Atlas Cafe

Hooray! We are getting a pizza shop! Dante’s Pizza is coming in soon — the sign is up!

Even though I’m leaving it and Chicago as a whole behind without much regret, I will defend Logan Square until my dying day. This little piece of real estate is how I wish everywhere in Chicago was. Historic. Diverse. Self sufficient. Local (no big boxes here). Independent. Slightly artsy. Eclectic. Neighborhoody.
And few places in this community area better symbolize it than Atlas Café.
Walking in on an average day, one can see old Hispanic men who have lived in the neighborhood for 50 years eating traditional Cuban sandwiches while a hipster waitress serves vegan soup to a college professor (who is listening to the live jazz band at the back while preparing a Power Point on a laptop). The clientele and the menu here is just that diverse.
In fact, to try to pin down what nationality of cuisine they specialize in (nominally, it’s Chilean) is as hard as trying to pin one identity on Logan Square itself. From pasta to empenadas, this place serves it all. And well. No lazy paletted cooks allowed, apparently!
On my latest visit, for example, I got the veggie burger lunch special with an included huge bowl of their hearty lentil soup. And despite not being in what might be considered this restaurant’s wheelhouse, this herbivorian patty rivaled the great Kuma’s Corner (which I wish Logan Square could claim, stupid Avondale border) in terms of size and taste. The mustard and mayo mix topped (er, bottomed) the «meat» and fresh lettuce and tomatoes perfectly. I savored every bite.
Now it’s far from perfect (just like Logan Square’s high crime rate on its west side is a blight). For one, it doesn’t necessarily serve well as a coffee shop. There is only one comfy couch to lounge on (even if it is in the sun). So unless one likes to work in simple chairs and on small tables, it’s more of an eatery. Also the servers are kind of aloof. Which is odd, since the place is tiny and it’s not hard to see the whole thing in one vista from the coffee counter.
Still, I actually wish that I had frequented it more in my time nearby. When I leave Logan Square, I will miss its little microcosm immensely.

A great neighborhood joint. I used to live right around the corner, but no longer.
A nice little café. Good prices for tasty food. I’m a big fan of their empanadas and the veggie wrap makes my mouth water just thinking about it! The smoothies are simple yet fantastic and I recommend almond-​mango or almond-​avocado.
The staff is quite friendly and a reason to make return visits.
They feature local artists’ work on the wall (they even had my stuff up a few months back! This led to a nice chat with one of the cooks about photography) and the atmosphere is very laid back and non-​pretentious.

I really like this place!
We usually order delivery and the guys always deliver on bikes rain/​snow/​or shine!
We ate here once or twice and the atmosphere could be improved but we’re already so endeared towards it that we think it’s great.
Very friendly staff!
I recommend the eggplant sandwich and the fries are yummy too.
(don’t bother with the pasta though!)

This pace blows. I’ve wanted to like it SO bad because it’s literally steps away from my house, so i’ve given it many a chance– but alas– it just freakin blows.
The service is SOOOOOOO slow. Like ridiculous. I work in the service industry so i usually cut ppl a lot of slack about this, cause i know how things can be sometimes, but it’s just ridiculously terrible wether or not the place is full or you are the only customer in there.
Now i could look past the service if the food was actually good, but it is BLAND as hell. It’s as if there is no salt in the kitchen (maybe it’s a sodium free restuarant?). Also the menu is kind of far reaching which is just working against Atlas’ favor. I think it could be a lot better if they concentrated on one thing and did that well, but the result is all the food seems sub par.
I’ll prob. give this place another chance eventually due to the lack of options in the area– but until then looks like I’ll be sticking to Streetside and La Bomba for grub around the ‘hood.

I live a few blocks away, so I’ve eaten here *many* times. They have some amazingly tasty sandwiches, consistently good soup and girls at the counter that are cute enough to make you relax and not worry so much about whether or not you’ve put in your order yet.
I keep coming back for the shepherds sandwich, chilean salad with salmon, steak chacarero sandwich, lentil soup, and the ol’ hangover standby: burger and fries.

ATLAS!
I have been there for a sandwich a few times, and they are really good and the service is perfectly fine and friendly. The woman how is always there is super cute too, that’s a bonus.
But last night I was working late and hadn’t eaten enough, so I ordered deliver from Atlas for the first time. I ask on the phone for advice on what to order — I had it down to a few items. The cute women was helpful and pointed me to the Spinach Raviolis and the Chicken Strips. WOW! That was some of the best food I’ve had delivered, like ever. The Raviolis were in a cream sauce, something I didn’t know in advance and don’t typically like. But it was all so freaking great.
And the Chicken Strips were not out of a bag, they were hand battered with love. And served over a (by the time it got to me) wilted spinach salad with diced tomatoes. They were freaking great. Just so perfectly spiced and seemed almost light tasting, for a fried treat.
The only thing keeping me from giving this place the coveted 5-​Stars is the interior. It feels more like a hippy coffee shop, then a world café.
But whatever, this place ROCKS!
Keep it up, Atlas. I’ll be back very soon!

I have a real love-​hate relationship with this place.
So it’s supposed to be «world cuisine» or something, but it’s pretty much only sandwiches, «Italian» food, and «Chilean» food. I always felt like they could have had more options if they’re acting all «worldly,» but whatever. Sandwiches are good (the beef «Chacarero» is fantastic). Good deal and good food if you get any sandwich and fries. Pasta is way, way, way too expensive. You could make better pasta and at least twice the quantity for the same price by visiting the grocery store and boiling some water. Empanadas are very good. Salads are okay. Smoothies are good. I almost always carried out. Sometimes it’s a nice place to dine in, other times it’s annoying with bad, noisy open mic entertainment, or a group of communists talking really loudly. All in all, I like the place, but haven’t felt compelled to write home about it.

