Adventures in Chicago: Roscoe Village and Lakeview

For the carless, Chicago offers more adventures than your dashboard-mounted Garmin could imagine.

But even the most die-hard public transit users enjoy the use of private wheels on occasion. On a Sunday in July, my friend Danielle and I had a car and we used it to our best advantage. It took us from Lakeview to Roscoe Village and around Lakeview again, and provided us with a great time.

Part 1: Roscoe Village Garden Walk

Where: Roscoe Village, centered at Roscoe Street and Hoyne Avenue
Cost: Free
More information: Information on next year’s Garden Walk will probably be located at www.roscoevillage.org.

Visitors explore this Roscoe Village Garden Walk stop, complete with a pond, a tree house and a shady garden

A “garden walk” is a self-guided tour around a neighborhood where certain homeowners open up their yards for visitors to ooh and ahh at the garden work they have done. It was Roscoe Village’s ninth Garden Walk, with dozens of families showing off big greenery achievements in small garden spaces.

Danielle and I parked near Roscoe Street, the center of the action, and walked to houses with Garden Walk flower balloons.

The gardens were beautiful — an assortment of urban gardens, many of them featuring ponds, patios and vegetable gardens.

The neighborhood, full of friendly people, is great for families; young children selling lemonade and cookies in at least one front yard on every block.

Children sell lemonade and cookies outside of their home, a stop on the 2009 Roscoe Village Garden Walk

Part 2: Exploring the Roscoe Street Shops

Roscoe Street is lined with cutesy greeting card shops, specialty clothes stores and lots of brunch places. My friends recommended we try Victory’s Banner, a vegetarian brunch place apparently famous for its French toast, but the restaurant was closed by the time we finished the garden walk. In fact, there were many delicious-looking brunch places along Roscoe Street (including Orange), but they were all closed by the time we were hungry. We agreed we’ll have to plan better next time and make it to Roscoe Village earlier in the day.

Part 3: Phoebe’s Cupcakes in Lakeview

Where: 3327 N. Broadway Ave., Chicago
Cost: About $2.50 per cupcake
More information: www.phoebescupcakes.com

Hungry and in the mood for brunch, we decided to head back near Danielle’s apartment in Lakeview and see what we could find along the way. We passed by Bittersweet, which looked delicious if you’re in the mood for sweets, but we wanted an early dinner/late lunch. Driving further along Belmont, we passed by Phoebe’s Cupcakes, which I have wanted to try for a while.

Customers ponder over cupcake choices at Phoebe's Cupcakes in Lakeview

Danielle and I decided to split the Red Velvet and the Funfetti cupcakes.

We both liked the fluffy Funfetti cake with its sweet frosting, but we found the Red Velvet cake less enjoyable. The cream cheese frosting on the Red Velvet cake wasn’t a big hit with Danielle, and even though I knew what to expect, the taste combination disappointed me.

Other flavors we didn’t try included Tuxedo (white cake and chocolate icing), Salted Caramel (would it taste like a pretzel dipped in caramel?) and Very Vanilla.

Danielle divides the Red Velvet and Funfetti cupcakes for us to try.

Phoebe’s offers free Wi-Fi, though, and if I lived closer I would definitely visit the shop on a cold day with my laptop for a cupcake and some hot chocolate.

But I wonder whether the computer will go for the cream cheese frosting.