Hyde Park Help

I've read previous Hyde Park posts. But I need a little help narrowing down my options. I'm looking for a place that accepts reservations and can handle 10-12 people early on a Saturday evening. It needs to be vegetarian friendly. Casual is fine. No limitations on cuisine. Thanks in advance.

I know you saw these, but for public reference:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=17845

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=14432

Reservations are one of your key issues. My three top favorites for cuisine (Corea, Rajun Cajun, Dixie Kitchen) won't suffice for a pre-arranged group of that size, so then you're into a second tier of decent but not heartwarming places that can handle a crowd:

Piccolo Mondo
1642 E 56th St

Calypso Cafe
5211 S. Harper
http://www.calypsocafechicago.com/

La Petit Folie
1504 E. 55th
http://lapetitefolie.com/

Cedars Mediterranean Kitchen
1206 E. 53rd
http://eatcedars.com/default.aspx

I would not risk the Medici, Florian, pizza places, Kikuya Japanese, or the Thai places (except MAYBE Snail, at least they're friendly) if you want reasonable attention, nor Mellow Yellow, nor the new Chant, which has a beautiful design but utterly soulless food.

I normally recommend The Nile over Cedars (the former having much better food, particularly the shawerma, mossakhan, mo jadara, lentil soup), but Cedars handles groups with more finesse. Piccolo Mondo is a nice quiet room with solid Italian food (go with the specials), La Petit is very good but gets fussy and expensive for dinnertime (better at lunch), so Calypso probably has the fewest warning bells for your request.

Keep Chinatown (particularly Lao Sze Chuan, they might be able to save something for you upstairs) in mind, as well as Cuatro (http://www.cuatro-chicago.com/) and Blu 47 (http://www.blu47restaurant.com/), which deserve some attention not too far away. Good luck!

Thanks for the tips. Chinatown is Plan B on my list.

Park 52
5201 S Harper Ave
Chicago, IL 60615
(773) 241-5200
www.park52chicago.com

I cannot vouch for their food, but checkout reviews on Yelp if you're interested.

Thank You

Great thread for the Barolo family, as we just moved onto Dorchester.
Does anyone have the story on Rajun Cajun? I haven't been in, but Mrs. B. was in with the boy and said that it appears that the name is just left over from a previous establishment, and the business is Pakistani, except that they do a nice creamy mac 'n' cheese, which the boy loved.

Glad to learn of Piccolo Mondo, which I hadn't yet stumbled on myself.

And, should one try, or avoid, Ribs 'n' Bibs? Seems if it was good, it would have come up on come of the other ribs threads. Just wondering. Haven't done a search.

Rib's 'n' Bibs is acceptable, in my opinion (I've only ordered the tips & links there, though.) It's real Chicago barbecue (aquarium smoker and all), but it's not first-tier barbecue. I'd put them on the same level as a place like Hecky's in Evanston. The problem is that you're so close to top tier barbecue if you're that far south, that you might as well go to Uncle John's, Lem's, or Barbara Ann's.

Rajun Cajun is pretty great, or at least it was when i was in college.

It is a pakistani AND soulfood carryout place. The pakistani food was great (excellent samosas and butter chicken) and so was the fried chicken.

Recent hits on Rajun Cajun (a personal favorite) and Ribs 'n Bibs:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=19563

viewtopic.php?p=211283#p211283

. . . and for more, here:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=17845&p=201805&hilit=hyde+park#p201805

OK - a minor wrench has been thrown into my plans. The senior member (also the person probably picking up the check) of our group has insisted on a place with a large round table so it will be more conversation-friendly.

I called Cedars & Medici. No luck on a round table. Am I better off in Chinatown?

Dave148 wrote:No luck on a round table. Am I better off in Chinatown?

Yes.

Might I recommend:

Lee Wing Wah
2147 S China Pl
Chicago, IL 60616
(312) 808-1628

Jay K wrote:

Dave148 wrote:No luck on a round table. Am I better off in Chinatown?

Yes.

Might I recommend:

Lee Wing Wah
2147 S China Pl
Chicago, IL 60616
(312) 808-1628

Thanks for the recommendation. However, it has mixed reviews on this site as well as yelp.com. Am I missing something?

GNR Winners LTH and Lao Sze Chuan both have round tables and very good food (one Cantonese and one Szechuan).

