Restaurant Wed Mar 14 2007

Handlebar Open for Weekday Lunch

The Handlebar in Wicker Park - one of The Reader's Top 50 and one of my go-to eateries - now opens weekdays at 10 a.m., offering a breakfast menu that just about copies their weekend brunch menu. An espresso machine has also come into the picture, which could add a whole new level of leisurely outdoor coffee drinking once the back patio opens for the season. I'm a big fan of the nicely sweet "orange marmalade maple syrup" that covers the vegan French toast so well that I didn't know what to do with my cup of regular syrup - not that I didn't try. Potatoes and avocado make the breakfast burrito hearty - another solid choice for breakfast or brunch. And you can get it with either seitan sausage or eggs. Handlebar's lunch/dinner menu has plenty of meat analogs, but perhaps you'll enjoy it here if you want the vegetables back in vegetarian, too. The groundnut stew brings a warming combination of sweet potato, coconut, zucchini, greens and brown rice; and the black beans maduro layers plantains, rice and beans in a chipotle sauce. Bonus: Chicagoland Bicycle Federation members get a free quesadilla between 4 and 7 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month. Bicycle parking is abundant, including some in back.

— Chris Brunn / Comments (0)