What’s Cooking

I just wanted to say how heartbroken so many of us are in this area that What’s cooking has closed. This was our «go to» spot for breakfast. If the owners read this and open another place someday, please reach out to us. We loved you and the staff so much. You were like family. I don’t think I’ve been out to breakfast since the closing because I just haven’t found another place. Thanks for the memories. Boo hoo.

So sad to hear about the closing. My father and I have gone here for years for their Matzoh-​ball soup, kreplach, lox and bagels, and other standard Jewish fare. It was where we went when we didn’t feel like cooking.
They will be missed.

Stopped by yesterday for lunch and am extremely disappointed to see this place go.
You have to take What’s Cooking for what it is, which is a diner. Simple food at a reasonable price in an old school enviornment and good service. Loved the 7 bean soup and grilled cheese with ham. And the old school 80s movie posters of ET and Turner and Hooch. Great, casual place for us to go to on the weekends with the kids. There aren’t many places like this around Chicago anymore. Closest place I know of is Hilltop Restaurant which is where we ended up.

Driving down the road, fiancé and I saw the logo for this place and immediately turned around… figured it was some home cooking style place, possibly southern? No, just your basic home cooking. It’s obviously a staple place to go and they have A LOT of regulars… whom the waiters know by name.
They serve a tasty bread basket but be careful… we ate too much of it and didn’t want our food when it came.
We ordered:
The Lentil Soup (soup du jour)… Too heavy. Oily. It tasted good but not something I would want again.
The Ruben Open-​Faced Sandwich… huge, mound of cheese on meat. Very nice. Not enough sauerkraut. a thin layer. Blasphemy.
The Bacon Cheeseburger… Just a basic burger, nothing memorable.
Curly Fries… awesome. Nice and crispy, not heavily seasoned. Good job.
Overall the place was okay… wouldn’t go again. And the cacophony of weird gastral and esophageal noises coming from various, senior, customers was very… unappetizing.

A solid 3 stars with the possibility of more on the horizon.
My dude and I just moved and are on the hunt for new breakfast spots in the area. I remembered eating here when I was little and decided to give it a go.
Our waitress was super sweet. She was attentive and made eyes at our baby, which every parent eats up with a spoon.
The food? It was good. Not awesome, but good. Dude had a corned beef has omelet and I had the country breakfast. I think next time we’ll explore the menu more and see if we fall in love with anything. I just read some reviews that mentioned matzoh ball soup and I’m pretty jazzed about giving it a whirl. Next time.

Many years ago this was a very thriving restaurant with great food. This establishment has went down hill over the years I see. I don’t recommend eating there your able to find a much better meal for the same prices with much better service. Our food was served to us luke warm like it had been sitting under a warming light pre cooked. Our waitress was a middle aged lady with a bad attitude and seemed not to be up to doing her full waitresses duties like filling up the coffee cups every few minutes. I’m giving it one star more then they deserve just because What’s Cooking still brings back many old memories and thats all.

I had not eaten here since I was a little kid and after having breakfast I wish I would not have come back. Service was bad and the food was worse. We came in and waited a bit only to be seated after a couple who came in after we did which is always annoying.
We were seated and everything sounded good… and they had fresh squeezed orange juice… well supposedly. The orange juice tasted like a generic concentrate… pretty bad. I complained an the waitress swore it was fresh squeezed and did not apologize or take it back (for 2 glasses at $ 3.25 each I was kind of pissed).
The breakfast was somewhat better. a waffle with ice cream and strawberries… but it was strawberry compote. I had corn beef hash as well which was lukewarm and so-​so. My friend didn’t enjoy his food either. I wish this place would have been better as its close and I was going to bring a networking group here once a week if the food was good. Needless to say that won’t happen. Seriously this place takes a back seat to ihop.

