Albany Park, North Park

North Park, Albany Park continued...

Also across Foster is Tre Kronor, a Swedish diner that feels as if it's been Tre Kronor since long before 1992 but hasn't.

Despite the mural of rural Sweden on its largest wall, the restaurant -- at least at lunch -- doesn't smother its customers with Swedishness. Featured are Danish pastries, Norwegian meatball sandwiches, Belgian waffles and that Stockholm favorite , quiche -- along with the obligatory Swedish pancakes, two varieties of Swedish sausage (potato sausage, grilled here, being a favorite) and, of course, herring.

"We like to branch out," explains a Swedish-looking waitress. "But we use a lot of dill, and dill is very Swedish."

Those needing a total Swedish fix come for dinner, where lingonberries brighten up the meatballs (Swedish, this time) and the duck breast, and the baked chicken's dill counters the blasphemy of the Norwegian Jarlsberg . . .

What makes all this -- the university, the shop, the restaurant -- so unique isn't as much the Sweden link (there's some of that Andersonville, just two miles east) but that there's no other pocket in the city that feels quite like this.

Despite the inevitable addition of modern facilities on its fringes, the core campus at North Park University has maintained the feel of, say, small-college Iowa. The school proudly banners its refusal to set itself apart from the city that surrounds it; "intentionally urban" is a slogan. But to stroll among its buildings in this park-like setting is, nonetheless, to be transported to quieter, less urban existence.

The civility of Tre Kronor (there is no bar; nor is there a corkage fee if you bring you own) and the gentleness of the Sweden Shop complement that feeling.

Of course, if you need something lively to cut the taste of that herring and dill, Beijo de Chocolat, a block west, offers Brazilian-style sweets found nowhere else in town.

Other neighborhood possibilities: Peterson Park, a woods-trimmed expanse along Peterson Avenue and Pulaski Road; and Bohemian National Cemetery, resting place of Anton Cermak, the Chicago mayor assassinated during an attempt on Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. Also buried here: the man who rented a certain house to Mrs. O'Leary, whose backyard cow may nor may not have kicked off the 1871 Great Chicago Fire. (Both Katie O'Leary and the cow were later cleared, but the legend, like so many legends, endures.)

In Albany Park, that street is Lawrence Avenue.

The neighborhood boosters call the community "Gateway to the World." It may very well be, as has been written, the city's most ethnically diverse neighborhood.

Predominantly Jewish into the 1950s, today's Albany Park mixes East Asians (mainly Koreans, though fewer than were here just a few years ago), Hispanics (from all over), Middle Eastern immigrants (again, from all over) and a smattering of others into a beautiful mosaic, much of it on display along this remarkable avenue.

Here's Albany Park:

In the space of about two blocks of Lawrence Avenue straddling Pulaski, there's the Lalich Deli (Serbian; packaged foods from the old country and sausages made on the premises); Ssyal [CQ] Ginseng House (Korean; specialty is a ginseng chicken soup that may or may not cure impotence, stress, cancer, liver disease and hangovers. "True!" insists a server, who then laughs heartily.); Marie's Pizza & Lounge (Italian; strolling musicians on weekend evenings); Ali Baba Cafe (Middle Eastern; a hookah bar with food, but mainly a hookah bar); Babil Kabob House (Middle Eastern; kabobs without the hookahs); and Taqueria Morelia (Mexican; Morelia is in Michoacan state, original home of many Albany Park residents).

Keep going toward the lake (which, in Chicago, is always east). Two blocks east of Pulaski, there's Chiyo (Japanese; shabu shabu done right -- and expensively); and Big Pho (Vietnamese; soup with fresh add-ons). Keep going: more Mexican, more Middle Eastern. Take a right on Kedzie: Noon O Kebab (Persian; not just kebabs); and Semiramis (Lebanese; and not just kebabs here, either).

Swedish, Serbian, Lebanese, Mexican, Japanese, Vietnamese, Italian, Persian -- Chicagoans all.

In sum: North Park gets the Swedish restaurant. Albany Park gets the smorgasbord. And in both, your table's waiting.

For more information about North Park/Albany Park, please contact:

• Albany Park Chamber of Commerce, 773.478.0202
• North Mayfair Improvement Association, 773.205.0692
• North River Commission, 773.478.0202