Uncommon Ground

Ratings Guide:
Half handshake, half chest-bump hug – 5 stars
Chest bump – 4 stars
Fist bump – 3 stars
High five – 2 stars
Handshake – 1 star
Fone and fone – 0 stars
Manly ass slap – ½ star


Restaurant: Uncommon Ground
Location: 3800 N. Clark


So, judging by the name, you’d guess that Uncommon Ground was a coffee house, but not your typical coffee house. “Common” coffee houses simply serve coffee, maybe some biscotti or scones, and some seasonal drink like hot chocolate or iced hot chocolate. But this place is Uncommon, so clearly there is a lot more going on here. And since this place is so uncommon, let’s take a look at other “un”s that might help describe it.


UNCOMMON – the coffee house. It has a bar, a variety of food all day long, is open until 2 a.m., and has live music in the back. And they don’t open until 9 a.m., which is late for a coffee house.

UNBELIEVABLE – the hot chocolate. Awesome. I demand that you order a cup (more like a bowl) of this when you go there. Even if it’s the middle of summer, 90 degrees outside, and 100 percent humidity. It’s that good.

UNAFFORDALBE – also the hot chocolate. The cup/bowl was more than hot chocolate should be. Again, you’re talking about milk and chocolate. No matter how good it is, or how big the cup/bowl is, you still shouldn’t be paying more than a couple of bucks. But, well worth the money. And everything else on the menu seems reasonably priced, so I’ll let it slide.

UNATHLETIC – me.

UNATTAINABLE – Jessica Biel. And my wife (Seriously, you have no shot with her. Hell, I have no shot with her.)

UNATTENDED – how we felt the time we sat at the bar for brunch. One bartender, very busy, not a lot of time to take our order or refill our drinks. Not her fault, but also not a good thing. And the other time we sat in the back room and were one or 3 tables back there and it still took forever to get our food.

UNCHEWABLE – the chicken on the barbeque pizza I got. It wasn’t really unchewable, but it was super dry and had no flavor and really took away from the rest of the pizza, which was pretty decent.

UNDISCOVERED – this place kind of was until it was on “Check, Please!” recently. You could go here most anytime (save for maybe before/during/after a Cubs’ game) and have no trouble finding a table. The last two times I’ve gone there has been a slight wait. But, it’s better in the summer when you can sit outside.

UNEXTRAORDINARY – this is the opposite of how I would describe the weekend specials, which are awesome, and I always have to resist ordering all of them. Luckily my wife is there and gives me that look (you know, the same one I get when I try to make out with her) when I think about ordering more than one thing.

UNFANCY – the atmosphere. Dressed up or dressed down, or not dressed at all, you’ll fit in.

UNIMPRESSED – the breakfast burrito special I ate one time I was there. Not bad, but also not as good as others I’ve had (like at Bongo Room or Toast or H.U.E., to name a few).

UNABLE – to dunk a basketball.

UNCHANGED - I wish I could say this about the chicken sandwich, but the last couple of times we’ve gone it has been different every time. Some times the bread is different, or the size of the sandwich, or the sauce, or whatever, but it’s been a crapshoot the last several times. That’s a bad thing. You want your staple menu items to be consistent. Especially this one, which can be…

UNREAL – the chicken sandwich.

UNBUTTON – my shirt. I just did. And I’m rubbing my belly.

UNCALLED-FOR – see “UNBUTTON”.

UNCERTAIN – can’t decide how much I like this place. One time I love it, the next time I don’t. Hard to get a read. Again, I don’t think this is a good thing.

UNCOCK – I just wanted to say “cock”.

UNCOOL – “Uncool? Uncool is trying to give an honest man a big box of porn, Andy!”

UNCTUOUS – the bread that was served with the spinach and goat cheese dip. Toasted little pieces of bread instead of chips, but they looked (and were) very greasy. And you know what that means – they were delicious. The dip was fantastic. I’d get it again. In fact, I’d put it on top of my cereal every morning if I could. (and I know “unctuous” isn’t the same time of “un” I’ve been using, but seriously, how often can you use the word “unctuous”.)

UNDERPANTS – I’m not wearing any.

UNDERSTAND – I don’t expect you to.

UNDRESS – what I’m doing as you read this.

UNEXPECTED – that you’ve read this far.

UNFORGETTABLE – not this place.

UNIT – not really an “un”, but I like saying “unit”.

UNMARRIED – what my wife wishes she was.

UNZIP – I think you know.

UNCOMMON GROUND – turns out it is very common. Fist bump.



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