I want to love this place, because there just aren’t that many Jewish delis on the North Side where you can sit down any longer. Kauffmans, Ashkenaz, the late Samuels’ – all excellent, but no place to kibitz. What’s Cooking is not on par with these, which is unfortunate, because I think they try hard.
Borscht: blah. A Russian I was with confirmed that this was canned and so removed from anything authentic that it was an insult to Borscht. She had a vegetable plate, which included frozen broccoli and carrots. I had a veggie burger, which was inedible, and that says something, considering that a veggie burger is basically fried mush and hard to screw up.
The service was also slow, and the atmosphere was more reminiscent of Weinstein’s Bros. funeral home than the old Bagel on Clark. At least the prices were reasonable – for a deli. But again, this place reflects the sad state of delicatessens in Chicago. And let that be a lesson to all you who insist on ordering your cold cuts from Costco.
The other plus is the people who come there: a real assortment of old-​school, Albany Park bubbes, replete with canes and reflector glasses. I would love to know what they think of the «pastrami,» since they don’t write on Unilocal.At least the bialis are delicious.

This place is adorable in that old school diner sort of way! My husband and I went for brunch one day after I remembered how much my dad loved the place. We had brunch foods, an omelette and pancakes and they were delish. The price was SUPER reasonable. Love this place and will go back again and again.

Sweet n’ Sour Cabbage Soup … watery, grey with an odd taste to it.
Hot Pastrami Sandwich … not spoiled, but an unpleasant bland flavor.
Kishka with Gravy … ok, but have had a lot better.
Special Triple Decker Sandwich … actually a double decker and pricey
Atmosphere … dark and depressing.
We used to come here years ago, but no more.

I came here a lot with my family when I was growing up. The former location (in the same strip mall, before said strip mall was renovated, when there was a music store called The Flip Side because it was all about cassettes) had a lot of character. It had a ‘70s diner vibe that I loved.
I have to take off a star for atmosphere. The renovated restaurant is just completely lacking in any kind of ambience. It kind of feels like an old shoe store-​turned-​diner, which actually it could be since I think What’s Cooking used to be down to the right a little more. And they attempted to compensate, I guess, by hanging up all these very, very random movie posters. It’s simply kind of odd (though somewhat funny).
Other than that, I love this place. The soups are amazing. I never come here without getting soup. Cream of chicken rice is best but they’re all good. As for the other food… um… I think I tend to get breakfast food and it’s always been good. It’s kind of hard to remember through the soup-​centric haze that is my memory when I think of What’s Cooking. But I’m 99% sure their omelets are excellent.
When my brother and sister and I want to go out to brunch/​lunch/​dinner, this is one of our first choices. Definitely recommended.

I have been here on several occasions and the one that sticks out in my mind really ruins it for me. I ordered the borscht. I was excited to have it after all my childhood Ukranian Christmases.
It arrives cold. That’s fine. That’s how they do it here. I tried it and it reallly was cold and not tasty. Put some sour cream in it and watched it clump into little unappetizing curdles. So my friends suggest I ask them to heat it up for me. I figure, I can leave her a nice tip for the trouble. I flag down our waitress and ask «I’m used to this being warm, can you pop it into the microwave for me maybe?»
Her expression was like the cream hitting the cold soup. She gave us a «are you crazy» look and just walked silently away. We were left sitting there somewhat confused.
She then comes back and asks «You want me to throw it away?!»
«No, I asked if you could just reheat it.»
«Reheat it? What about the cream?» (As if I was asking her to throw babies under cars…)
«I grew up eating borscht hot, the cream will be fine. Just if you have a microwave, if you could just put it in for a little bit so it’s hot. I would appreciate it.»
She wasn’t convinced but took it. I was a little annoyed that I had to argue with her but then I see her taking it to the kitchen and another waitress looks at her taking it back and she yells across to her «This girl wants hot borscht!» And they both start laughing at me… plainly in sight of me.
Insult to injury the soup comes back barely lukewarm.
Overall, even without this little incident, Whats Cooking is overpriced, the food is bland, and there are much better breakfast places hidden throughout the area. Even though I have been back I have slowly learn that there really isn’t anything there that is really appetizing. I hope that when I’m old I got nicer joints to hang around… with hot borscht or with waitresses willing to heat some up for me.

