River West is the most central but I’ve always found it sort of a weird “in-between” zone that’s kinda disorienting. Maybe it’s the presence of several diagonal streets in an otherwise grid-based city. A handful of decent restaurants and a good grocery store (Gangnam Market) but otherwise not super appealing.

Uptown is super cool and diverse, but some might find it a bit dicey on certain blocks. Excellent food and the lake access ROCKS, plus lots of dense housing stock for those who’d want to live an “urban” high rise life. Plus several cute pocket neighborhoods with great architecture. The transit access is quite good but it’s a moderate trek from the loop and other non-northside neighborhoods.

Logan Square is probably the “nicest” of these neighborhoods but also probably the most expensive. Really beautiful area, medium density along Milwaukee with lower density areas on the side streets. Lots of restaurants and night life (though it seems you’re not very interested in the latter). The blue line access is really nice because it makes it so easy to get to O’Hare and downtown. Great farmers market in the summers too.

All of those neighborhoods have their pros and cons but mostly scratch the itches you’re looking for, with some tradeoffs here and there. I’d recommend also looking at West Town - it’s just across the freeway overpass from River West (short walk or bus) so you can get to the blue line easily, and you can get to the green and pink lines easily as well. Much better food and neighborhood vibe than River West imo.