Mother's day in Evanston

I've been assigned to find a spot in Evanston for a Mother's Day lunch/brunch around 12:30 p.m. All ideas welcome. Thanks.

Haven't been, but looks very good:

http://www.lebistrobordeaux.com/bb_asse ... chmenu.pdf

I enjoy - http://www.mteverestrestaurant.com/

I'd consider Chef's Station (for funky decor), Stained Glass (for a wine lover), Quince (historic home of Café Provençal and Trio), or Campagnola (fresh Italian). All have great food.

Chef's Station
915 Davis St
Evanston

The Stained Glass Bistro
1735 Benson Ave
Evanston

Quince
1625 Hinman Ave
Evanston

Campagnola
815 Chicago Ave
Evanston

The first two suggestions above (Bistro Bordeaux and Mount Everest) are their standard Sunday brunch. Nothing wrong with that, but it's worth mentioning that AFAIK they don't have anything special planned for Mother's Day other than their usual.

Tom, do you know for sure that Chef's Station, Stained Glass, and Campagnola will be open for brunch on Mother's Day? I don't see anything indicating that on their websites, and they're not normally open for brunch on Sundays. (The Quince menu for Mother's Day, which is an a la carte brunch, is here, although IMHO $40 seems rather pricey given the breakfasty menu.)

Within the past year I've been to the elaborate special holiday buffet brunches at both Pete Miller's (steakhouse) and Davis Street Fishmarket, which have the same ownership, and both were pretty good, as well as a good value since they are all you can eat including dinner type items. As you would expect, they do a nice job on both meat and seafood, with more of an emphasis on seafood selections at Davis Street (which is also $10 cheaper). Here are the specifics for both brunches this Mother's Day:

Pete Miller's Mother's Day brunch
Davis Street Fishmarket Mother's Day brunch

Wherever you decide to go, I recommend making reservations in advance. Enjoy!

Don't know how old the mother(s) in the group is, but my 92 y.o. mother-in-law just adored her birthday brunch at Convito Cafe & Market in Plaza del Lago, just over the Evanston line in Wilmette. They have a special menu for M's Day brunch. It's a very pleasant room with good food and easy parking. I'd go back, even without the MIL.

EvA wrote:Convito Cafe & Market in Plaza del Lago, just over the Evanston line in Wilmette.

It's actually in the far end of Wilmette from Evanston, right before you cross the Wilmette town line into Kenilworth. A few miles up Sheridan Road from the Wilmette town line with Evanston (which is near the Bahai temple).

EvA wrote:They have a special menu for M's Day brunch.

Note that their Mother's Day menu consists of specials in addition to their regular a la carte brunch menu (click here), so they have quite an assortment available. Their brunch is very good (and includes many of the dishes they served as Betise, before its merger with Convito).

EvA wrote:I'd go back, even without the MIL.

Especially without the MIL.

I just received an e-mail that Prairie Moon in Evanston is doing Mother's Day brunch. This is identical to the brunch they did for Easter, which I went to earlier this month. It's not quite as lavish as the brunches at Pete Miller's or Davis Street, but it's a very nice spread, and it's a lot cheaper. $20 gets you all you can eat including breakfasty foods as well as some nice savory items, and it even includes alcoholic drinks (prosecco or mimosas). If you are looking for best value for your money, it's hard to beat this one!

Prairie Moon Mother's Day menu
Prairie Moon website

Lulu's always has the nice dim sum brunch.

(just as an FYI, Edzo's will be closed on mom's day.)

elakin wrote:Lulu's always has the nice dim sum brunch.

For those of you not familiar with Lulu's, it's not a separate brunch (and it's not served dim sum style); they use the same menu at all times, and start serving at 11:30 a.m. on weekends. On Saturdays and Sundays 11:30-3:00, and Monday and Tuesday 5:00-9:30, they have a special offer they call "Munch a Bunch". For around $17, you can order as much as you want of most of the items on the menu (a few items are off limits and some others restrict you to one serving of each item, and beverages and desserts are not included). It's a great deal and you can enjoy a nice variety of dishes from their menu, which features pan-Asian cuisine. They do this all the time, not just for Mother's Day.

Thanks for all the great feedback-evanston is a bit foreign to me...

For what it's worth, I wanted to share my mother's day experience at Bistro Bordeaux. We made reservations through OpenTable about a week before for 2:00 PM on Mother's Day. As we are getting ready that afternoon, I check my messages and their is a message from the restaurant, saying that they are calling to confirm and to ask if they can move our reservation up to 1:30 PM. It was about 1:25 PM when I got the message, so I called them immediately and asked if it was still okay for us to come at our original time at 2:00 PM. They said yes, that would be fine.