'Little' Three Happiness
209 W Cermak Rd
Chicago, IL 60616
312-842-1964

Lao Sze Chuan
2172 S. Archer Ave.
Chicago, IL 60616
312 326-5040

Thank You

La Petite Folie might take care of you if they're not already booked up for the night:

http://lapetitefolie.com/

Thanks again.

Calypso also has round tables, but food is better in Chinatown.

Yep. Chinatown's more veggie friendly.

I was just at Lee Wing Wah this past Sunday. I had not been there in more than a year and was curios if it was still the same. The purveyors, waitstaff and the Hon Kong-style service was still the same old, same old. Unfortunately, the food has deteriorated considerably. We enjoyed the wonton soup. The wontons were very meaty and the wrapper thickness was just right.

For the main dishes, we shared Szechuan green beans and black pepper beef ribs. Both were sorely disappointing. The green beans were overcooked, wrinkly and oily. The meat-to-fat ratio on the beef ribs was so low that I just gave up eating it. At the end, even though the plates were still more than half full with food, we didn't want to take it home.Although the flavor was ok, the texture and consistency of our main dishes was bad. It might've just been the food that we ordered, but we also noticed that another table with a family of 5 had similarly unfinished dishes.

However, they do have big circular tables with lazy Susans for convenient food sharing and conversation. I recommend staying away from the green beans and beef ribs

OK - thanks

Just a note to "just moved onto Dorchester" about Rajun Cajun.

The family that runs the restaurant is from Gujarat I believe, by way of Kenya. The kept the soul food from the previous establishment to maintain customers (a canny move) when they opened in the early 1990s.

I find the food quite good when I need an Indian fix, living so far from Devon as I do. Their best dishes tend to be the lighter, vegetarian ones. Our favorite (and the owner's) is sambharo (sic?), a simple "fried salad" of sauteed cabbage, carrots, onions and peppers with a curry seasoning.

I should note that their soul food is pretty darn good. I would take their fried chicken over many others any day, the greens are quite good, the mac and cheese respectable.

The whole family is lovely and friendly and it's always a delight to see them and eat their food.

Yes, Lee Wing Wah is terrible...


Ginger & Scallion Dungeness Crab over Hong Kong-style egg fried rice (drawn from live tanks)


Fish fillet with yu choy


Sauteed bean leaves with garlic


Crispy-skinned roast dove


Salt & Pepper Soft-shelled Crab


Salt & Pepper Prawns (top) Spice-baked Chicken (bottom)


Ginger & Scallion Maine Lobster - do you see the specks of roe? (drawn from live tanks)


Sweet dessert soup of Tremella fuciformis with jujubes

With all due respect, green beans and ribs it ain't... but you just gotta know what to order...

Pictures are from the last two months and have been pretty consistent to what I've enjoyed for the past 4+ yrs.

stevez wrote:GNR Winners LTH and Lao Sze Chuan both have round tables and very good food (one Cantonese and one Szechuan).

'Little' Three Happiness
209 W Cermak Rd
Chicago, IL 60616
312-842-1964

Lao Sze Chuan
2172 S. Archer Ave.
Chicago, IL 60616
312 326-5040

I just made reservations at Lao Sze Chuan.
Thanks again for the suggestions.

Dave148 wrote:

stevez wrote:GNR Winners LTH and Lao Sze Chuan both have round tables and very good food (one Cantonese and one Szechuan).

'Little' Three Happiness
209 W Cermak Rd
Chicago, IL 60616
312-842-1964

Lao Sze Chuan
2172 S. Archer Ave.
Chicago, IL 60616
312 326-5040

I just made reservations at Lao Sze Chuan.
Thanks again for the suggestions.

Well, we had dinner there last night. Our group mysteriously sprouted up to 12 people. They gave us a large round table in the corner.

Overall, it was fine. Appetizers came out on time, except for my pot stickers which came out just before the main courses. But they were quite tasty. Worth the wait.

The main courses came out in spurts of 1-2 at a time over a period of 45 minutes. Unfortunately, the delayed dishes were for the younger ones on our group. But they were good troopers about it.

The food itself was quite tasty. Worth the wait? Probably. I'd definitely give it a second try on a less busy evening.

Thanks again for the tips.