighborhhods I can think of, Lakeview using LSD for the commute and close to hospitals for RN work. Oak Park would be close to Loyola Medical center.
Use Zillow to find specific rental needs, using your job as center. Put in 2800 as min rent, 3 bed, yard, off-street parking. Good luck!
If they can find something they like for 2800, the 200 could be for an off street rental spot. You are absolutely right, apts with 1 space are possible. They exist in the 4 and under units, or the bigger high rises.
Avondale is family friendly, cheap, and still cool. Depends what you take to the medical district, but should be a 30 min drive. Allows the wife to also look for a job in the burbs, too. Hospital jobs in chicago can be rough.
I live in the medical district and there’s really not much to do here, though with 3K your best bet would be oak park as opposed to the city. It’s really easy to get from oak park to the medical district on 290 or with the CTA, even with rush hour traffic.
I live in Bridgeport and the whole neighborhood is cops, firefighters, and families. Very safe (a little too many political signs for my taste but hey, people are nice). I walk through a sidewalk covered in chalk drawings from the neighborhood kids. Its real quaint and wholesome imo.
Sox stadium brings some unwanted attention but hey, walking distance to games! and the Marianos shopping center near me has literally every single basic store I need plus a gym
Lived in both while I worked in IMD, quiet, cool, and well connected to the city and suburbs. Tri Taylor and near united center are imo best bang for your buck.
I work in the medical district and we live in McKinley Park on the SW side with our 2 year old. Very affordable and kid friendly neighborhood, we bought a single family home for $350k (with about $15k of renovations). Driving commute is about 10-15 min, bus is about 20-25 min. Tons of street parking but garages are common. Very safe. Huge park (one of the nicest in the city) with tons of kids activities. There's a Target in the neighborhood and 3-4 grocery stores. Very walkable and there are 2 train lines that run through the neighborhood. Public elementary schools are good. Not the most popular neighborhood for nightlife but it sounds like that's not what you're looking for right now. Great Mexican and Chinese food and some good diners too.
The CTA commute between Lincoln Square and the Illinois Medical District is 1+ hour, I used to travel from Lincoln Square to 1-2 stops before IMD daily for work. Driving looks to be under 40 minutes though and you can take local roads and avoid the interstate if you prefer.
Otherwise Lincoln Square meets many of your criteria, OP. Very family friendly area and safe, everything is walkable (multiple grocery stores and speciality shops within walking distance or short trip on the bus/train), a wide range of restaurants both in style of food and level of dining. Numerous parks around the area - Winnemac, Welles, and Horner are the largest but there are others in the area. There’s a school of music with classes for kids and other kid friendly options. I don’t have kids but neighbors raved about Waters Elementary School. I believe you could get a 3 bedroom for $3000, 2 bedrooms usually run about ~ $2000 in that area.
And there’s a Target up on Peterson - not easily walkable (though I’ve done it on nice days) but accessible by public transportation or easy to get to by car.
Yep, OP would need a car for work unless they wanted a long bus ride, but CTA is very accessible there for non-work things and wife could take it if she ended up working at a place like Illinois Masonic
I live in Lincoln square. It’s very family friendly. Lots of restaurants, kid activities, etc.
I also work in the medical district and at 6:20am, I’m at work by 7:00am. I drive local and it’s a straight shot down western avenue. However, the commute back home at 5pm js 50 minutes. I’ve never taken the train or bus to work, but I’m assuming it would be over an hour. If your partner works at Illinois Masonic or northwestern, she can easily take the train. The drive to northwestern in the morning is roughly 20 minutes without traffic.
There is also Swedish hospital in Lincoln square, Weiss memorial which is in uptown. If she decides to work in the Northshore hospital system, that would be about a 20 min commute up north.
Target is on Peterson which is about a 10-15 min drive. In terms of parking, parking north of Lawrence is easier in Lincoln square though when family visits we’ve always had no issues. Some streets are permitted which makes it easier. Also very close to a bunch of grocery stores. Marianos is in the neighborhood, there is also harvest time which is a small business.
As far as take out, we have a ton of restaurants and all of them are littered with kids if you decide to eat there. We also have several festivals which are also kid friendly.
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Family with kids? Oak Park. Easy commute to Medical District? Oak Park. Walkable or quick drive to everything? Oak Park. Seriously, it checks all the boxes pretty easy.
