Chicago: Leona's

I always pass by Leona's on my way to Hyde Park Produce and while I've been intrigued by the local non-student clientele, I never felt inclined to step inside.  I don't know what changed my mind, but I found myself seated at a booth with CK for a late, late lunch one day.

I'm not kidding about how late the lunch was.  Let's just say I had a class at 4:00pm and I managed to make it there with only a few minutes to spare.  Strangely enough, there were still other occupied tables when we walked in:

Luckily, we weren't too late to take advantage of Leona's weekday lunch specials.  For $7.95, you get to pick from a variety of pasta dishes, soup and salad combos, and sandwiches.  I was seriously considering the lasagna when I discovered that I could order a sandwich and get a lasagna AS A SIDE.  Oh, baby!  Screw salad!  Forget fries!  Lasagna all the way!

Here are my catfish sliders watching fondly over my little lasagna side:

I wasn't expecting much, but I ended up being very pleasantly surprised.  The sliders were delicious with their tiny pretzel buns and freshly fried catfish filet.  The lasagna certainly didn't disappoint either.

There was surprisingly a lot of food for the price.  And they throw in dessert too.  The LenaCake is a cute mini cupcake made of moist brownie and topped with cheesecake.  Can't go wrong with that combo.

Super great deal in Hyde Park.  I would definitely go with Leona's over a lot of the other available options in the neighborhood.


Leona's
1236 E 53rd St
Chicago, IL 60615
(773) 363-2600
http://leonas.com/