A good dinner in Evanston?

Hi-

I'm considering relocating to Chicago for work, and my wife and I are coming there on Wednesday to have a look around. We're staying in Evanston and I am hoping to have a good dinner there. I was referred to this board from city-data.

Briefly, we have lived in Manhattan for 14 years and really love the diversity and quality of the food here. We often like to go to good restaurants late, like say after 10 pm, after the kids are in bed and babysitter is in place.

But speaking of kids, we have four of them, and it's probably time for us to get a house. So in Chicagoland, we're looking at first-ring suburbs and have narrowed it down to Evanston, Wilmette and Winnetka for no good reasons other than their proximity to the city and shoreline locations.

We're staying at the Hotel Orrington or perhaps the Hilton Garden (any tips on either of those hotels would also be appreciated) and are hoping to find a very good restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. One of our keys as we check out new communities is whether we can walk places--schools, restaurants, errands, parks, etc.

Any recommendations? I've seen Bistro Bordeaux and Stained Glass get some good publicity. Any comments on those places, or others? Thanks.

In addition to Bistro Bordeaux and Stained Glass (and its sister restaurant, The Cellar), you're close to the somewhat whimsical Chef's Station (yes, in the train station), Quince, Tapas Barcelona, Pete Miller's Steakhouse, and Found. Koi and Kansaku are good for Asian food. Of course, there are many, many more casual restaurants in downtown Evanston, and the options multiply exponentially if you're up for a long walk.

Out of the three towns you're considering, Evanston has easily the biggest and most varied restaurant scene, although it's easy to get to Evanston for those living just north in Wilmette or Winnetka. Downtown Evanston is chock full of restaurants of every description. (There are also excellent restaurants elsewhere in Evanston, particularly along Main Street, Chicago Avenue, and Central Street, but we'll stick to those downtown, in walking distance of either hotel.) Most of the nicer restaurants accept reservations, which are generally advisable, especially on weekends, when waits without a reservation can be lengthy almost anywhere. Many but not all of the restaurants in downtown Evanston are open for lunch as well as dinner.

If you're looking for an upscale dinner with creative cuisine (and it sounds like you are), Quince is excellent and would be my top pick. Chef's Station is very good too and is my second choice. The Stained Glass is good too, and is a bit more casual, as it also serves as a wine bar. Found is a new small-plates restaurant and it's excellent, but they don't accept reservations and if you're not there by 5:30, waits to be seated can horrendous (well over an hour), even on weekdays. Pete Miller's is good if you're looking for a steakhouse, and so are Davis Street Fishmarket and Bistro Bordeaux for what you would guess from their names.

There are some very good ethnic restaurants as well, although many don't take reservations, but waits are not necessarily a problem. Some of the best include Thai Sookdee, Lulu's Dim Sum (pan-Asian), Dixie Kitchen (southern/Cajun), That Little Mexican Café, 527 Café (Taiwanese), Pine Yard (Szechwan/Cantonese), and Mount Everest (Indian/Nepalese). I've had some not-so-great experiences at Tapas Barcelona (poor service) and Koi (often overly sweet) so I'm hesitant to recommend those two.

And for more casual fare, there's a terrific place for burgers and shakes called Edzo's, which is only open for lunch, not dinner. Lou Malnati's serves Chicago-style deep-dish pizza downtown, and so does Giordano's, for double-crust "stuffed" pizza. Prairie Moon is a casual place that combines a sports bar with California cuisine and it's quite good as well.

Unfortunately, two of my absolute favorites in Evanston are not downtown, but are in the vicinity of Chicago and Main, about a mile south of downtown Evanston. Oceanique is an upscale chef-driven restaurant specializing in seafood, and I like it even more than Quince. Campagnola is a casual neighborhood gem, nominally Italian but much of the menu leans towards contemporary American.

I love Tapas Barcelona for a delicious and fun dinner in Evanston.
I also love Lulu's Dim Sum and then some.
(walking distance from the Orrington- which is also walking distance from many good restaurants)

One thing you'll find is that in Chicago, the schedule is a lot earlier. I'm not sure how many of the restaurants people have recommended are even open at 10:00, much less after 10:00.
However, you'll also find that people get to work between 8 and 9 in the morning and go to bed earlier. Our nightly news is on at 10:00.