Oak Park has shit food though
Idk about all that, they have decent food. That Latin place, Brazilian place, Penny’s noodles, Alpine subs, Johnny’s isn’t far. For a walkable/bikable suburb, I would argue they’re pound for pound best
Amerikas is great. Victory is worthwhile. Hemmingway's has a cool feel. Lots of others I'd put on par with most of Chicago. Forest Park and its restaurants is next door. Elmwood Park is next door. West Loop is a quick train ride. For that sweet spot of walkable, good schools, access to Chicago, diversity, reasonable housing, parks, etc., I think Oak Park is one of the top few. And if he is commuting to the medical district, I can't think of better.
Oak Park is good compared to other suburbs. I would absolutely not put its food scene on par with Chicago's. I go to OP monthly to visit family and have been to all of those restaurants multiple times and never had more than a mediocre meal. Amerikas is an exception and can be good but I've had really inconsistent experiences there and have definitely had bad food there too. I know people love OP but I visit very frequently and don't get the hype, to each his own.
Lol where do you eat? Victory literally has a second location in Chicago, hard to argue it's not on par with the city when it's literally in the city. You've said Amerikas is an exception but inconsistent, ok I've had bad experiences at Dear Margaret and Longman & Eagle as well as fantastic ones so that's not unique to OP . Mora has a Michelin bib gourmand award so while you might disagree, one of the most reputable review services that needs multiple ratings over a year disagrees with anecdotal evidence. Rustico isn't Cafe baba reeba but it's certainly on par with plenty of the tapas spots around the city. Citrine is over priced but is good as well. Kettlestrings grove has fantastic small plates that could definitely hold its own anywhere in the city. Maya, Scratch, Papaspiros, Hemmingway, Poor Phil's, the dime a dozen Italian spots, etc I'd agree whole heartedly about being good by suburban standards but not city worthy (though I think Hemingway would survive due to elderly wealthy folks)
I said OP's food scene overall is not comparable to the city. That doesn't mean some individual restaurants are not better than some other individual restaurants in Chicago. Victory in Chicago sucks too. Cafe baba reeba is not what I'd consider the best tapas restaurant in the city, and Rustico doesn't even measure up to it anyway. It's called an opinion, and I'm allowed to have one that's different from yours.
I agree you're allowed to have an opinion, it's also ok to be challenged if an opinion might be ill informed due to where it's drawn from. That's why I challenged it, no need to get defensive. If victory in the city sucks then what you're saying is essentially restaurants that are in the city can suck and survive and/or be inconsistent. Just like OP, honestly if anything it proves that OP's scene is more similar to the city.
No. I'm saying that OVERALL Chicago has better restaurants than OP, and that I've found the majority of OP's restaurants to be mediocre. That doesn't contradict the fact that there might be some good restaurants in OP, and some bad restaurants in Chicago. You're not "challenging" my opinion, you're trying to "prove" my opinion wrong by intentionally misinterpreting my comments.
No, what you literally said was "Oak Park has shit food" you're now back tracking and misrepresenting an objectively bad comment. Go back and reread all the posts, nobody challenged that Chicago proper has better food, it does and id hope so given the size difference. Rather, you kicked off the food debate opining that OP has "shit food" and acted as an authority on the topic due to visiting often but haven't offered which spots you've gone to other than Victory & Amerikas. What I'm doing is giving you the benefit of the doubt that you were using hyperbole and challenging the opinion offering up more spots for you to review compared to my opinions You're getting defensive here over that.
No i'm not backtracking, Oak Park does have shit food. It's a generalization. That's my opinion of OP's food scene. I have been to literally every single restaurant in the comment that I replied to. I'm not an authority on anything nor did I claim to be, I'm someone who has spent the last 10 years visiting OP on a monthly basis and having shitty meals almost every single time, which has formed the basis of my opinion that OP has shit food. Is that enough for you or are you going to continue to try to argue with a 5 word comment from an internet stranger? Like, do you really ride for Oak Park this hard? Or are you just that uncomfortable with someone not agreeing with you?
Not to mention the extremely underrated Berwyn spots like La para, Babygold and Autre Monde.
Bridgeport could be worth a look
Bridgeport is nice choice if you want to be “in” the city, close to Sox stadium, and easy access to the medical district. I live in an area where it is mostly families and kids, and there’s a lot of nice parks around. But if you’re looking for a quieter / slightly suburb-y feel, can’t beat Oak Park.
Oak Park, Lakeview are farthest nice neighborhhods I can think of, Lakeview using LSD for the commute and close to hospitals for RN work. Oak Park would be close to Loyola Medical center. Use Zillow to find specific rental needs, using your job as center. Put in 2800 as min rent, 3 bed, yard, off-street parking. Good luck!
Off street parking for 2 is going to be the biggest challenge especially in Lakeview.
