Big Apple Finer Foods is a family-owned neighborhood grocery at 2345 N. Clark St., on Clark Street just south of Fullerton Parkway in east Lincoln Park. It is known for the large red apple sign over the storefront. Mid-North Park is across Belden Avenue to the south.
What it’s known for
Frank J. Lodarek, who had learned the grocery business as a manager at an A&P store, opened Big Apple in June 1960 and ran it for more than 55 years. He died in 2015 at 93. The City approved Honorary Frank J. Lodarek Way at Clark and Fullerton that year and dedicated it on Sept. 28, 2019, with the store then in its third generation of family ownership.
The store is best known for its butcher counter, where it sells prime dry-aged beef, fresh fish and house-made sausage and will do custom cuts. Its website quotes Time Out Chicago calling it one of the best-stocked butcher counters in Chicago. It also sells produce delivered fresh each morning, deli items, bread from local bakeries including Bennison’s, nuts and dried fruit by the tub, pantry staples and flowers. It also runs a wholesale produce business for restaurants in Chicago and the suburbs.
Good to know
- Hours: Daily 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., per the official site, October 2026.
- Contact: (773) 880-5800.
- Home delivery: Send a shopping list by the website form, email or phone, and the store shops and delivers it.
- Weekly specials: These are posted in the front windows.
- Transit: CTA bus #22 Clark stops on Clark Street.
Nearby, Piccadilly Market is at Clark and Fullerton. Browse more groceries and markets.
Sources: bigapplefinerfoods.com, honorarychicago.com/blog/frank-lodarek-way-chicago, transitchicago.com/bus/22
Photo courtesy of Big Apple Finer Foods.
