Chicago Shopping Tips by dlandt

Europa Books: For the VT member Books & Music Review

This tip is for Chicago VTers, not for visitors. Perfect for all your European language needs, you can buy books and magazines, videos and more, all in the major languages of Europe. They also have a selection of travel books in English, children's games and other curios. Thyey wil have a language dictionary for almost any European language no matter how small. Catalan anyone?

What to buy: Books and magazines primarily in French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian, with smaller sections for other languages. Especially helpful for the VT member are the tutorials and self-teaching aids. Things like flashcards and phrasebooks, reference dictionaries and software.

What to pay: Normal prices

Address: 832 N State St.

Directions: Gold Coast

Other Contact: europabooks@ameritech.net

Phone: 312-335-9677

Theme: Books

Bobak's: Bobak's!

Bobak's (I think means either Grandpa's or Ducky's) is actually two large Polish grocery stores. One is along Archer Ave and the other out in Burr Ridge. The one in Burr Ridge especially has a great restaurant and huge buffet. Here, you can find a lot of Polish goods, both made domestically and imported. They sell jars of soup, fresh and smoked sausages, pickled herring, sauerkraut from the barrel, Pollish beers, German beers, a variety of Central European wines, Polish sauces, Polish versions of hamburger helper, Polish newspapers and magazines, Polish hair and skin products etc. In the near vicinity there are Polish restaurants and shops of other types.

What to buy: Polish foods and alcohol of all types.

What to pay: Less than average

Address: 5279 S Archer

Directions: Archer Ave just past Pulaski

Phone: (773) 735-5334

Theme: Food and Drink

Joe's Sausage Shop: Best Sausage on the North Side Eating & Drinking Review

This is a small butcher and sausage shop with a local, loyal clientele. It is NOT a restaurant. The owner is Hungarian though I'd been going there for years thinking he was Austrian. (this is an old German neighborhood) and I think some of his employees are Hungarian because ... 1. I can't identify their language, but its not Slavic, and 2. See they carry Hungarian spices and products.

What to buy: All the sausages I have tried are melt in your mouth good and they aren't shy about telling you how to cook them. My favorites are the veal bratwurst and The salamis are fabulous and meaty, full of flavor, try the paprika ones. its homemade and they have their own smoker too. Smoked pork loin and chops.

What to pay: Cheaper than most supermarkets for sausage and meats. Whole salamis (you know with the strings attached etc.) should be about $7.

Address: Western And Sunnyside, squint or you'll miss it

Directions: Lincoln Square (NOT Lincoln Park)

Theme: Food and Drink

Gilmart: Polish deli and store Eating & Drinking Review

you'll think you are in Poland. Walk in here, and you'll hear little other than Polish. The first thing you will see is rows and rows of sausages and the backs of lots of people. When you listen, you'll hear nothing but Polish spoken here.

What to buy: I usually by the fresh sausages of course. They also have other goodies, as well as a lunch counter. Look aroudn and explore a few things, you might like them. Once you have some of their sausage, you'll never pick up a package in the grocery store, or eat in one of those lame, expensive downtown haunts again. For .99 pound, you can get a lot of quality stuff, and because its Polish, its all very clean.

What to pay: Prices here are about half or less what you would pay on the North side and about a quarter or less of what you would pay downtown, if you can even find comparable products downtown.

Address: 51?? W Archer

Directions: Little Poland

Theme: Food and Drink

Tony's Deli: Italian Groceria Eating & Drinking Review

This is a medium sized groceria that also serves up good sandwiches. They have the usual assortment of Italian cold cuts and cheeses as well as about five rows of imported food and other things, mostly Italian with a minor in Greek. Olive oils, biscotti, coffees etc.

What to buy: Italian Sausage, seafood salad, fresh bread, scamorza, hot capicola, gardiniera, sub sandwiches

What to pay: About the same as a grocery store, though some of the imported foods are a little more.

Address: Northwest Highway

Directions: Edison Park (near suburb)

Theme: Food and Drink