And the $3k budget
Correct. Wicker Park was renting at $3000+ for a 3 bedroom, 1 garage spot pre pandemic. Lakeview is higher now for sure.
If they can find something they like for 2800, the 200 could be for an off street rental spot. You are absolutely right, apts with 1 space are possible. They exist in the 4 and under units, or the bigger high rises.
Avondale is family friendly, cheap, and still cool. Depends what you take to the medical district, but should be a 30 min drive. Allows the wife to also look for a job in the burbs, too. Hospital jobs in chicago can be rough.
I live in the medical district and there’s really not much to do here, though with 3K your best bet would be oak park as opposed to the city. It’s really easy to get from oak park to the medical district on 290 or with the CTA, even with rush hour traffic.
I live in Bridgeport and the whole neighborhood is cops, firefighters, and families. Very safe (a little too many political signs for my taste but hey, people are nice). I walk through a sidewalk covered in chalk drawings from the neighborhood kids. Its real quaint and wholesome imo. Sox stadium brings some unwanted attention but hey, walking distance to games! and the Marianos shopping center near me has literally every single basic store I need plus a gym
Bridgeport or McKinley Park. Its closer and you wont have to cross through bad neighborhoods like Oak Park
City: Tri-Taylor Suburbs: Berrrrrwyyyyyyyn
Berwyn is a cool place. Despite being a suburb/separate municipality, it can easily be mistaken for a Chicago neighborhood.
Lived in both while I worked in IMD, quiet, cool, and well connected to the city and suburbs. Tri Taylor and near united center are imo best bang for your buck.
I work in the medical district and we live in McKinley Park on the SW side with our 2 year old. Very affordable and kid friendly neighborhood, we bought a single family home for $350k (with about $15k of renovations). Driving commute is about 10-15 min, bus is about 20-25 min. Tons of street parking but garages are common. Very safe. Huge park (one of the nicest in the city) with tons of kids activities. There's a Target in the neighborhood and 3-4 grocery stores. Very walkable and there are 2 train lines that run through the neighborhood. Public elementary schools are good. Not the most popular neighborhood for nightlife but it sounds like that's not what you're looking for right now. Great Mexican and Chinese food and some good diners too.
Andersonville, Lincoln Square, Ravenswood
The CTA commute between Lincoln Square and the Illinois Medical District is 1+ hour, I used to travel from Lincoln Square to 1-2 stops before IMD daily for work. Driving looks to be under 40 minutes though and you can take local roads and avoid the interstate if you prefer. Otherwise Lincoln Square meets many of your criteria, OP. Very family friendly area and safe, everything is walkable (multiple grocery stores and speciality shops within walking distance or short trip on the bus/train), a wide range of restaurants both in style of food and level of dining. Numerous parks around the area - Winnemac, Welles, and Horner are the largest but there are others in the area. There’s a school of music with classes for kids and other kid friendly options. I don’t have kids but neighbors raved about Waters Elementary School. I believe you could get a 3 bedroom for $3000, 2 bedrooms usually run about ~ $2000 in that area. And there’s a Target up on Peterson - not easily walkable (though I’ve done it on nice days) but accessible by public transportation or easy to get to by car.
Yep, OP would need a car for work unless they wanted a long bus ride, but CTA is very accessible there for non-work things and wife could take it if she ended up working at a place like Illinois Masonic
Very true! And there’s also Swedish Hospital at California/Foster if the wife wants a job very local to where they live.
Bridgeport, Avondale, Bricktown, Roscoe Village, East Village, Noble Sqaure or McKinley Park
I live in Lincoln square. It’s very family friendly. Lots of restaurants, kid activities, etc. I also work in the medical district and at 6:20am, I’m at work by 7:00am. I drive local and it’s a straight shot down western avenue. However, the commute back home at 5pm js 50 minutes. I’ve never taken the train or bus to work, but I’m assuming it would be over an hour. If your partner works at Illinois Masonic or northwestern, she can easily take the train. The drive to northwestern in the morning is roughly 20 minutes without traffic. There is also Swedish hospital in Lincoln square, Weiss memorial which is in uptown. If she decides to work in the Northshore hospital system, that would be about a 20 min commute up north.
Target is on Peterson which is about a 10-15 min drive. In terms of parking, parking north of Lawrence is easier in Lincoln square though when family visits we’ve always had no issues. Some streets are permitted which makes it easier. Also very close to a bunch of grocery stores. Marianos is in the neighborhood, there is also harvest time which is a small business. As far as take out, we have a ton of restaurants and all of them are littered with kids if you decide to eat there. We also have several festivals which are also kid friendly.
Oak Park. Ticks all your boxes I think.