Lucy's - American comfort food - Humboldt Park/Uptown

Lucy's will be opening a location in Uptown in Spring 2020. Has anyone been to the location in Humboldt Park?

Humboldt Park:
1043 N California
Chicago, IL 60622
312.675.8385

Uptown (Opening in Spring 2020):
4570 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60640

https://lucyschicago.com/

Today was the soft opening of the Uptown location.
I knew from hearing David Bowie’s “Heroes” when I walked in that this was going to be a good experience. My order of fried chicken thighs, while not explicitly Nashville hot, had nice spice level to them and came out nice and juicy, despite being boneless. The cheese fries reminded me of the great mall food court cheese fries which could only be eaten with a fork due to being smothered in cheese sauce. I’m looking forward to my next visit in order to try one of the milk shakes.

I have been to the Humboldt Park location once. It's a little bit of a trek from the train so kind of awkward, but I have long been a connoisseur of the fried chicken sandwich so I had to try it.

The sandwich is very good, but I am not enjoying the trend of absolutely gigantic fried chicken sandwiches. I believe the ratios of ingredients are not aligned right. We particularly enjoyed the loaded pulled pork fries.

I haven't tried the burger, though I read good things. The new location is easier to get to (just sit on the red line) so I see a repeat visit in the future.

Uptown hours for now...

Made a stop at the Humboldt Park location yesterday (actually made it a picnic).


I always try to seek out items that are somewhat unique to the area and a Jucy Lucy fits the bill.


As was mentioned this version can tend towards cheesy but I think it’s okay here rather than the alternative. It was only one or two bites that were a mouthful of cheese.

If you think about it there is no cheese at the crimped edge so careful biting can even this out, a bit of edge and center in each bite.

The beef had a great flavor although a bit lean and dense. Lightly seasoned with a good crust.

Chicken - After reading that the sandwich is actually the chicken pieces (tenders) on a bun I decided to forgo the bun and just get the pieces dinner. A very good value!


Accompanied by some slaw, cornbread (with honey butter). A little surprised that a dipping sauce was not included and had to pay an additional $0.95.

Tender and big chunks! Wow! More than tenders although there were a few smaller pieces that allowed me to steal a taste from My Bride.

Thick breading had an extreme crunch almost distracting from the chicken. A reddish color, nice seasoning with a hint of heat. The breading was so that it might make eating in a bun a challenge.


While I’m not a big fan of paying for a drink (often just water) I had to try the shake. Just about perfect! Thick, creamy with a great hit of a nice chocolate. Asked if I wanted whipped cream? Who would reject that? Just put it on.

A tad small.


A nice space. Nicely busy and doing a big carryout/delivery business with a dozen bags lined up on the counter.

A little outdoor seating area (closed for the season) on the sidewalk.

Limited menu but they are doing everything well.

I ordered delivery from the Humboldt location a couple of weeks ago and the experience was more favorable than not. Juicy Lucy survived the trip well and had nice beefy flavor. Ditto for the Classic Burger (just had a bite of one of these). Hand-cut Golden Fries were also surprisingly tasty for delivery but I don't think there was a single fry in the order that was longer than 1.5". It was more like Golden Fry Bits.

Where it seriously fell down for me was with the Fried Chicken Pieces. Billed online as "spicy crispy fried chicken thighs," they were actually boneless, skinless pieces of breast. And at $9.90 for 2 pieces, even if they had been bone-in thighs, they're priced prohibitively. Flavor-wise, I thought the crust was ok. But had I known they were white meat, I wouldn't have even ordered them. The meat was dry and stringy.

I'm set to try it again but next time it'll be in person. I think (hope) that something was lost in translation with the third-party delivery conduit, as it so often is.

=R=