Restaurants in Forest Park

Touted as Chicago's most romantic restaurant by WGN's Chicago's Best, Jane's Restaurant lives up to the title with its two intimate dining rooms. Chef Tony Recillas's seasonally rotating comfort-food entrees take cues from international cuisines with touches of Thai spices in linguine, rich risottos, or tartares spiced with wasabi. A full-service bar plies patrons with libations by the glass, bottle, or baby pool, and both the lunch and brunch menus brim with lighter fare ranging from crêpes and breakfast burritos to gourmet sandwiches and salads.

A steeped ceiling with exposed rafters hangs over one of Jane's intimate dining rooms, where low lighting illuminates artwork and chalk blueprints of the owner's living-room fort on the brick walls. The second room embodies a European café with pearl-colored walls, wrought-iron seating, and an aggressive berets-only policy. Sunlight bathes both dining areas thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows.

The brunch and dinner bites at Joey's Brickhouse are crafted with care to provide comfort, companionship, and the metabolic energy required to consolidate your credit for up to 48 hours, assuming a healthy digestive system. Classic brunch omelettes and skillets are complemented with creative Jewish staples, such as fried matzoh ($7) and home-smoked lox, eggs, and onion on a toasted bagel with cream cheese ($8). For some lighter brunch-time fare, enjoy an ahi-tuna and avocado salad ($10) or a Southern-fried chicken sandwich ($8). Dinner appetites ignite with the savory flavors of sloppy-joey cheesy fries and six-cheese artichoke dip with bagel chips, preparing palates for decadent Italian-infused entrees. Joey's Brickhouse has mastered the simple succulence of spaghetti and meatballs, deftly adding sausage and parmesan to the mouthwatering mix, whereas the layered flavors of braised lamb shank over noodles and white-wine-stewed tomatoes will tickle your every taste bud in a way that makes Willie Wonka's three-course-meal gum blush. The restaurant also offers homemade pizza pies, made your way ($12–$15).

Tigist Reda and Girmai Lemma have always loved to entertain. So when they set out to bring a piece of their homeland, Ethiopia, to Chicago, they naturally decided on opening a restaurant. With the restaurant's menu and atmosphere, the two have recreated their home—Centerstage Chicago marveled that upon entering the eatery, you “immediately feel as though you've been whisked off to another continent”.

As chef, Tigist handcrafts sauces and seasonings to authentically flavor entrees such as doro wot—a pair of chicken drumsticks marinated in lemon and berbere. Diners can enjoy their meals in the traditional Ethiopian fashion by ordering from the messob menu. Designed to foster communal dining, messob-style meals include many small portions of dishes from the restaurant's list of 29 options. These samplings are served on layers of injera bread, which diners use instead of utensils to scoop up bites of spiced meat and vegetables. After dinner, patrons can order cups of coffee roasted from the restaurant's own Ethiopian beans.

Half restaurant, half cultural museum, and half diplomatic mission, Macondo came here to win hearts and minds by way of stomachs. With steaming cups of fair-trade Colombian coffee and full plates of gluten-free empanadas ($2.50 for two) in varieties such as camaron (shrimp with goat cheese and spinach), queso chipotle, and arequipe con banana (dulce de leche with bananas), Chicago and Colombia's long-running border dispute might finally end. Macondo also features other traditional Colombian favorites, including Bogota's own ajiaco, chicken soup with red, yellow, and criolla potatoes seasoned in Andean herbs ($3.99) and aborrajado, sweet plantain filled with guava and melted cheese ($4.49).

Aladdin's Eatery satisfies stomachs seeking healthy and homemade Lebanese-American fare with its menu of mouth-watering Middle-Eastern favorites. Embark on eating with all-natural lentil soup ($3.55), a protein-packed concoction with Swiss chard, celery, and potatoes, or tame taste buds with the hummos appetizer ($6.15), served with pita bread. Sink digestive daggers into a lightly-toasted rolled pita, such as the heat-tinged ground lean beef of the spicy kafta rolled pita ($6.95) or the mildly-spiced Aladdin's Falafel rolled pita ($5.85), ornamented with greens, tomatoes, turnips, pickles, and tahini yogurt dressing. Other dishes include the kibbie plate ($12.25), offering four ground-beef-stuffed shells, and the herbivore-happiness bringer mujadara plate ($10), boasting steamed lentils and rice topped with a variety of vegetables.

Inside Maza Restaurant, glass urns filled with grains of rice and a variety of herbs remind diners of the diverse array of ingredients used to construct traditional Lebanese dishes, which "make for satisfying dining," according to Chicago magazine. Entrees include kebabs of charbroiled meats—such as lamb, chicken, and beef—and fresh seafood, including red snapper and trout. Chefs also create an ample assortment of vegetarian dishes and sweet desserts. In addition, Maza Restaurant helps hosts feed guests during parties, small get-togethers, and late-night talk shows with their catering services.