Help in Hyde Park

I'll be picking up my son after an interview at the University of Chicago, and then taking him to Midway. Hopefully, we'll have an hour to go somewhere and talk and maybe get him a bite to eat. What seems right in Hyde Park for this? I'm assuming there isn't anything next to Midway that would work.

Thanks,
Jonah

Jonah wrote:What seems right in Hyde Park for this? I'm assuming there isn't anything next to Midway that would work.

Giordano's has great double-crust "stuffed" deep-dish pizza, and has a location at 6314 S. Cicero, just south of the main terminal at Midway. Call ahead (773-585-6100) with your pizza order and they'll have it ready for you, to avoid waiting 30-45 minutes for it to bake while you are seated.

You'll find recommendations for Hyde Park in these topics:

hyde park spots???
2 Queries: Hyde Park, Lahore (Devon)
Visiting Museum of Sc. In. Dining Recommendations requested
hyde park suggestions?
From LA, University of Chicago student, looking for food

If you're feeling like coffee or tea Istria is the place. Tucked under the metra station.
Istria Cafe - 1520 E. 57th St. & Lake Park Avenue

If you like Korean, Cafe Corea on 55th is my go-to place down here. The bibimbop and kalgusu soup are both very good. You'll get complementary tea when you sit down; it's a nice place to sit and chat.

Cafe Corea
1603 E 55th St
Chicago, IL 60615

2 good places for pizza (and other Italian fare) on 57th St.:

Medici
1327 E. 57th St

Edwado's
1321 E 57th St.

Thai on 57th St.:

Noodles
1333 E.57th St.

I'd have to advise you to skip Edwardo's for lunch. At best, it's very slow. At worst, you opt for their lunch special of greying, bagged salad and a microwaved personal pan pizza.

Medici rarely does much for me, but at least the pizza's freshly made and it's a nice space.

Noodles can be okay, but it's not great for a quiet conversation. I like the pancit.

I'd second Cafe Corea. It's a great spot with a warm and welcoming vibe to it. Also, the bibimbop is some of the best I've had in Chicago.

Where were you guys when Cafe Corea was up for a GNR?

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... cafe+corea

Some other good Hyde Park recommendations are in that thread [originally wrote: thrad] as well.

Thanks to all. The Istria recommendation was perfect. We had about an hour to spend with my son, and Istria was the perfect place to relax and chat, and it was just a few blocks east of where he interviewed.

Jonah (who is hoping his son ends up back in Chicago!)

Ate at Medici last night -- two outstanding burgers: MrsF's Bacon/Blue, and my Stroganoff (sour cream, onions, mushrooms). Nice chewy but not too chewy potato bun, cooked as ordered, nice beefiness. Fries were only OK -- nicely crisp and hot, but thicker would be better. Onion rings were outstanding: juicy and sweet with a crispy crust. Thing1's Fiancee had the Fettucine Alfredo, which was above average, but a little heavily sauced for my tastes.

If your son does return to Chicago
1- Congrats! we hope that both of our kids end up at U of C.
2- Try The Nile on 55th. We went there for the 1st time today and had absolutely the best baba ghanoush & falafel ever, & the meat eaters in our party were very happy with their lamb/beef/chicken combo platters. Just be sure that good food is the focus of your visit... the decor & service leave much to be desired.

I hope your son ends up at the U of C too (I am a loyal Marooner) living the life of the mind. If he does end up in Chicago, he will hopefully venture out of HP, but it starts with baby steps. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Rajun Canjun? Because I love that restaurant almost as I live eating fried chicken and curry together. A weird unholy combination of Cajun and Indian? Yes, but astoundingly delicious. Also, the mango lassi is fresh, fruity, and refreshing.

My personal opinions is that the Medici completely survives because of its prime location in the student ghetto--its where everyone's parents take them on the first day of school and then one steadily avoids the place for the next four years.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Rajun Canjun?

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=19563&p=197030

Please help us out by adding your own review; glad to hear you're also a fan.

I really enjoy Ragin' Cajun and I'm happy to see some positive reviews of that place here. I'm in Hyde Park at least twice a week, and that's one of my go-tos, along with The Nile, Dixie Kitchen, Calypso Cafe, and Harold's Chicken Shack. Last week I stumbled across La Maravillas, also in Harper's Court. We really wanted to go to Seoul Corea (based on Santander's recommendations), but it was edging near 10 p.m., when it closes. La Maravillas is open until 11 p.m., I believe, so we ended up there.

The tacos my dining companion had were pretty awful, and the table salsa was a bit odd. The pico de gallo was heavy on black pepper and Mexican oregano. It wasn't bad, per se, but I've never had pico de gallo with such an overwhelming black pepper taste to it, and I normally only see Mexican oregano in cooked salsas. However, much to my surprise, the posole was actually quite respectable, especially for Hyde Park. I will return just for that.

