The unrelenting bustle at Taxim

1558 North Milwaukee Avenue; 773-252-1558

REGIONAL GREEK [$$]

“Been anywhere good lately?” people keep asking me. Taxim, I say. “What kind of food is it?” Regional Greek. (Silence.) It’s got influences from the islands … and, uh, the mountains … just go, you’ll like it. Such is the dilemma of describing a menu that dances between pre-Ottoman traditions and modern street food. How to classify pastourma- spice-rubbed duck leg and breast gyros with mint yogurt sauce, paper-thin Pontian satz bread, pomegranate reduction, and cucumber salad? All kinds of alien treasures—house-cured sardines, octopus with fennel root, goat-stuffed quince—line David Schneider’s affordable menu, and Wicker Park has embraced them all. The room couldn’t be louder if patrons pulled down the copper platters hanging from the ceiling and used them as cymbals, but then again, Greece’s history has rarely been quiet.

TIP: Don’t overlook veggie dishes, such as the Politiki melitzanosalata of wood-fire-roasted graffiti eggplants with pine nuts and homemade pita.

PLUS: Read the review »

PRICE KEY: ¢ $10 to $19  $ $20 to $29   $$ $30 to $39  $$$ $40 to $49   $$$$ $50-plus
[Cost per person for dinner, excluding wine, tax, or tip]

Photograph: Bob Coscarelli