I went to this place today (saturday) because i hadn’t had food all day and wanted to go to a nearby place to get something. I had never been here before, but always saw it. It’s literally a couple of minutes walking for me, so I went, was glad to see they take cards and served food.
I chose The Chacarero” sandwich, ordered it chicken. They describe it «grilled chicken, green beans, lettuce, avocado, tomato, provolone and mayo». I got it with fries, nice hearty crispy fries, and took it to go.
While I waited I saw def. hanging out potential. I’ll be coming back with a laptop, or a book, and a good appetite, maybe even a date since it’s byob. it’s a good spot to know, and the service was nice. it was empty on this nearing saturday night, with two people there with laptops.
the sandwich was great! no need to add anything, only used the ketchup for the good fries.

This place has THE BEST chicken sandwiches. Though it doesn’t look of much of a place from the outside, the food makes up for it. The prices aren’t too bad for food– I think some of their drunks are a bit too pricey.
This is a great place to meet for a business meeting for if you want a place to chill out and read a book. Very quite and quaint.

Yum! and Yay!
I love this place! They have a wide variety of surprisingly low-​priced delicious food. I like the zaalouk (a north african/​mediterranean dish)… eating it there inspired me to make my own later in the week. Avocado smoothies, yummmm!
The staff seemed so nice and cool! :)
There was a nice little jazz combo playing, even for very few customers. Quite the splendid touch.
A happy little neighborhood spot! I hope their business prospers– I know I’m hooked.

My friend Maria just moved in across the street and we decided to begin our exploration of the neighborhood here. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but once you get inside it’s adorable. There was a three-​piece jazz band playing when we arrived and there was one other person there at the time so although it is a tiny place, we had plenty of tables to choose from.
Although the band was playing, they kept the volume at a perfect level so as to have a conversation and not have to raise your voice. I ordered an eggplant sandwich as I’m trying to eat more vegetables. The first bite was yummy and then the spices attacked my tongue and I thought my mouth was on fire. Now, keep in mind that I find pepper to be spicy. Maria tried a bite and laughed at me for being a baby (as she was putting hot sauce on her food mind you). I’m sure for the average-​joe it would have been super yummy, I just suck it.
I did have a few sips of Maria’s café con leche and it was delish. I may make this my coffee stop off point when I crash at her place. I wanted to order a kiwi smoothie but they were out of kiwi, so I will have to make another stop by to try one of those as well.

EMPANADAS!!!
This is a great low-​key and cheap place to eat.
WeRD

My business partner and I order lunch here all the time. You can get a burger and fries, and a burger and salad delivered for like $ 15. And they take AMEX.
The ability to get a salad is a huge plus, and I am pretty sure they deliver via bike.
Cheap, tasty and fast. Beats subway or pizza.

Two stars because I actually feel sort of sorry for this place. I ordered a latte here once, and I am convinced that while I had my back turned the «barista» made fake milk steaming noises with her mouth while she stirred the nescafe crystals into my cup.
The french fries were okay.

Had I opened a restaurant when I was 15 and dating a hippie who was into crystals, it probably would have turned out like Atlas Café.
Self painted décor, odd atmosphere, «eclectic» menu of all sorts of dishes, plain food, weird folk-​reggae-​singer songwriter musicians playing so you feel like you’re being rude if you speak to your dinner pal.
The whole thing was a trip, and not a pleasant one.

Okay so I stopped by Atlas just the other day and took a chance on the Eggplant Penne… AMAZING! It’s a really simple pasta dish with amazing HUGE pieces of eggplant that taste like they’ve been fire roasted, chunks of yummy veggies all in a oil/​garlic sauce… really light and basically the perfect summer pasta! And the bread they serve along with is totally yummy!
Support local businesses!

I found myself in Atlas quite randomly the other day as due to the glacially slow pace of AT&T customer service I was forced out to find an establishment where I could scavenge some free wi-​fi, enjoy a snack and not want to physically assault an another patron. This, of course, rules out pretty much any chain coffee shop and the more pretentious independent shops and being a Saturday evening it ruled out bars as well. Due mostly to proximity I ended up at the Atlas Café and enjoyed the experience.
The staff was super friendly and I found them very attentive without being bothersome. The selection of menu items was pretty broad and had some dishes that while not even close to exotic where a step off the beaten path of standard menu items.
The food cam quickly, piping hot and quite tasty; not anything to really brag on but given the moderate price I was very happy with the food I received.

Yawn.

OK, I just moved into the neighborhood and Atlas is less than 100 feet from my front door. Perfect, right? So I had to check it out. On moving day, I was starving around lunch time, so I went in to grab a burger. It was just OK… a little gray. The menu is very diverse so I could have been a little more adventurous, but I wasn’t…Anyway, I see some have raved about the fries, but I’m sure they are not «the best in the world.» Those of you that have been to Johnnies know that they have the best fries in the world… and of course the best beef in the world, but I digress.
Back to Atlas… so not very impressed by the first trip. Went back last night for some evening night food because I haven’t had time to unpack or go grocery shopping yet. Ordered the Grecian salad and proceeded to enjoy a little free wi-​fi. I was really excited about the salad (I can believe I just said I was really excited about a salad. To whom do I turn in my Man Card?!) Anyway, it had sun-​dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and goat cheese… What’s not to love? Still didn’t blow me away, but I did enjoy those aspects and the olives… The dressing was unimpressive.
So, in closing, this place is right next to me, so I know I’ll be a frequent visitor and will be sampling the extensive menu. Tomorrow, I’ll try the coffee… More to come.