Guide: A food critic’s perfect day in ‘the beautiful Austin neighborhood on the mighty West Side of Chicago’

Veah Larde was destined for the role she took over this year.

“I tell people all the time, I’m from this dirt. I’m an Austin girl, born and raised,” Larde said. The chef and resident of the West Side Chicago neighborhood put her busy catering business on hold to take over as manager of Austin Town Hall Market for the season.

“I’ve seen the different transitions that the neighborhood has gone through,” she said.

She remembers a street full of grocery stores where now there are nearly none.

“At one point, we had a Buddy Bear food store and a Jewel’s, right there on Chicago Avenue,” Larde said. “They’ve been closed for maybe about 30 years.”

But she’s happy to see the start of a rebirth.

“And I’m just grateful for it,” said the chef.

But she’s not just grateful. She put her Austin-based business, Two Sisters Catering, on hiatus despite a prominent neighborhood resident and customer: Mayor Brandon Johnson.

“He was there for the ribbon cutting,” Larde said about her 2021 grand opening.

Two years later, during his inaugural address in May, Johnson called their home turf “the beautiful Austin neighborhood on the mighty West Side of Chicago.” Yet he added, “And the very fact that the mayor of Chicago lives in one of the most disinvested and violent communities in the city, it shows us what’s possible. So let’s not be discouraged by what it is, let’s make sure that we never stop imagining of what it could be.”

The chef is doing more than imagine. There was no way she could do full-scale catering and manage the market with all its twists and turns, she said, but it’s worth it.

“The Austin Town Hall City Market is a much-needed entity in our community,” Larde said. “We are basically, for lack of a better phrase, a food desert on all levels. So having this market is a blessing for those who don’t have access to vehicles, who don’t drive themselves, or whatever the case may be.”

It’s a small start for neighborhood residents, who largely go to the adjacent suburbs just for groceries. But the market is more than just the food.

“I call it a unique experience,” said the chef.

Cruelty Free You + Me, a nonprofit organization, hosts activities for kids while adults shop.

New You Wellness Massage owner and massage therapist Natasha White offers massages, complete with tips to those who may be a little anxious because they’ve never had one before, especially in a park.

They also have DJs who’ve been able to perform what seem like music-inspired miracles.

“We’ve been able to get our seniors out of their wheelchairs and dance,” Larde said.

Food vendors feature the flagship tent at Forty Acres Fresh Market. Founder Liz Abunaw has been working to bring a grocery store to the neighborhood for years in her fight for food justice. If you’re wondering what’s taking so long, you can follow the complicated process on the market’s blog, which just put out a call for construction workers for an event on Thursday.

To get a sense of what Austin is really like, where does Varde suggest we go?

“Community gardens,” she said without hesitation. “I love what BUILD has done.” Broader Urban Involvement & Leadership Development is a West Side-based organization focused on gang intervention, violence prevention and youth development. It was founded in 1969, and its new home opened in February. The expansive block-size campus includes an acre of gardens with fruit trees, a three-season outdoor education center and free-range chickens.

“I love going over and seeing the chickens,” said the chef, laughing. “Because they are hilarious to me.”

So go see the chickens and goats while you can, and meet the people behind this food-focused guide to a perfect day in Austin, a beautiful neighborhood on, as they call it, the mighty West Side of Chicago.

Breakfast at Momentum Coffee

Start with breakfast at Momentum Coffee. You might know the coffee company founded on the South Side from its most prominent location in Millennium Park, appropriately by the Bean. Wife-and-husband co-owners Nikki Bravo and Tracy Powell just celebrated the grand opening of their newest outpost at the stunning BUILD space Aug. 24. You’ll find the coffee counter inside the new youth and community hub.

Get a signature seasonal latte with fragrant honey lavender or caramel apple butter, made with beans roasted by local coffee legend Greg Stivers. Pair it with the fan favorite chicken sausage, egg and cheese sandwich on a buttery croissant. Do note the cafe is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. There are tables inside, but when weather permits, go out back to the flourishing urban farm where there’s bench seating by the hoop houses, and the free-range chickens too.

BUILD, 5100 W. Harrison St., 866-212-8461, momentumcoffee.org

Also recommended: Urban Essentials Coffee Cafe, open every day except Sunday.

Detour at Columbus Park

Go north on Laramie Avenue to Jackson Boulevard, then turn left to Columbus Park. You could stop by the field house first, but you will probably be drawn to the idyllic refectory building, nestled next to the golf course. Carefully walk around the waterfalls and lagoon in the park that’s designated a National Historic Landmark. Renowned landscape architect Jens Jensen designed Columbus Park, and it’s still considered his masterpiece, despite the destruction of the southern edge by the construction of the Eisenhower Expressway in 1952. You might recognize Jensen’s naturalistic Prairie School work from Humboldt, Garfield and Douglass parks.

