Lucky Platter BBQ Chicken Sandwich

I had lunch today at Lucky Platter in Evanston, for the first time and while I was not impressed by the kitchshy atmosphere, I had a BBQ chicken sandwich which was quite tasty.

A grilled chicken breast on a soft egg bun, with a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, lettuce (which was not necessary) and a pile of fried onion strings. The side of sweet potato fries (very skinny, like the onions) were excellent as well. I wish I had a picture to share, as just seeing the sandwich on the plate, I knew it was going to be worth every penny.

While the lunch menu consists of salads, pizzas and sandwiches, I was wondering how the dinner entrees fare.

Lucky Platter
514 Main St.
Evanston, IL 60202
847 869-4064
http://luckyplatterrestaurant.com/

I agree about the atomosphere at Lucky Platter. I"ve been there for brunch and for dinner - my impression is nothing is bad, but nothing stands out, either. But it's certainly in a great neighborhood for restaurants (I'm remembering a great LTH lunch at Kuni's, several good meals I've had at Oceanique, and lots of good Greek food at Cross-Rhodes - not to mention the better-than-average Mexican I had last weekend at Lupita's, on the other side of the train tracks).

butter674 wrote:While the lunch menu consists of salads, pizzas and sandwiches, I was wondering how the dinner entrees fare.

We've recently become pretty fond of LP after rather a while kind of ignoring it for no good reason.

I can't really answer your question, because our usual dinner order is sandwiches and salads. I really like their tandoori chicken sandwich.

We stick to lighter fare so as to also be able to eat the corn bread and sweet potato fries. The fries are not always the freshest, but I still find them tasty, especially with hot sauce.

When my daughter was small and we lived a couple of blocks from the Lucky Platter we ate there often. Along with another thousand or so
Evanston families. The funky atmosphere was put to good use playing "I SPY" with my hungry but eagle-eyed preschooler as we waited for our food. (The Lucky Platter's family-friendly atmosphere was then, and remains now, a mixed blessing at busy times. I don't think anyone on the staff would dispute this, given the obstacle course they are forced to run to avoid errant children.)

The food has been consistent in my experience over 13 years, (not to say great, but healthy-tasting and reliable). I rarely find myself going there these days, partly because parking is so difficult (shame on me) and partly because of a certain stickiness about the place interacting with my personal fastidiousness. The Lucky Platter has a well-worn place in my heart, but to be perfectly honest, I can't help feeling that they could benefit from a round of menu-reworking. For old times' sake, and since you asked, I will list the things I go back for again and again.

My favorites:

1) the above-mentioned cornbread -- I feel quite smug in saying that I have the recipe, which was generously given to me years and years ago

2) the house salad with lettuce, feta, apples, raisins, walnuts, a couple of tomatoes, and soy-mustard vinaigrette--also good with grilled chicken as a main dish

3) the crab cakes with lemon butter sauce (better than those at the esteemed Glenn's Diner, IMHO -- and it just so happens I had both last week)

4) the house made desserts are uniformly good - I have never had anything stale there, and their summer fruit pies can be top-notch.

5) the hibiscus tea in summer and the warm spiced cider in the fall

6) the sides in general--except for the mac n' cheese. How many places can you order a fresh green vegetable (or two) these days? You asked about entrees, but to me the sides really make the meal.

7) their housemade granola for breakfast (though I'm not a huge fan of their coffee, which tends to taste burned to me.)

Enjoy.

A friend recommmended Lucky Platter so last night a few friends and I stopped by for dinner. The inside is very...eclectic, chaotic, and cheesy in terms of the restaurant's decorations, but I could see how others might find it cute and intellectually stimulating. haha Errr...maybe not. The majority of the diners seemed to be families and older middle aged friends. My friends loved the mushroom quesadilla. I really liked how all the ingredients that went into our meals seemed very fresh- broccoli, fruit, etc. I'd never had gingered fruit before, and I LOVED it! Cilantro, red onions, ginger, and other ingredients I can't pick out make the grapes, strawberries, and pineapple taste SO GOOD! Try it if you've never had it! I had the bbq salmon and I finished everything. The bbq sauce was sweet. The salmon was cooked a bit beyond how I like it, but the waiter didn't ask how I liked my fish cooked so I suppose I should have said medium rare. The fish came with mashed sweet potatoes and diced oven roasted vegetables such as turnips, cabbage, carrots, etc. Overall, I thought the food at Lucky Platter was very fresh and very tasty. I plan on returning. My friends and I were confused at first though and couldn't tell who was a customer or an employee of the restaurant b/c the workers weren't wearing anything but streeet clothes.

We enjoyed today's Evanston Lunch Group™ lunch at Lucky Platter.

Starting with the always-entertaining ungapatchka décor...

Here's what we ate:

Fried green tomatoes

Pizza with choice of three items (artichoke hearts, goat cheese, roasted mushrooms):

Florentine benedict

Chicken pot pie

Acorn squash
(no photo but nr706 took one)

Housemade cream soda

Swedish pancakes

Pumpkin pie

Lunch was quite good, with the chicken pot pie the consensus standout and the pizza the most "meh".

I would definitely return for the Chicken Pot Pie, which I thought was delicious. The pumpkin pie was also worthy of respect (and the cornbread, too). The other dishes not so much, with the pizza (why would we order pizza at Lucky Platter) proving that not all pizza is delightful.

As Ken promised, , a photo of the acorn squash.
It was a side dish, and a good version of the dish, with a brown sugar liquid inside. But it's a basic preparation, nice, not much to get excited about.

As far as the other things we had, pizza was also good, competent, and unexceptional.

Fried Green Tomatoes were a little more interesting. A little bland on their own, the Cajun remoulade was a nice touch. The roasted tomato sauce slightly overwhelmed the other flavors.

Florentine Benedict was tasty, with sun-dried tomatoes and black ham along with the usual spinach, eggs and hollandaise. The interesting twist was the use of toasted cornbread as the base, instead of an English Muffin.

The Chicken Pot Pie was an excellent version, with a tender, almost biscuity crust. Someone commented that pastry crust (made with walnuts) and cornbread are probably the two greatest strengths of Lucky Platter.

Unusual for the group, we had two sweet courses — Swedish Pancakes with Lingonberry, and pumpkin pie — neither unusual, both good versions of classics.

Which seems to sum up Lucky Platter. Nothing bad, nothing outstanding, everything solid, and reliable breakfast-lunch-dinner place with quirky decor.