Touring Wicker Park / Bucktown with Chicago Food Planet Food Tours part 1

September 2, 8:45 AMChicago Dining ExaminerEmily Szopa

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Click on the above image to check out the entire photo slideshow of the tour

It's a beautiful day, somewhat cool, but that's come to be expected this summer. I find parking easily enough on Cortland and round the corner to find that most of the tour group is already seated on the patio at George's Hot Dogs. I'm fifteen minutes early, as requested by the tour group informational e-packet, but judging by the toe tapping and watch-glancing by my fellow tour members, clearly I'm not the only one who skipped breakfast in anticipation of the tour's six stops.

I'm pointed in the direction of Shane Kost, VP of Operations at Chicago Food Planet Food Tours, by a friendly member of the tour group, and as I approach, shaking Kost's hand by way of introduction, I'm struck by a sense of calm. Perhaps it's just because I know I'm at my destination, but it seems to be more directly connected to the animated, yet totally disarming greeting as I get checked in.

During a brief chat preceding the tour, Kost stops several times to answer his phone, explaining that he's the sole contact in case anyone gets lost or separated from the group. Far from being offended, I can tell that he's clearly working hard to maintain the casual yet organized feel of the tour, not just for my sake as an accompanying journalist, but also for those who have flown in from around the country on weekend trips to Chicago. Most of the group members with whom I spoke found the tour through Trip Advisor, although several were actually locals, some of whom had already taken Kost's Near North food tour and enjoyed it so much that they wanted to check out other Chicago neighborhoods.

As Laura, a tour member from Round Lake put it, "When you think about Chicago, you think about Michigan Avenue, but we live so close and yet we never get to explore other neighborhoods."

Chicago Food Planet Food Tours conducts two tours: One in Wicker Park/Bucktown and one in the Near North neighborhood. Ours being the former, we would be touring six notable spots in the area --  three restaurants, a quick-service hot dog haven, a small grocer with prepared food and an innovative, if a bit trendy, ice cream shop.

The tours run Tuesday through Saturday from April through November, with anywhere up to four tours in each area per day. Tickets cost $42, which, for three hours of food and history, turns out to be one of the best deals around. To sign up for a tour, click here.

Our tour guide, Kent, is a Chicago transplant, having moved here from Akron, OH, but with his slim-fit T and matchingly fitted jeans rolled to reveal bright pink sneakers, he's practically a snapshot of Wicker Park itself, as he himself admits during the tour when we reach the intersection of North, Milwaukee and Damen (where the line between WP and Bucktown tends to blur). "When you ask someone in the area where they're from, yuppies will say 'Bucktown,' whereas the hipster crowd--my people--will say 'Wicker Park,'" Kent explains to the group.

He's friendly and completely approachable, with a wealth of information both historical and architectural that reaches far beyond the constraints of a plain ol' food tour. And I don't mean to belittle other food tours in the area, as there are many quality tours, but each offers its own twist (Fork and the Road does their tours by bicycle, covering a much larger area; Rebecca Wheeler's tours focus on ethic neighborhoods such as Devon Ave., Chinatown and Argyle St.), and Chicago Food Planet Food Tour's "twist" is that they offer up information about the history behind the areas as well as the establishments visited while pointing out architectural points of interest scattered about the neighborhood.

As a Ukrainian Village inhabitant (adjacent to WP/Bucktown), I was surprised at how much I learned over the course of three hours. Click here to check out fellow Examiner and food photographer Steven Johnson's photo essay of the experience.

Let's start the tour already!

• Chicago Food Planet Food Tours intro
• Chicago Food Planet Food Tours part 2
• Follow the whole series, photos and stories