Restaurants in Franklin Park

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.

Butch Maguire’s namesake founder entrusted his son Bobby with upholding the 50-year-old tavern’s reputation for pairing its menu of classic pub grub and craft beers with the convivial milieu of an Irish saloon. Dangling lamps glint off burnished wood furnishings and vintage glasswork, as radiant wall sconces spill their glow over plates laden with Guinness-braised bratwurst and custom-cut Reubens. Suds from Smithwick's and Harp nod to Butch’s Irish roots alongside pitch-black pints of Guinness ideal for pairing with the tavern’s late-night menu or fount of leprechaun tears.

For more than 30 years, King Crab Tavern and Seafood Grill has served fresh crustaceans and cooked-to-order fish in a lively, nautically themed bar that was recently featured on Check Please!. Chefs well-versed in the finer points of crab cuisine heap plates with the menu's juicy Alaskan king–, dungeness-, and snow-crab legs alongside wedges of lemon and dipping sauces, and fishier catches can be broiled, grilled, blackened, fried, or banished from the bar at the diner's whim. Bartenders pour foam-crested brews and flaunt their mixological craft on aperitifs against the backdrop of the full bar's sports-tuned televisions. The barrage of flat-screens makes it easy to keep up on NBA, NHL, and NFL games without flagging down every passerby holding a smart phone.