Andersonville deli (and neighborhood institution) moving south

Herring for sale at Wikstrom's

Strolling along Clark Street in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood on Sunday, we gasped in horror at the sight of an empty storefront at 5247 N Clark St where Wikstrom’s Scandinavian Foods and Gifts should be.

While Andersonville’s Swedish character has been ebbing for decades, those of us who love Swedish hot dogs and strange, bitter licorice count on Wikstrom’s deli, one of the handful of Swedish holdouts that populate the stretch of North Clark Street between Foster and Bryn Mawr. (Pickled herring for sale at Wikstrom’s is pictured in the photo above, courtesy of Catherine B., a student at Wilmette Central Elementary School). And it’s one of the few places where Swedes and their American descendants still stand in long lines to get their Christmas hams.

But our fears were allayed by a trip into the Swedish American Museum, 5211 N Clark St, where two clerks working in the gift shop assured us that Wikstrom’s is merely moving to a new location. A call to Wikstrom’s confirmed that a new location will open at 5217 N Clark, though no word on exactly when.

Its new location next to the museum will make the block of Clark Street between Foster and Farragut a Swedish stronghold: Simon’s Tavern, a Swedish watering hole decorated with Viking bric-a-brac, is across the street, a few doors south of Svea Restaurant, 5236 N Clark. Ann Sather, 5207 N Clark, is Swedish, too – witness the folk-art-inspired murals and the Swedish pancakes, which we like even better than those decadent cinnamon rolls.

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