Tre Kronor: Non-Muppet Related Swedish Food

One of the charms of this little adventure is trying places that we've seen many times and always remarked that we should try, but never did.  This week we ventured to Tre Kronor, which is straight up Foster Avenue towards O'Hare Airport from us.  On just about every trip to and from the airport, one of us would remark that we should try Tre Kronor, a Swedish restaurant, to see what Swedish cuisine was all about when it wasn't prepared by the Swedish Chef on the Muppets or served in Ikea's cafeteria.  On a sunny, warm March day, we decided to hop on the Foster bus and check out our first Scandinavian country for lunch.   Tre Kronor, show me what Sweden is all about!

Drinks
Since this was brunch/lunch for us, we stuck to coffee.  From the look of the breakfast menu, this place must make a good breakfast to go with a damn fine cup of coffee.  The menu also offered a variety of coffee drinks and special Swedish sodas.  We sadly didn't see a pickled herring flavored one.

Food
Aside from Swedish meatballs and pickled herring, we weren't 100% sure what else would be on the menu.  What we found was a place that seemed to specialize in hearty comfort foods and especially breakfasts (although it's also open for lunch and dinner), which makes sense for a country that must get awfully cold during a long winter.  Since there were lots of the usual breakfast and sandwich options for any brunch/lunch, we focused in on the ones that seemed the most "Swedish" to our American palates.  To start, we had to get some pickled herring, but not without some trepidation.  We intermittently pictured something like anchovies in a tin or a large filet thrown down on a plate.  We were pleasantly surprised when our waitress brought us the two kinds of herring that you get with each order, one plain and one in a mustard sauce.  The accompaniment seemed well matched for this or a nice smoked salmon.  There were hard boiled eggs, onion, tomatoes, and sour cream.  The fish itself was surprisingly delicious!  It was a bit tart from the brine but still had some sweetness, which you tasted first and then the distinct fish flavor came through.  We really didn't know what might be comparable other than salmon, although the texture was firmer than we had expected with a pickled fish.

Pickled Herring

The bread that was served with this was a rye cracker that was crunchy and pretty good in its own right.  Stacking all of it together made for a highlight of the meal that I don't think either of us expected!

Pickled Herring Stacked and Ready to Eat

For entrees, Neil decided to abandon Sweden and try the Norwegian meatball sandwich.  They offered it cold, with tomato and an egg, or hot, served opened face on limpa toast.  Choosing the hot option, the sandwich had some tasty Swedish-style meatballs, similar to what you might find at Ikea, covered in a good brown gravy on top of the limpa toast, which provided a good base for the whole thing, but it was definitely meant to be eaten with a fork.  The potatoes on the side were pretty generic home fries, but good with the gravy that coated the sandwich.

Norwegian Meatball Sandwich

Beth decided to go with a special, the salmon and dill quiche with fresh fruit on the side.  The quiche was quite good, with a flaky homemade crust and delicate pieces of flaky salmon.  The fruit that came with it was nice light accompaniment and made for a a perfect brunch.

Salmon and Spinach Quiche

Beth couldn't resist getting a side of the homemade pickled cucumbers.  They were nicely sweet-tart and crunchy with a little bit of onion, fresh dill and parsley and showed us that those Swedes know how to do some pickling!

Pickled Cucumber

Overall
Tre Kronor is a great place for a super comfortable meal.  This was evidenced by the extremely diverse clientele, which ranged from groups of college kids from Northpark University across the street to a group of older ladies sitting next to us who looked like they had been coming here for an awfully long time.  The restaurant has a very homey feel and the service was friendly and attentive.  To add to the color, they had painted a mural of friendly trolls on the wall.

Across the street is the Swedish Store, your home for all things Swedish, from clogs to glassware to Swedish kid's books.

Foreign Factor
3 out of 10 Tre Kronor scores points for the pickled herring and a few other homemade Swedish delicacies on the menu, but most of the food would be familiar, good food in any kind of restaurant.  The wide array of soups and sandwiches to go with the breakfast options make this a very warm and inviting place, but you can tell this isn't just mom and pop's diner when you see the murals and sample the pickled goodness that they serve up.

What We Learned
Don't be scared of pickled herring!  It's actually pretty good.  After a few weeks of doing this culinary adventure, we've also noticed that every culture seems to have their own specialty sausages.  There were a few Swedish sausages on the menu at Tre Kronor, although we didn't try them, since we had Swedish sausage in the past at Svea.  Maybe "sausages of the world" is a whole other blog--delicious!  We also learned that Swedes really do like their meatballs and know how to serve up a plate to make you feel right at home even if all you know about them is Ikea and the bikini team.

Learn More
How to pickle a herring
These Swedes Are Awfully Inviting