Restaurant Review – Southport Grocery

This week took me back to a favorite: Southport Grocery. This cafe and grocery store is so charming (and so tasty!), it definitely warrants a revisit. The atmosphere is warm and cozy, with a small number of oak tables, booths, and high tops. Running the center of the restaurant are wire shelves packed with delicious grocery goodies. They offer a wide variety of artisan foods, focused on local suppliers. There are house-made preserves, rotating wines, pasta sauces, bitters, soup mixes, spices, chocolate sauce, spreads, drink mixes, beans, hot sauces, and more. Behind these well stocked shelves is a pastry case, filled with scones, cookies, cupcakes, brownies, muffins, hand pies, and more. We came in for a late lunch- around 1:30 on a Tuesday afternoon. We had just missed the lunch rush, so we were seated right away. For such a small place, the menu is sizable! They offer both breakfast and lunch all day, as well as their delicious baked goods. I wanted to try something new and was overwhelmed by the options. I finally decided on The Hash: roasted local potatoes, red onion, mushroom, peppers, and red barn heritage white cheddar cheese; all topped with two organic cage-free eggs and scallion sour cream. I was trying to keep things a little lighter, so I ordered without the cheese or sour cream. This was fantastic! The potatoes were cut shoe-string style, so they came out crispy on the outside and perfectly squishy on the inside. The veggies were plentiful and were sautéed to perfection. I ordered my eggs over-easy, which was perfect for mushing around into the hash. My friend was in the mood for lunch and chose the Grilled Cheese: pickled green tomatoes, local apple, taleggio, white cheddar, and arugula; served on grilled tuscan bread with house made pickles on the side. She was generous enough to let me have a bite and it was marvelous! The pickled green tomatoes were so unique and flavorful. I also loved the combination of the apple and the white cheddar- perfectly savory and sweet. Southport Grocery has been a favorite of mine for a while and this visit confirmed it! I will absolutely be back. 

Southport Grocery is open Mondays through Fridays from 7 am to 3 pm; Saturdays and Sundays from 8 am to 4 pm. The kitchen closes 30 minutes prior to closing. Find more information on their website.

RACHEL HOOVLER & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO