The 4000 ClubChicago · est. together

Field reportChicago Ave

Walk West Town.

West Town has spent the last year quietly becoming Chicago's most interesting eating-and-drinking corridor, but the part that matters for a walk is what's happening to the storefronts in between — old galleries becoming bakeries, tea houses becoming coffee lounges, the daylight hours filling in.

Recently lost

A small moment for what just left us.

  • Aya Pastry (Grand Avenue)Aya Fukai's acclaimed bakery closed in August 2025 after years of ownership turmoil. Past tense, but worth knowing what was on Grand.
  • Twisted Spoke (Ogden)the 24-hour biker-bar diner finally closed in 2025 and reopened as Soccer House. Lease, time, and health, per the owners.

Some of our favorites

The ones we'd end a walk at.

  • Bari Italian SubsGrand Avenue, opened 1973 by the Pedotas from a town outside Bari. Still family-run. Still the sub.
  • D'Amato's Bakeryright next door to Bari on Grand. Bread that has been feeding this stretch of West Town for decades.
  • Forbidden RootChicago Avenue, the city's first botanical brewery — flowers and bark and herbs in the beer, on purpose, and well.
  • Publican Quality Breadsister to Publican Quality Meats; the loaves you've eaten at half your favorite Chicago restaurants without knowing it.

The ones we don't have to tell you about

…but we will, briefly.

  • Margie's Candiesyes, technically Bucktown-edge, but its 1921 marble fountain is the one we mean. We know.
  • St. Mary of the Angelsyes, the great copper dome you can see from Bloomingdale. We know.

Want a walk here?

Ask us to round one up in West Town.

Walks happen when neighbors ask. Tell us a corner, a day, a place you want to end at. We’ll put it on the map.

Round up a walk in West TownWhy 4,000 steps?