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Your day will brighten at Tre Kronor. Well, at least ours did.
Enter the bright, white and yellow exterior with European-style front windows, and you’ll feel like you’re walking into someone’s home. Well you are, sort of. The charming, breakfast-lunch-dinner café nestled on the outskirts of Albany Park appears to have once been a two-story house, and it's a family-owned affair at that. Even the upstairs restroom has a shower/tub, with a cute shower curtain and bathroom accessories, of course.
Owners Larry Anderson and Patty Rasmussen hail from Swedish and Norwegian descent, respectively. This is apparent by the Swedish/Norwegian flag color scheme throughout the interior — blue tablecloths cover the two- and four-top tables, flanked by walls with bright yellow coloring on top, red on the bottom, and pure white crown molding with decorative, literally crown, details (Tre Kronor translation = three crowns). We’re not big fans of the word “cute” to describe things, but with one of the walls featuring a mural of frolicking trolls and a wooden, pine-laced “roof” hovering over the server’s nook, it’s hard not to use our favorite word, albeit in a very good way.
The Swedish/Norwegian influences also make their way into the menu, naturally, with food choices that scream fresh, homemade, and authentic. We came in for the raved-about brunch, and now we’re a part of that fan club (note: we came in at like 2 p.m. so we didn’t have to wait — beware the crowds at earlier times). A big winner: the Stockholm omelet with light and fluffy eggs folded perfectly over nutty and buttery, caraway- havarti cheese, speckled with falukow, a semi-sweet, peppery pork-beef sausage similar to summer sausage or salami. Slap a little bit on some limpa toast — a Swedish rye — and you’ll be in heaven. Kronor’s house specialty, the Swedish pancakes with imported lingonberries, was another winner — no nonsense, no grease, thin and fluffy flapjacks topped with tart and sweet berries that don’t need no maple syrup, although you get some on request. And here was a sweet topper — these dishes are all under 10 bucks. Actually, 8 bucks to be exact.
If the food isn’t enough to make you happy, at least the cheery staff will. Everyone is just plain nice, very a la Scandinavia. Plus, being a smallish dining room, servers are always within eyesight and very attentive. (Frequent coffee refills during brunch for this Chicagoist writer can be a make-or-breaker).
We’ll be back to try the Norwegian salmon omelet, the Belgian waffles with whipped cream, and Danish pastries. We’ll also be back for dinner, when lights dim, table candles come out, and a menu changes up frequently with more sausages, meatballs and gravy, and other homemade-cookin’ choices.
On second thought, maybe we’ll just hang out at Kronor all day.
Tre Kronor is located at 3258 W. Foster Ave., 773-267-9888. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
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Tre Kronor's Christmas julbord is a great tradition to share with your family or friends. The food is a delightful treat -- though lutefisk isn't quite to everyone's taste -- but the real highlight is when the lights go down and one of the waitresses sings Santa Lucia while wearing a crown of candles.
I have always liked the food at Tre Kronor. It tastes homemade. Beware of going on a Sunday morning, however. It's very busy. Last time I went then, it felt more hectic than it usually does, and the kitchen screwed up our order. Very nicely, though, they took the messed-up order off our bill.
The stockholm omelette is indeed freakin' awesome.
Delicious picture by the way. Its making me hungry.
Yeah they have corned beef hash in a kind of stripped style that is absolutely delicious. Love that place. Too bad it is perpetually packed.
If you love eggs benedict, go on the weekends. I was disappointed when I went there during the week and they didn't have any eggs benedict specials. I made up for it by getting an Oslo omelette.
Tre Kronor is the goods. The food is always hot (If you've been to most of the other popular breakfast/brunch places in the city, you know this is an accomplishment that's often overlooked), skillfully prepared and mouthwateringly flavorful. The staff is unfailingly polite and attentive. There's no pretension, no attitude, just a warm and diverse room full of people enjoying food prepared by people who must take immense pride in what they do. There's no other way to explain a restaurant that hits the mark on every level so consistently, and without overcharging. My only complaint is that it can take forever to get a table, but it's really not the restaurant's fault. While they don't rush you out the door, they are efficient. It's more a testimonial to a business that attracts a loyal following.
Great. Another yuppie breakfast place. Just what the North Side needs.
North Park? Swedish/Norwegian foods? That's no yuppie breakfast place.
I love these northwest side reviews -- you're always hitting the joints I grew up near. Though I don't think I've eaten at this place since I was about 8.
Which, "Again?," just proves you're an idiot. This place has been around forever.
I do miss Lori's, which was also on Foster right around Kedzie. It used to be a great diner/ice cream shop. Now I think it's an odd Thai place? Though I haven't checked on it in awhile.