5701 W. Jackson Blvd., 773-287-7641, chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/columbus-christopher-park

Lunch at Schweet Cheesecake

Go back east on Jackson Boulevard to Central Avenue, turn left to Chicago Avenue, then turn right to Schweet Cheesecake. You might be tempted to just have cheesecake for lunch, understandably. After all, wife and husband co-owners Chamille and Brian Weddington began their business exclusively with desserts at a tiny takeout storefront down the street.

But their current home has space and seating, plus a must-order meal deal with a savory stew (recent options include hearty turkey chili and chicken gumbo), a side of warm cornbread, a drink and your choice of a personal-size cheesecake. Get the signature strawberry Viola, named for and inspired by Chamille’s grandmother, or The Avenue, with buttered graham cracker crumbs and caramel, most popular among neighbors. You can sit at tables inside, or go across the street to the colorful POPCourts! community plaza with picnic tables. Schweet is closed Sundays and Mondays.

5248 W. Chicago Ave., 312-620-9469, schweetfoods.com

Also recommended: Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken for takeout-only lunch daily.

Detour at Midway Park

Go back west on Chicago Avenue to Central Avenue, turn left to Lake Street, then turn right to Waller Avenue. If you’re driving, park by the fire station, but note the many parking restrictions and private property signs in the area. Next to the station, Harambee Community Garden has been host to not only verdant flora, but fauna as well — it was home to neighborhood-famous goats owned by GlennArt Farm, but the dairy is closing this week. Check back in January for more information on the return of goat yoga and visits.

Across the street, you’ll find the fountain in front of a Prairie School-style church designed by architect William Eugene Drummond, who worked for Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. Walk west on Midway Park, the village-esque street best known for four ornate, shingled Queen Anne-style houses by architect Frederick Schock, including his own regal residence at 5804 W. Midway Park. The quartet was designated as Chicago Landmarks, but remain private homes.

West Midway Park and North Waller Avenue, glennartfarm.com

Afternoon snack at Austin Town Hall City Market

At the fire station, go back to Waller Avenue and head south, then turn left on Lake Street to the Austin Town Hall, right around the corner. On Thursdays from 1 to 6 p.m., you’ll be welcomed with the weekly open-air city market, which runs from May to October (but until Nov. 2 this year).

Stop by the market tent to check on the day’s events with manager and chef Leah Varde. Get whatever’s in season at Forty Acres Fresh Market (recently sugar baby watermelons from Michigan) for a taste of the future grocery store. Prepared food vendors include B’s Kitchen with Jamaican patties, flaky pastry filled with traditional spicy beef, curry chicken or vegetables. Revolt Smoothies makes vegan kale based blends including Thrilla In Vanilla with almond milk, bananas and vanilla protein powder. Zeitlin Delicatessen, the Jewish-inspired pop-up deli, just joined, bringing their bagels and breads to the tiny but mighty market.

5610 W. Lake St., austintownhallcitymarket.com

Also recommended: Bitoy’s Sweet Treats for an extra snack (currently closed during street construction).

Detour at Austin Town Hall Park and Cultural Center

Take time to visit the tower overlooking the market, inside and out. Built in 1870, one year before the Great Chicago Fire, the tall brick building was once the town hall of Cicero. Architects Christian S. Michaelsen and Sigurd A. Rognstad, who also designed the gold-domed field house in Garfield Park and the fanciful building that’s now Pui Tak Center in Chinatown, took inspiration from Independence Hall in Philadelphia. You’ll see historical displays showing some of the dramatic story behind the annexation of Austin in 1899.

5610 W. Lake St., 773-287-7658, chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/Austin-Town-Hall-Park

Dinner at MacArthur’s

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You can’t come to Austin without a visit to MacArthur’s, the Southern-style restaurant founded by Mac Alexander in 1997. Even an unknown community organizer from the South Side named Barack Obama knew it back in the day, as does neighborhood resident Brandon Johnson, Chicago’s first mayor from the West Side in nearly a century.

Get into the cafeteria line for one of the daily specials, possibly the fried chicken that’s so popular it’s constantly replenished. Your meal includes two sides, which should be greens plus macaroni and cheese, plus for dessert the peach cobbler, which will burn your mouth, because you just can’t wait for a bite. You can sit in booths inside, or the lovely little patio, one of the few found in Austin. Do note that it’s going to be an early dinner, since the restaurant closes nightly at 8 p.m.

5412 W. Madison St., 773-261-2316, macarthursrestaurant.com

lchu@chicagotribune.com

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