This One's For the Kids - North Suburbs Edition

Okay, let's face it. I'm a suburban mom. I drive my kid to soccer and hip-hop dance class; I spend all my money at Target and the Lego Store. When I have a night off I might watch something on Netflix. I commonly miss the movies I want to see in the theater, unless they're convenient for the under-7 set. Much as I love the Chicago foodie scene, I simply can't partake in it as much as I would like. I am physically unable to voyage to cute neighborhoods in the city to try new restaurants on a weekly basis. I don't have the money, the time, or the metabolism to eat everything I want.

I am, however, one of the lucky ones. I get to hang out with my kindergartner every day after school. I don't work full time-only when he's in his morning class, so we do a lot of fun things together in the afternoons. I get sent to media previews of museums, so I can pull him out of his Montessori and take him to the Shedd (like I'm doing Thursday) for extra events. We may not get to eat locally every day-we may have to eat McDonald's way too often.

Roller Skates Shops

We enjoy family-friendly chain restaurants, such as Moe's Southwest Grill and Red Robin (because they give balloons to the kids) and anywhere with a Tv, and we spend a lot of time at the Rainforest Cafe. But that doesn't mean we don't get to enjoy some of the great food Chicago has to offer. So today I present to you some of my five-year-old kid's popular north shore places to eat, and family-friendly places not to be missed:

Kevin's Place - The main reasons we come to this neighborhood diner (in Deerfield) are for the family-friendliness and great food. Kevin, in my son's words, is "hilarious." When he's around, he takes all the kids' orders personally. This diner features homemade tortilla chips, homemade applesauce, sweet potato fries to die for, extraordinary morning meal potatoes and Mickey Mouse pancakes made with whatever you want inside (once my kid ordered Oreos in his). You can get a chocolate milk "Kevin's style," which means it's covered with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkes. The place is decorated in yellow in black checkerboard in front and with a more whimsical theme in back. Kevin is big on manners, so you'll see that reflected in the decor. There's a wall of pictures kids drew while they were at Kevin's, along with two baskets of toys, crayons, gumballs, lollipops and more.

Superdawg - This Wheeling drive-in is super-fun because kids can eat at picnic tables outside, in their cars, or in the restaurant, which is a real novelty for my son in this day and age. No, there aren't any roller-skates involved, but there are good burgers, exquisite hot dogs, hot and salty fries, milkshakes and two giant hot dog statues on the roof.

Willow Festival in Northbrook, at the corner of Willow & Waukegan Rds - Yes, it's a big shopping center. Here's our secret: in front of the Potbelly's there's a tiny small courtyard complete with koi pond, waterfall and bridge. When it's nice out, it's very pleasant to walk over and get food from Potbelly's, Meatheads, Roti Mediterranean Grill, Whole Foods, or even takeout from Buffalo Wild Wings and Zapatista (Mexican), then meet in the courtyard to sit and let your kids watch the fish, climb on the rocks, and get into trouble while you relax.

Frontera Fresco - While we're strolling Old Orchard mall doing some shopping or running around on the dragon playground, we always love to stop and get limeade from Frontera Fresco, the small and faster version of Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill that nestles into the Macy's store here. This fall they've got apple cider limeade. My son also loves the mango limeade, and I will occasionally veer from the script to get the iced tea, which is freshly brewed and strong just the way I like it. And the food's not bad either.

Nibbles Play Cafe - My son has grown out of this Wheeling eatery, mostly, but it's still a great place for parents and tots to go during the day. You pay admission, but then you can let your kids play in the play areas, which are basically themed and contained cubicles with walls at waist-height so you can keep an eye on them from the dining area right in the center of the space. Costumed characters make quarterly appearances, events take place, and the food is light and decent.

At this point I have to say I fully understand there are lots of kid-geared restaurants, like ones that bring food to tables in a Mickey Mouse train, that you might think I should contain here. But I avoid these because the kids are often un-supervised as they run around and play. The last time I went to a place like this, a child wanting to get closer to a train table bit and hit my son to bleeding in three places before I could get to them (and I was watching). Then it took me five minutes in a small cafeteria to find the kid's parents to tell them to control their child. So we don't count those among our favorites at all.

I'll end this by saying, I love hanging out with my kid. So if the tradeoff is that I've never tried Girl and the Goat or the Purple Pig or Epic Burger, and it takes me three months to chase down the Flirty Cupcakes van, I'll take it any day. Cheers.

This One's For the Kids - North Suburbs Edition