South Wabash full of food options despite construction
CHICAGO (WLS) -- There is quite a bit of construction on South Wabash these days as crews work to improve and upgrade the CTA stations there. Down on street level though, there are quite a few new eating options worth checking out.
Unless you're jewelry shopping or walking to and from your office, you probably don't spend a lot of time on Wabash, just south of Madison. The L moves slower here, since they're working on building a new station. But look around street level: there's plenty to eat and drink.
Starting the morning off at Goddess and the Baker, where, in addition to salads, sandwiches and baked goods, there is a serious coffee program. Beans from a number of local roasting houses are then transformed into cups that are made with high-tech pour-over machines, turned into specialty drinks or even on tap, using nitro to make that cold brew into a tall glass of caffeine resembling a pint of Guinness.
"It allows us to use any coffee company we can and that's a great way to promote local coffee roasters, and that's what we've been doing," said co-owner Debbie Sharpe.
Across the street, Naf Naf Grill has a new branch, where it's either falafel or shawarma - sliced via their German robots, or sometimes by humans - tucked into warm, homemade pita. You decide on fresh toppings including salads, cabbage and tahini sauce.
Next door, you can get two-fisted burgers, crunchy homemade fries and thick, impossibly rich shakes via Good Stuff Eatery, a Washington, D.C.-based chain that has its first location in the Loop.
Just a few doors down, the Silversmith Hotel and Suites also has Adamus, an all-day restaurant-lounge where the food is executed at a much higher level than most of the options nearby.
"We think we're kind of ahead of the curve. With the whole Wabash rejuvenation, we think we're the only place like this in the city. We have a great pre-theater menu," said the hotel's Food and Beverage Director Adam Jones. "We do lunch, we do breakfast for our hotel guests. We do happy hour; we cater to a very diverse crowd."
There's about another year left on the construction on South Wabash, but all of the businesses are open. So even though there's not a lot of food traffic, you can usually find a table.
There's also a Protein Bar on the same block, as well as a new breakfast, lunch and juice spot called Peach and Green that just opened up last week.
Goddess and the Baker
33 S. Wabash Ave.
312-877-5176
http://goddessandthebaker.com/
Naf Naf Grill
28 S. Wabash Ave.
312-726-6300
Good Stuff Eatery
22 S. Wabash Ave.
312-854-3027
http://www.goodstuffeatery.com/locations/chicago
Adamus
at The Silversmith Hotel
10 S. Wabash Ave.
312-372-7696
