Chicago Tribune Staff - Good Eatings Cheap Eats in Chicago: A Neighborhood Guide to Dining Out on a Budget at the City and Suburbs Best Restaurants

Hamburger Marys

First impressions: Its hard not to notice this Andersonville diner, with its campy purple sign bearing (and baring) a buxom blond winking from beneath an amazing set of false eyelashes. This is Mary, the mascot of an 11-restaurant national chain called Hamburger Marys that bills itself as an open-minded bar and grille for open-minded people.

Inside, the 86-seat dining area and back bar are awash in color, from the red drapes to the pink-striped walls to the rainbow flag hanging above the front door. The tattooed, pierced and creatively coiffed servers keep things interesting, as do the pulsing background tunes and screens playing music videos and old TV shows (The Mary Tyler Moore Show on one visit). This location draws a mixed crowd, including a fair share of neighborhood families whose kids, we hope, wont scrutinize some of the suggestive menu descriptions too closely.

On the plate: There are no surprises among the starters, which include Cala-Mary (battered calamari), Macho-Nachos and Her Hot Legs (spicy chicken drumettes with ranch dressing). Otherwise its soups, salads, sandwiches, wraps and, of course, the main event: a dozen beef burgers, each delivered to the table speared with a steak knife. Most are loaded with extrasfrom aioli to guacamole to bacon to chiliand also can be made up as turkey, veggie or buffalo burgers for a buck or so extra.

Hot and cold sandwiches and wraps (veggie, tuna, turkey, mojo chicken), like the burgers, come with either tasty bacon-and-egg-flecked potato salad, crunchy veggie slaw or crispy French fries, which, incidentally, would be better without the seasoning. Desserts range from fried Twinkies to apple brown betty. To wash it all down, theres a big selection of martinis (pomegranate, melon, apple), beers and, of course, bloody Marys.

At your service: Servers are amiable and attentive and totally straight-faced as they deliver the check tucked inside a colorful high-heeled shoe. Hosts on two visits failed to offer a childrens menu; if you have kids in tow, be sure to request one because regular portions are large.

Second helpings: The half-pound burgers (theres also a three-quarter-pound behemoth), served on slightly sweet brioche buns, are a good bet. Try the Big Kahuna, with grilled pineapple, teriyaki sauce and Cheddar cheese (but ask them to hold the pickle and special dressing) or the Bleu Boy, with bacon and bleu cheese sauce. (Beware that if you want your burger rarer than medium, youll have to make a special request, and assume the risk.) Also good is the chipotle chicken wrapper, a grilled tortilla packed with cubed chicken, avocado chunks, black beans, Cheddar and jack cheeses, lettuce and a kicky chipotle ranch dressing.

The San-Fran Shanghai salad is a respectable rendition of the ubiquitous Asian chicken salad, with lettuce, cabbage, Mandarin oranges and fried wonton strips, all tossed with a honey-ginger vinaigrette. Finish things off with the brownie sundae, a warm, gooey brownie topped with chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream and a cloud of whipped cream.

Take a pass: Marys Big Dipper comes with plenty of warm pita but a miserly portion of chunky spinach-artichoke dip. The cheeseburger Caesar salad is a fun idea with its topping of three mini burgers, but the overdressed greens and overcooked meat ruined it for us. The Tuna Turner sandwich also suffers from dressing (this one a sweet herb mayo) overkill.

Extras: Sidewalk cafe, childrens menu, late-night cabaret-bar-performance space opening upstairs in near future.

Hamburger Marys

2 forks

5400 N. Clark St

773-784-6969

hamburgermarys.com/chicago/

Sunshine Cafe

First impressions: On a street chock full of flashy restaurants and trendy eateries, Andersonvilles Sunshine Cafe is the poster child for humility. The humble signage bearing the Japanese restaurants name is obscured by a tree, and the somewhat derelict exterior would likely make passersby walk right on. Inside, the forest green carpeting, the 10 black tables and wood-paneled walls are bare and minimalist not in that hip kind of way, but in one that can be interpreted as homey. Thats what this decade-old restaurant conveys: cozy Japanese food served with no pretensions. This is what a neighborhood find should feel like.

On the plate: Youll find a simple California roll here eight pieces of imitation crab and avocado maki and thats where the sushi stops. Noodles and rice dishes are the draw. Steaming, boiling and simmering methods of preparation show up in the refreshing hiyayako (chilled tofu slices with bonito flakes, ginger and green onions), zaru soba (cold buckwheat noodles) and sukiyaki (a hearty stew of beef, cabbage and rice vermicelli). And the restaurant puts plenty of care in its fried items too. The sister of the owner is solely in charge of making shrimp tempura, using Japanese-imported oil to fry up delicate and classically-prepared shrimp, sweet potato, green beans and eggplant.

At your service: Its like going to your favorite aunts house for dinner. Ask for Ashley, who dined here as a child and liked Sunshine Cafe so much, she now works here.

Second helpings: The saba shioyaki (broiled mackerel) is one of the most delicious dishes Ive eaten all year, and I eat out quite a bit. Its brilliant in its simplicity: two fillets are seasoned with salt and broiled. The skin emerges crisp and crackling, the smooth white flesh beneath is as fresh as the Norwegian waters it comes from. Add a squeeze of lemon and Nirvana seems in reach. Another highlight is tonkatsu, or deep-fried pork cutlet; as wide as a size-7 Birkenstock, its tender, fried just right, crispy and greaseless. Same goes for the deep-fried potato croquette appetizer like the best hash browns youve ever eaten, with a mashed potato center. Also fried perfectly: shrimp tempura and the particularly good eggplant. Homemade gyoza (pork and cabbage pot stickers) arrives six to an order, the tiny pan-fried packages bursting with the kind of flavor only produced by accomplished hands.