I remember What’s Cooking from its earlier incarnation, before Lincoln Village’s facelift and botox upgrade, when Borders was a movie theatre and no one had ever heard of Starbucks.
While What’s Cooking might look more modern (trust me, it’s modern compared to it’s old digs), the food is just as good as ever. From matzo ball soup to chopped liver to kishke to pastrami sandwiches, it’s decent Jewish food that is just as good as Grandma’s — had my Grandma been able to make anything that wasn’t covered in schmaltz and all shaded the same ambiguous gray/​brown/​what-​is-​this? color.
Not only are the soups and sandwiches good, but breakfast is pretty decent too. Having recently moved back into the neighborhood, I often find myself parked in one of their boothes on days when some corned beef hash n’ eggs is the only remedy strong enough to cure a massive hangover.
There is only one item I would not recommend on the menu — the latkes. The latkes are not enjoyable at all, which is painful for me to say. Don’t be tempted as the latkes call to you; I wouldn’t even classify them as latkes. It’s the equivalent of a super padded bra — completely misleading and total disappointment ensues once you realize what you’ve REALLY gotten.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been here mostly because I was never really all that crazy about the place in the past. There used to be a little deli on the south end of Lincoln Village where the waitresses and cooks shouted at each other but called the customers «darling» and «bubbie,» and that was a great place to eat. But it’s long gone and mostly I get my deli fix at The Bagel now.
I hadn’t been to their new location which is along the arm of the mall that runs roughly north-​south. It’s pretty nice. Very clean and decorated in the way a lot of Hot Brown Food restaurants are. The staff is exceptionally friendly and helpful, which always bodes well. And the menu is big, but not overwhelming. Dawn and I split a nova plate for two, and there was so much lox on it that we could probably have split the single plate quite comfortably. As it was, we ended up giving lox to Jim to eat with his hoppel-​poppel.
I have to tell you that a lot of the lox I’ve had lately has put me off salmon. I’ve had such stringy, salty, fishy-​tasting lox that I very nearly decided on something else, but at the last minute I closed the deal on sharing with Dawn and I’m glad I did. This lox was sweet, tender, everything good lox should be. The mounds of tomato that accompanied it really had some flavor, as if they were home grown! How often does that happen? How often do you get real tomato instead of some hard, pink thing? And the onion was sweet and flavorful. So good, in fact, that I threw caution to the wind and had quite a lot of it. Fortunately it was as kind to my digestive tract as to my mouth.
I am so going back to have more lox one of these days, and to try their matzoh soup which I hear is excellent. I’m really pleased to be able to reevaluate this place in such a positive way.

I randomly stumbled upon What’s Cooking as I was looking up different restaurants in the area… i saw that it had an extensive menu, so my fiancé and I decided to try it out.
When we first drove up, we weren’t quite sure what to expect, as it looks like a very small place in a very random strip mall… but when we walked in, I was amazed to see how large the restaurant actually was! so don’t let it’s front appearance get to ya…
yes, as everyone else has said, this place has a VERY suburbian feel to it… but that’s what i loved about it! a nice diner in the city that’s not your Golden Nugget! don’t get me wrong… i love golden nugget! but it was nice to walk into a country-​feel type of place, that had many different menu options… and yes, we were definitely the youngest people around, and it seemed like everyone was the local grammaw and papaw, but so what? food was great, service was nice. definitely check it out!
oh! AND they deliver!

