Restaurants in Franklin Park

Adriatic Café Restaurant's chefs pluck culinary influences from the coasts of the Adriatic Sea to conjure openers such as heaping portions of hummus and platters of smoked meats and cheeses. Entrees pair lamb shanks or house-made sausages with sides of sauerkraut or mashed potatoes. On cloud-free days, an outdoor patio plays host to clinking glasses and ecstatic chomping, and the koi pond offers the opportunity for a pre-dinner bath, surrounded by vines and abundant greenery. Inside, wood furnishings and exposed brick walls evoke an upscale ambiance, and a fully stocked bar calls to parched diners from the center of the space.

After passing through Resi's Bierstube's brick and exposed-timber entrance, visitors find themselves in a hybrid dive bar and Bavarian beer hall. Chefs pan-fry pork tenderloin and chicken breasts to lay the foundation for traditional schnitzel dishes, launching armadas of intriguing aromas. Frankfurter platters paired with German-style potato salad call minds away simultaneously to Munich and the ballpark, fusing transatlantic specialties with domestic comforts like an apartment in the bell of an alpenhorn. As raucous toasts and happy chatter ring out, 12 German brews on tap and bottled libations from Austria and Belgium slosh from cool steins.

The comfort-fare gurus of Halsted’s Bar and Grill, which is home to Lakeview’s largest outdoor beer garden, dish up delectable dinner and brunch fare spiked with home-style flair. Shiitake-mushroom gravy gushes like a proud grandmother over home-cooked mashed potatoes, which can accompany any number of fresh, homemade dishes such as meatloaf and baked-to-order mac 'n' cheese. Southwestern- and Italian-inspired scrambles rub elbows with syrup-smothered pancakes on the weekend brunch menu, where fresh-squeezed orange juice mingles with 12 different bloody marys, including concoctions crowned with jalapeños and laced with Red Bull. Toe-tapping tuneage from the area’s only music-video jukebox echoes across a full-service bar, which boxes in beer-slinging bartenders as they pour domestic, imported, and craft suds into frosty mugs, pitchers, or forsaken VCRs.

The country's signature sausages gather together at the quick-service frankfurter mecca, America's Dog. Fresh ingredients pile up on all-natural Vienna Beef dogs from such cities as Santa Fe, New Orleans, and Baltimore and whisk diners away to various metropolises more easily than hard-to-find magic carpets. Along with wienerwursts, the menu also hosts the breaded trappings of juicy Black Angus burgers and hearty spoonfuls of homemade soups.

On a sweeping patio, The Boundary's massive neon sign clicks on as the light from the sun fades, and scents drift from the eatery's grill, hinting at a menu of sizzling burgers. Like reckless use of a time machine, designing a burger from the multitude of toppings leads to an incalculable number of unpredictable outcomes and cheese-covered fingers. Beneath exposed-brick walls lined with framed posters and TVs broadcasting Blackhawks games, glasses slosh more than 100 different beers from brewers including Unibroue, Victory, and Great Lakes to fuel revelry and happy chatter.

Under the esteemed tutelage of owner-and-operator chef Waite, Jamaica Jerk crafts a menu of made-from-scratch Jamaican and Caribbean dishes which have garnered positive press from the Chicago Tribune and Time Out Chicago. A variety of seafood starters raid the pantries of orca whales for fresh morsels of crab, shrimp, and salt fish. Coconut and zesty jerk sauce drizzle over meaty entrees of chicken, oxtail, and curried goat, escorted by hearty sides such as fried plantains and candied yams. Patrons discuss steel-drum interpretations of Beethoven’s Fifth while sipping cappuccino and fruit drinks within the eatery’s faux tropical paradise, contained within large ocean murals, trellis-lined walls, and an indoor gazebo.