Greetings!

In a city known for its fabulous food, eating out can drain your wallet before you can say “Check Please!”. AlphabetSoupChicago is a blog dedicated to helping two under 30′s eat well for under $30. Each week, I’ll add a new restaurants to AlphabetSoupChicago, complete with a review based on a star sytem.

***** What are you waiting for? Grab your CTA card before they raise fares January 1st and get in there!

**** Pretty darn respectable, just a few minor and insignificant unpleasantries (perhaps an overly friendly waiter or table near the kitchen door).

*** Meh, forgettable. Not bad, not great. Is it even worth blogging about?

** Don’t waste your time, the positive aspects were few and far between.

* You might as well drink Liquid Plumber because your stomach would feel better afterwards than eating here.

My rules for my restaurant reviews include: Alcohol is NOT figured into the final bill (although if its a BYOB restaurant with a corking fee that WILL be included in my final tab). For the most part, I am not a dessert eater so for all you sweet tooths out there, sorry. But appetizers are almost always included!

That’s about it! Hope you enjoy, and please send me feed back.

Renaldi’s Pizza, 2827 N Broadway St

TOTAL COST FOR TWO: $24.89

WHAT WE ORDERED: Italian Salad, Medium Mother Meatball Pizza

STARS: *****

Renaldi’s. Maybe we love it so much because it was our first meal in Chicago after a horrific day of unpacking. Or maybe it’s the flavors that make each bite of pizza taste better than the next. Or maybe its the authentic checkered table-cloths, the mobster posters on the walls, or the photos of Italy on the walls. Maybe its because the owner reminds me so much of my Italian grandfather. But I think what really makes the pizza so addictive, something that can pop into your thoughts at any time (mostly when exercising, I’ve found)…is the grease. Renaldi’s pizza is unbelievably good, but something to be saved for special occasions. Trust me, your body will thank you. When you do decide you’re ready to indulge, however, order the Mother Meatball, deep-dish pizza and an Italian salad. We’ve tried a few other things there, but the Meatball pizza is out of this world. It’s worth the wait (the deep dish takes about 45 min) and worth the calories. Go there now.

La Finca Restaurant, 3361 N Elston Ave

TOTAL COST FOR TWO: $28.02

WHAT WE ORDERED: Guacamole, Chicken Burrito and Chicken Soup

STARS: ***

It was a cold night. The coldest it had been yet this fall. We were having some trouble navigating the Avondale bus routes, so we decided to walk from Belmont + Elston four blocks or so up to Roscoe + Elston to La Finca, a mexican restaurant my husband found on metromix.com…and received 4.7 of 5 stars! So we came in with high expectations. The restaurant was a small but open room, not very crowded, but exceedingly spotless. There were only two wait staff, seemed like mother-son team. The chips and salsa were FREE – not something you find much anymore – and the salsa was delightfully spicy. The guacamole was good too, perhaps a touch too much sour cream. My husband ordered the chicken burrito which he liked, but said was a lot like other chicken burritos he’s had. “It’s not Chipotle”, he said. “The meat was much better, but not as many vegetables”. My chicken soup was very flavorful, filled with large chunks of carrots, half a chicken, rice, onion, and cilantro. It was not too greasy, and perfect for such a cold evening. La Finca was good, we might go again. But it wasn’t quite the homerun metromix.com said it would be.