Is Ribs N' Bibs on 53rd good? I used to enjoy their pulled pork sandwiches when I lived in Hyde Park some years ago.

It's not first-tier Chicago barbecue, but it is real barbecue and they got the aquarium smoker going, so they get credit for that. The problem is that if you're down there, you might as well venture just a tiny bit further south and visit the holy shrines of South Side barbecue: Uncle John's, Barbara Ann's, and Lem's.

That said, if confined to Hyde Park, I think Rib's and Bibs is a competent, if not stellar, example of Chicago barbecue.

I am in qualified agreement with Binko. Tips and links are the way to go to really enjoy the benefits of the aquarium smoker here.

Other items have been woefully sucky of late. Avoid the gloppy, fatty pork and beef sandwiches and pre-frozen "Bronco Burgers," and go light on the steamed french fries and over-cumined sauce. There was a time (between burn-downs, which have happened frequently to this corner spot) where all of these could be trusted, but not lately.

That's a shame about the Ribs N Bibs fries going downhill of late. I remember walking over there for lunch during high school and buying a brown paper bag of fries covered in sauce for $1, I think it was. Lunch of champions!

As to other places mentioned in this thread, I'll agree with the Rajun Cajun rec; on top of solid Indian food the owner and his family are fantastically friendly.

As for the Medici, I'm not a fan of the potato buns that come with the burgers, but that mostly stems from my disappointment that it's now your only bun option; you used to be able to choose between kaiser roll, onion roll, black bread (my fave), etc. Since they opened the bakery (however long ago that was - five years?) your only options are what they bake in-house. The burgers themselves have historically been a crowd-pleaser in the neighborhood. Generally cooked as specified, juicy and flavorful, good size. One of the few Hyde Park foodstuffs I that sometimes find myself craving now that I don't live in the neighborhood. Oh, and the Mexicana milkshake, too...

We were at the Medici for the first time in a long, long time a couple of weekends ago, and I agree it perfectly fits the OP's criterion of "place to get a bite to eat." "Bite to eat," to me, signals "I don't need a place that's going to knock my socks off; I need a place that's unchallenging, comfortable, good vibey, laid back, conducive to conversation, with food just good enough to be pleasing without drawing undue attention to itself." And the Medici fills that bill. I enjoyed my fried catfish (it had a more insistent crust on it than I was expecting, but I got used to it!) and service was friendly and very competent. We loved the untouched-since-1968 ambience, too.

I have been eating meals at the Medici since it was a coffee house in a bookstore further east on 57th street from where it is now. I was a kid then and thought the atmosphere very hip. As a ten-year denizen of Hyde Park (too many U of C degrees), I enjoyed the Medici. In the mid-1970s it was one of the few decent restaurants in the neighborhood; in those days, Hyde Park was pretty much a culinary wasteland.

Definitely the burgers are their best entrée and were certainly better on the black bread than on a bun. The pizza is dependable for its type, and I have a college friend who is still such a devotee of the fries that we have to have them whenever she visits Chicago, but I never thought they were that special (but I’m not a big fries eater). My husband misses the special sundaes Medici used to serve—the Amalfi, the Tivoli, and the Never on Sunday. They still have my favorite desert on the menu: the Vaguely Reminiscent, a very rich frozen mocha pie topped with a generous dollop of flavored whipped cream (mmm…). (The Trib printed a recipe for it some years back, by the way. It calls for some amazing amount of butter.) I confess Medici is something of a nostalgic treat for my husband and me, but my kids like it too. We probably eat there a few times a year. Yes, it’s the ultimate student place, but everyone else in Hyde Park eats there sooner or later too.

And please don't forget the pizzas at the Medici. For those of us who like bready pan pizzas, I think it has one of the best in town (try the spinach-goat cheese, in particular), and they can be ordered in single servings (altho, be warned, they do not stand up very well as takeouts).

For a variety of reasons (inconsistency with some of the more elaborate entrees, occasional quirkiness of service, or just plain familiarity-breeds-contempt syndrome) HP diners are occasionally dismissive of the Medici, but I can't enumerate the number of acquaintances who have emigrated to other campuses and complained about the lack of an equivalent among a sea of Subways, KFCs, and the occasional local attempt at appeasing the value/quality needs of a student/fac demographic.

I've only eaten at Medici a few times, but each of those times I found the food thoroughly unremarkable. I did try a pizza and am not a fan.

However, I like the bakery next door very much. I think one of the stuffed croissants together with a pastry makes for a great lunch.

Unfortunately, my son did not get into the U of C program he interviewed for. Perhaps I can tell him the interview was not in vain, because it stimulated a fine discussion of Hyde Park eaties.

Jonah
(Who has posted for eating recommendations for this same son for both undergrad and now graduate school.)