Looks like my trip up north has been postponed, new mom has been discharged from the hospital. I will keep the above rec's in mind for when we pay a visit to the new baby and mom at home in the near future.

thanks again all.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Also, I think that Miramar Bistro in Highwood -- helmed by Roland Liccioni -- is worth a trip if you're into bistro-style food. Since it's not actually in Highland Park, it didn't initially occur to me.

According to Chicago Magazine's Dish, Liccioni's last service at Miramar was on May 21st.

=R=

Yelp's Top Ten Restaurants in Highland Park

Websites like Yelp! have empowered the everyday eater to become their local neighborhood's food critic, praising and damning behind the anonymity of a computer screen.

So what do your neighbors have to say on Yelp? Based on Yelp!'s highest-rated star ranking, here are the top 10 restaurants in Highland Park.

1. Abigail's American Bistro
2. Bluegrass
3. Lou Malnati's Pizzeria
4. La Casa de Isaac
5. Walker Bros Original Pancake House
6. Koya
7. Isaac & Moishe Restaurant
8. Norton's Restaurant
9. Cafe Central
10. Little Szechwan

I wonder how these are ranked by Yelp, I will guess by number of reviews? I don't see any of the newer restaurants mentioned with the exception of Isaac & Moishe's.

Where Koya is located on the northern edge of Highland Park, there has been a Japanese style restaurant there for some years. Location remains, though the name and staff changes from time to time. I would have expected Sushi Kushi II mentioned rather than Koya.

Regards,

Evanston Patch just did the same thing. Can't find the link right now, but in the comments section, several people noted that there are a number of different ways to do the search, each providing different lists of the Top Ten. I think Jamba Juice came in as the second-best restaurant in the city, so use that to judge the credibility of the ranking.

nr706 wrote:Evanston Patch just did the same thing. Can't find the link right now, but in the comments section, several people noted that there are a number of different ways to do the search, each providing different lists of the Top Ten. I think Jamba Juice came in as the second-best restaurant in the city, so use that to judge the credibility of the ranking.

(Highlight mine) - yep, that's what I thought about this list, it is a distorted picture.

Many of those ratings (and they're available from lots of sources*) give people the chance to rate places on a 1-3 or 1-5 scale. As a result, they tend to be more a matter of how places match up with people's expectations. You can have a sandwich or breakfast place with a lot of satisfied customers and such ratings may rank it higher than a fine dining place to which people go with higher expectations. This doesn't mean that it's necessarily "better", but rather, reflects rankings that are the direct result of the methodology used. Usually, those who are familiar with places in an area will easily understand why certain places rank high in such surveys.

Fortunately, there are other resources which tend to attract people who really know food, and who provide more substantive information than a simple number. You know, resources like LTH.

*Oh, and just to look at another one of those ratings sites, here are the top ten (out of 55) restaurants in Highland Park, according to TripAdvisor; their methodology is similar to Yelp's, so the results are similar as well:

1 Michael's Chicago Style Red Hots
2 Real Urban Barbeque
3 Walker Bros. Original Pancake House - Highland Park
4 Abigail's American Bistro
5 Bluegrass
6 Phoenicia Mediterranean
7 Cafe Central
8 Max's Deli & Restaurant
9 Lou Malnati's Pizzeria
10 Norton's Restaurant

Cathy2 wrote:I wonder how these are ranked by Yelp, I will guess by number of reviews?

No, it's not just a ranking by number of reviews, which are shown on both Yelp and TripAdvisor. It's also not just a strict ranking by number of stars, either. And the rankings can change over time; here's how they're ranked on Yelp right now:

1. Bluegrass
2. La Casa de Isaac
3. Abigail's American Bistro
4. Walker Bros Original Pancake House
5. Real Urban Barbecue
6. Piero's Pizza Highland Park
7. Mizrahi Grill
8. Tamales... A Mexican Joint
9. Norton's Restaurant
10. Benjamin Restaurant

Hi,

Cafe Central closed at the end of May.

This makes two Carlos Nieto restaurants in Highland Park closed very recently. The other is Nietos formerly Carlos.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Cafe Central closed at the end of May.

This makes two Carlos Nieto restaurants in Highland Park closed very recently. The other is Nietos formerly Carlos.

Regards,
Cathy2

The Nietos certainly seem to be crushing it at Happ Inn in Northfield.

=R=

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Cafe Central closed at the end of May.

This makes two Carlos Nieto restaurants in Highland Park closed very recently. The other is Nietos formerly Carlos.

Regards,
Cathy2

This makes my husband and I so sad. We were just there on May 19 and talked with Debbie and Adam for a long time...they didn't say a word! Shocked. It was just such a comfortable place to have dinner. The staff was so professional-many of the wait staff had been there for years.

Interestingly, Highland Park's downtown is owned by a few people. One is direct descendant to the pioneer family and first merchant Moses Moses.

Another major property owner is the guy who owns and runs Country Kitchen.

Regards,
Cathy2

city kids completely unfamiliar with the burbs wanna know: is there a delicious place to eat lunch in "downtown" highland park?

annak wrote:city kids completely unfamiliar with the burbs wanna know: is there a delicious place to eat lunch in "downtown" highland park?

Sure thing:
That Little French Guy - French Bakery & Café
https://www.thatlittlefrenchguy.com/

Norton's Restaurant
http://www.nortons-restaurant.com/

Cafe Dacha
https://www.cafedacha.com/

The origin of the term North Shore comes from the North Shore Rail Line, a defunct electric line that ran to Milwaukee, the only part remaining being a piece of the Yellow line/Skokie Swift. It included non-shoreline towns including Northbrook, Glenview and Skokie... but not, say, Wheeling, home of the North Shore Westin.

Originally, the North Shore Railroad had a single line which originated in Evanston and ran entirely through territories with Lake Michigan borders.

Only years later was the Skokie Valley Route added with stops in non lake bounded suburbs. These were all immediately west of the original towns.