I had a craving for corned beef on rye, so I headed up here to the pothole-​riddled stretch of Lincoln Ave. to the strip mall next to the Lincolnwood Theaters. I’ve been to What’s Cooking many times over the years and I remember the un-​renovated period.
Now you slip into that suburban mauve spaciousness with booths lining the walls, four-​tops in between, a small counter on the right, and that requisite glass case of cakes as big as German Shepherds and gigantic pastries. (Does anyone ever buy these? I would love to watch them eat those things.)
«What’s Cooking?» reminds me of the diners in New Jersey, and specifically one which was in walking distance of my Hoboken abode. Very friendly. Lots of older folks, regulars who get hugs from the waitresses named Dottie and Flo, gals of a «certain age» with short-​cropped red hair, narrow hips, and a smoker’s cough. Dottie said to me as she delivered my sandwich: «You’re on your own.» I wasn’t sure what to make of that! (I don’t recall ever having been fed by the servers here.)
During dinner, I eavesdropped on two taxi guy/​owners who discussed the difference between Jewish rye and Gentile rye, and how you can take all those old Ford Galaxie parts and use them on your Mercury Marquis’s, ’cause they’re basically the same cars. A blue-​haired little person walked by me twice. I saw other couples who were just people who happened to be little, but not official «little people.» There were two young gals with the skinniest legs I’ve ever seen in black tights and big flannel shirts, and a big dude in coveralls at the counter who looked as he just got off his tractor (though I didn’t see one in the parking lot.)
Then there was very nice guy «Bob», who strolls back and forth in his burgundy «What’s Cooking?» polo shirt and the oversized «diaper khaki’s», chatting up the customers and making sure water glasses are full. He and I talked about politics and socialism, and how the out-​of-​power Republicans are acting.
Well, I didn’t mean to make this about fashion, a subject foreign to me, but dining alone brings out the observer in me. The food, suffice to say, is always good and plentiful. The chicken soup will take away your flu and your blues. I learned this time they have good curly fries. Breakast, lunch or dinner, this is just an inviting, friendly and well-​staffed diner. Prices are what you would expect, too.

What’s Cooking claims to have an award winning Reuben. While I saw no certificates, ribbons, or trophys, I would definitely guess that they are in the running. Tasty, open faced, melted cheese, and potato pancakes to go with. What more could an exhausted carb hoor want?
Oh, a sandwich big enough for two people? You got it!
In addition to having a great Reuben, What’s cooking is also pretty darn good for your ego. Have breakfast, lunch or dinner here, and you will realize that you have plenty of years left on the life-​o-​meter. Not saying that they cater to an older clientele, or a more distinguished one, just implying one look around and your crows feet will no longer seem so large!

I owe a speedy recovery from a nasty cold to this place!
Served up with a bunch of bread and lots and lots of TLC, the mish mosh soup is the way to go. I wish I had a Jewish grandmother to whip up some of this for me, but I don’t, so this is a perfect substitute. What better way to nourish a sick soul than to rev it up a bit with golden broth and fantastic bits of everything else! Matzo balls… mmmmm.
I tried carryout this time and it was fast, friendly, and easy, even for an impatient sickie. On this visit I learned that they deliver, so the next time I’m in need, I’ll let my fingers do the walking instead of my feet.

Tastes are great to those aged 65+. Spice less and «lite» food.
I wish they never allowed for the renovation. The old place found in the same location, the old building was beautiful and retained that dining room glamour of old, lots of wood and brass. Now it’s just another white walled diner in a strip mall.

I’ve eaten here since it’s close to where I work. Not very ornate on the front, it looks like any old strip mall restaurant from the parking lot view. Stick around outside at lunchtime and you will see the elderly locals in a procession stomping a path to this place with their walkers, canes, wheelchairs. People say it’s a good place when you see lots of elderly diners, and I’ll agree with that too. The place is bigger than it seems once you go inside and walk past the checkout counter near the front.
On the front entrance there’s a very large menu spanning across a couple of windows for you to see what’s there to eat. The service is always fast, whenever I’ve come here with the higher-​ups occasionally buying lunch for me. It can get crowded in the lobby at noon though. Each table gets a nice basket of bread rolls to start out. The vast offering of sandwiches, steak, fish and «Jewish grandma» specialty menu items are unbelievable. They have something for everyone.
You can’t go wrong with their matzo ball soup, which is something I always order here, despite their daily soup specials. But they got a good thing going and I’m a creature of habit. A good reason to stick with their soup is because their salad is nothing special, just your usual iceberg lettuce and a few slices of tomato, cuke and onion.
For a main course, their burgers are good, but why settle for a burger when you can have their steak, chicken, fish or a pot roast instead? The variety is tremendous! And if you like an occasional wine, they got a good one: Copperidge white zinfandel. That’s got to be one of my favorites anywhere though I can’t really explain the flavor since I’m just an unskilled wine common-​sewer.