Photo by http://www.uncommonground.com/
Recently rated the “greenest eatery in the U.S.,” Uncommon Ground is a unique attribute to the Rogers Park neighborhood. Conveniently located on Devon Avenue, just two blocks west of Loyola University’s Lakeshore Campus, Uncommon Ground offers something for everyone. Owners Michael and Helen Cameron first opened a location in Chicago’s Wrigleyville, and their success motivated them to open another location in Edgewater. The restaurant has earned top ratings in many areas including:
- Energy
- Food
- Water
- Waste
- Disposables
- Building and pollution production
Chicago Magazine also recognized it as the “Best New Restaurant” in 2008, and Uncommon Ground has recently won awards like Mayor’s Landscape award.
The local hot spot is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner along with nightly bar service. Uncommon Ground serves American cuisine, but it highlights fresh, seasonal, regional and organic ingredients in its dishes. The restaurant actively supports sustainability and healthy eating. They started the first organic roof top farm in the United States, where they grow their fresh seasonal vegetables.
Photo by http://www.uncommonground.com/
Now, let’s take a look at their creative menu.
For breakfast, Uncommon Ground offers variety for every type of early morning customer. For the health conscious, they serve eggs, oatmeal and everything in between. Uncommon huevos are a unique feature on their menu. They’re over easy eggs on a black bean corncake with ancho-chili sauce and Chihuahua cheese. And for those who need a sugar boost in the morning, Uncommon Ground makes pancakes and French toast. They serve a dish called tres leche French toast, which is a cranapple- apricot compote doused in maple syrup and powdered sugar. Uncommon Ground has many morning beverage specials as well, like the cinnamon bun. This is an espresso drink mixed with cinnamon and a monin, steamed milk and six press pot coffees Peru balcones (a light roast) with hints of maple and apricot.
Lunch customers won’t be disappointed with their choices either. Uncommon Ground makes good use of their freshly grown vegetables in their sunshine salad: organic greens, seasonal vegetables, sunflower seeds and sprouts beneath apple cider vinaigrette. They also serve dill and zatziki, spinach and red onion falafel and their market vegetable sandwich, which arranges tomato, grilled squash and zucchini, roasted red pepper, turnips, arugula, green goddess dressing and onion marmalade on whole wheat bread.
For meat lovers, Uncommon Ground has dishes like a classic BLT or their dietzler farm burger, which is a burger with cheddar cheese, fried egg, tomato, red onion and cherry wood bacon.
Uncommon Ground sets another scene for dinner guests. They serve a variety of salads and appetizers along with a broad selection of entrees. Some interesting selections include grilled trout served with sweet potato hash, squash risotto, bacon wrapped meatloaf and the quinoa burger served with shiitake mushroom and squash ketchup toppings. Every Friday Uncommon Ground offers a special $16 fish and chips dinner.
If you can save enough room to order dessert, Uncommon Ground will be sure to give you a delectable treat of peach brown butter cake, s’mores tart and many more.
The eatery has more to offer than just delicious dining. They also have a live music show every night. Uncommon Ground is a popular venue for local Chicago bands, so shows do sell out. They post a calendar with band listings and cover charges on their website. Uncommon Ground also features a local artist every few months. From December to March they’re showing work by Mark Vandervinne.
Another attribute that makes Uncommon Ground one of a kind is its sustainability efforts. In addition to increasing sustainability by growing their produce on their roof, they also rely on solar panels for energy and use old fryer oil as fuel.
In the Know in RoPo 
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