If Edward Hopper were Korean, he probably wouldn’t have modeled his famous Nighthawks painting after a Greenwich Village diner. Rather, he might have considered Susie’s Noon Hour Grill in Chicago’s Rogers Park. Susie’s doesn’t have much neon but there’s an ample flat-top, a vintage Pepsi cooler, and plenty of cheesy décor including some disturbing clown paintings. The food is a mix of American breakfast diner standards like pancakes and bacon with Korean stalwarts like pa jun and bulgogi. Sometimes the two cultures meet in owner Soon Lee’s (she also goes by Susie) kimchee omelet. There’s plenty of good stuff at Susie’s, including Lee herself—a charming grandmotherly type who does everything from washing dishes to taking and cooking the orders....
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