My in-laws were coming in from Milwaukee and meeting us there. We live close by and drove over to meet them, but we couldn't find parking at any of our usual spots. My husband dropped me and my toddler off across the street, and as we crossed we saw that my inlaws had pulled up a few minutes before.

When I reach them, I start to say hello, but am interrupted by a man whom I assume was the maître d’ (I don't know, since he never introduced himself). He said that we could not come in because the kitchen was closed. I said that we'd spoken to his staff half an hour before and that 2:00 PM was still okay. He said, yes, 2:00 PM, but you are late. I looked at my watch. It was 2:07 PM! I said so, and he said that they had to close their kitchen to prepare for their evening guests. He said he'd been trying to contact us, but I only had ever received the one call. He asked why we didn't call him. It was 2:07 for pete's sake, and I'm pregnant and carrying a 2.5 year old!

So, that was my experience with Bistro Bordeaux on Mother's Day. We had to wait out on the street for my husband to arrive from dropping off the car, and in the meantime, the man came out again and said that he could try and call the Celtic Knot down the street and get us in there, but the last thing I wanted to do was drag my entire family, including my inlaws who are in their seventies, down the street and have to wait again for a table. We went home instead. Definitely put a damper on Mother's Day.

I am very disappointed by my experience with this restaurant, which I had heard many good reviews of. I will not be going there again.

To report back-we came very close to going to Bistro Bordeaux-lindyj's comments make it sound like they were in over their heads.
Anyway-wound up at Chef's Station for a 3 course at $35 not including drinks, coffee, tip, tax, etc. Food was good-appetizers of onion tart with a bit of manchego, and tiny crabcakes were sampled. Entrees of shortribs with Israeli couscous, and seared whitefish with lentils, fennel, and mussel reduction-both fine. Only one dessert offered-a tiny apple breadpudding with a bit of ice cream on top. While the food was good, the portions were quite small for the price. I'm hoping these were mother's day prices, and that the restaurant doesn't charge quite this much as a rule. I'm not into big portions, and most of us were fine with the amount of food we consumed, but value wise it was off. Bill came to about $60 per person with tip, tax, and not much wine. There were only about-5 tables during lunch.
Again-thanks for all the suggestions.

stewed coot wrote:I'm hoping these were mother's day prices, and that the restaurant doesn't charge quite this much as a rule. I'm not into big portions, and most of us were fine with the amount of food we consumed, but value wise it was off.

I haven't been there for a special brunch, only for dinner, numerous times. The food is always outstanding. Their portion sizes for their everyday a la carte dinner menu are typical for a finer dining type restaurant; however, three courses typically cost more than $35. I'm guessing they had smaller than dinner sized portions for their Mother's Day brunch.

In terms of value, Chef's Station is typical for such restaurants; within Evanston, there are some nice places which are generally less expensive (e.g. Campagnola, Bistro Bordeaux) and others which are more (e.g. Oceanique, Quince).

As noted above, Prairie Moon was offering an amazing value with their AYCE Mother's Day brunch; I almost went back, even though I had eaten their same brunch for Easter!

nsxtasy wrote:

stewed coot wrote:I'm hoping these were mother's day prices, and that the restaurant doesn't charge quite this much as a rule. I'm not into big portions, and most of us were fine with the amount of food we consumed, but value wise it was off.

I haven't been there for a special brunch, only for dinner, numerous times. The food is always outstanding. Their portion sizes for their everyday a la carte dinner menu are typical for a finer dining type restaurant; however, three courses typically cost more than $35. I'm guessing they had smaller than dinner sized portions for their Mother's Day brunch.

In terms of value, Chef's Station is typical for such restaurants; within Evanston, there are some nice places which are generally less expensive (e.g. Campagnola, Bistro Bordeaux) and others which are more (e.g. Oceanique, Quince).

As noted above, Prairie Moon was offering an amazing value with their AYCE Mother's Day brunch; I almost went back, even though I had eaten their same brunch for Easter!

Yes I've eaten dinner many times at Chefs Station and there typical menu sizes are about average for this type of place. A three course meal normally would be more then $35 and I would guess the smaller size is reflected in the lower price. After a three course dinner at Chefs Station I’m pretty full.

We had three skinny 90-year-old people at the table-they ate every bite. My brother ate 2 entrees without blinking.(His wife didn't like hers) The portion size of the dessert would go for $5 as a "small bite" dessert. The appetizer for around $6-$7. Leaving the entrees at $23-$24, which would be way out of whack given not only the portion size, but the basic components on the plate. I fully realize that $35 for 3 courses is not neccesarily a great amount of money, but again, I think mother's day played into the deal here. Everything was well prepared, and I don't think anyone felt taken for a ride-it just needed to be kicked up a half notch to make the experience work for me.