For anybody who needs an emergency mid-day infusion of comfort food -- and heading out to Mom's house isn't an option -- there's the South Side's 17th Street Cafe.
In a neighborhood that's crawling with stylish bistros, hookah bars and a planetwide array of cuisines, it's actually nice to find a cozy, inexpensive and easygoing place to eat lunch every once in awhile. Down a sidestreet well off the frenzy of East Carson Street, there's a little bar and cafe that's been there for a long time, in one form or another. It was once a grimy, shot-and-a-beer steelworker bar, back when the mills darkened the South Side skies black even at lunchtime. Now, it's a cozy little cafe, crafting its simple fare with great care.
Look for the big red brick building with the green awning, but keep your eyes on the road. Parking is more valuable than gold on this side of East Carson, so grab the first space you get. You probably won't find a better one.
Inside, there's a long, mirror-backed wooden bar, flanked by a row of small tables covered in dark blue tablecloths. The faux-Monets and other pseudo-Impressionist paintings on the walls don't draw the eye, they just add a comforting bit of color to the walls.
I'm not terribly interested in restaurants' service -- if it's not abominably bad or slow, I usually don't think much about it. But the 17th Street Cafe is so friendly and fast that I actually noticed. So if you must be waited on hand and foot in order to enjoy your meal, this is a good place to be.
The Roasted Red Pepper Bisque ($2.95) has garnered quite a reputation around town and is probably one of the best versions I've tasted in a while. What sets it apart is the large pieces of red peppers, which aren't pureed like they often are. The Country Mushroom Soup ($2.95) was hearty, but unremarkable -- a dark, heavy beef stock filled with lots of onions, some tomato and chopped portabellas and (I think) crimini mushrooms. I imagine that my appreciation for this soup would go up as the temperature goes down.
The Omelette ($5.95) is served with lunch in mind -- on a nest of excellent, extra-salty hand-cut fries. The omelette itself is a manageable size, served with your choice of three ingredients. My companion went with Swiss cheese, mushrooms and crisp green peppers, which were assembled into a lonely redoubt of protein, with carbs (fries and toast points) cutting off every avenue of escape on the plate.
Chicken Picatta ($7.99) is another comfy, hearty dish, like something I'd eat at my mother-in-law's. A small, rather flat chicken breast is covered in sliced mushrooms in a white wine and Veloute sauce -- which sounds fancy but reminded me of a thick helping of extra-good chicken gravy (nonlumpy variety.) This was good enough for me -- but the menu says that there are capers in the dish. Nope, no capers.
The desserts are all made in-house, and every one looked fantastic. I went with the Strawberry Lemon Cheesecake ($4.95), a firm-but-creamy slice of heaven with thinly cut strawberries on top, and a pronounced lemony accent that becomes more apparent the deeper your fork digs.
The Cannoli ($4.95) are fairly good for this cannoli-starved town -- filled with sweet ricotta that wasn't heavy and mousse-y like they sometimes get around here. 17th Street's special twist seems to be sprinkling crushed Oreos on the ends instead of pistachios -- a dubious improvement, but not a disaster. The cannoli shell was exceptionally firm and crisp, and a little chocolate sauce for dipping goes a long way. Oh, and they give you two for $4.95 instead of the one we expected.
That was nice.
Additional Information:
Details
17th Street CafeHours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; 4 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 4 to 11 p.m. Fridays; 5 to 11 p.m. Saturdays; and 4 to 9 p.m. Sundays
Address: 75 S. 17th St., South Side
Phone: (412) 381-4566
