We start with a traditional Swedish breakfast/brunch at Svea, a cash-only diner in the middle of Andersonville.
If you’re wondering what Svea means, based on my extensive Wikipedia research, “Mother Svea” is the female personification of Sweden and a patriotic emblem of the Swedish nation. You can casually drop that fact and impress your kids.
As far as the actual food goes, the menu is stacked with Swedish-American breakfast options that all have some combination of meatballs, sausage, eggs, potatoes, and Swedish pancakes. Here are a few Swedish breakfast items you’ll find.
1. Falukorv Sausage – A bit like a large seared hot dog
2. Lingonberry Sauce– a sweet and tart jam that pairs well with Swedish pancakes and meatballs
3. Limpa Toast – a dense rye toast that does a good job soaking up the gravy that coats the meatballs
Here are some other notes to keep in mind.
– Their indoor dining room isn’t huge and can get busy during primetime brunch hours over the weekend. They also don’t take reservations, so the earlier you get there on weekends, the better.
– If you’re coming with a stroller, navigating their narrow dining room might be tricky. However, they have a bigger backyard patio that’s easier to traverse. You can reach it through their back alley instead of trying to cut through the dining room. 
Andersonville’s Swedish roots are an essential part of the neighborhood’s identity. Less than a block away from Svea is the Swedish American Museum. The museum has exhibits on three floors. The first floor is a rotating exhibit, and when we visited, the theme was ‘what makes home a home,’ and visitors were encouraged to leave notes and pictures with their answers.
On the second floor is an exhibit that details the history of Swedish immigrants in America, focusing on the original Swedish communities in Chicago.
A series of small displays examine different parts of the immigrant experience. The stories are incredibly fascinating, and you learn a lot about why so many Swedes decided to leave their homeland, what they did to survive in a new country, and how they ultimately helped shape Chicago.
Like many immigrant communities today, the first Swedish immigrants were very tight-knit, forming their own schools, social clubs, and sports leagues.
The Brunk Children’s Museum of Immigration is located on the third floor and has been ranked as one of the country’s best interactive children’s museums. The children‘s museum includes a replica Swedish farmhouse where kids can milk cows, bring in wood, or set up a dinner table.