Jonah (an ex-New Yorker who loves Chicago)

Good point, Jonah! Getting seated at 10 pm or later is really going to restrict your restaurant choices, and at some places that are open that late, you'll be eating when the restaurants are mostly empty and the staff is cleaning up. Chicago is very different from New York that way. There are a few places in downtown Chicago that are known for staying open late (seating people well past midnight into the wee hours), but the majority don't seat past 9:30 during the week and 10:30 on weekends, and those in Evanston are not all that different, as noted below. The peak reservation time in Chicago is 7:30 pm, and you'll see places fill up on either side of that time; it's relatively easy to get reservations at most places here at 6 pm or 9 pm, and in between are the busiest seatings.

I'm looking at Evanston restaurants on Opentable (just because it's an easy way to scan for seatings and a manageable number to count). There are 13 Evanston restaurants that use Opentable. On a weeknight, all 13 will accept seatings at 8:30, 7 will accept seatings at 9:00, 3 will accept seatings at 10:00 (Globe, Kansaku, and Pete Miller's), and only 1 will accept seatings later than that (Pete Miller's). On a Saturday night, all 13 will accept seatings at 9:00, 7 will accept seatings at 10:00, and those same 3 will accept seatings at 11:00, none later.

Oh, and here you might have trouble finding babysitters willing to start at 10 pm, too - unless they're finishing sitting for someone else at that hour, and willing to pull a double!

Welcome to the Central Time Zone!

I moved to Evanston as a former Manhattan resident and mother of a preschooler. I had briefly lived further north in Glencoe and Winnetka, but found Evanston much preferable to these suburbs both for its own restaurant offerings and for accessibility to the north side of Chicago and its restaurants. You may find that, with a bit of research, Chicago offers some of the dining options that might be found in Queens, as well as other options that are more typical of Manhattan. Some may disagree, and I am the last to argue with them. In any case, I have never gone hungry in Chicago!

Another Evanston advantage is the availability of babysitters from Northwestern, particularly if your new home is within a reasonable distance of the campus.

Regarding your hotel selection, I have not seen the rooms at the Orrington recently, but they underwent a complete renovation not long ago. IMO, the Orrington's location is slightly better preferable to that of the Hilton Garden Inn, being closer to the campus and the older part of town. We are talking about just a few blocks in any case.

Good luck in your search. And welcome to LTH forum. Feel free to PM me with specific questions.

I agree with Josephine regarding living in Evanston. Wilmette is also a good place for families, but Evanston has more food options and more going on in general, with Northwestern there and easy access to Chicago via CTA. Lots of stuff for kids and families to do. You can use the CTA from Wilmette, but there's only one stop. Winnetka is pretty and you would have access to one of the best high school in the countries. I lived there for a couple of years, but it's less diverse in terms of population and income and that wasn't my cup of tea. So to speak.

As for food, I will second some of the previous posters; they've all mentioned places I like, including Bistro Bordeaux, Mt. Everest, Edzo's, Oceanique, Lulu's. Oh, and we also go to That Little Mexican Cafe sometimes. Flat Top Grill is one of our favorites as well, within walking distance of you - one of those places where you pick the veggies and the meat and sauces and they cook it up in front of you. You can have your stir-fry in a soup, a salad, on rice, or in pancakes. That one's a regional chain, with locations in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Of those type of restaurants (Stir Crazy, Big Bowl, bd's Mongolian Grill), it's definitely my favorite.

Welcome to the area!

Walking distance of your hotel is Taco Diablo. I highly recommend their tacos, tortas and margaritas. Very fresh, inventive combinations of almost a dozen fillings. It is among the prettiest dining rooms in Evanston. Really cool decor. It is run by the folks who run Lulu's which was also mentioned upstream. One of the best new restaurants to open in Evanston (since Edzo's!) http://tacodiabloevanston.com/

Also within walking distance, I'd suggest having a nightcap at Prairie Moon. Best beer list in Evanston. They currently have Three Floyds' Zombie Dust on tap according to their daily specials, link below. An amazing beer worth a trip if you havent tried it yet. http://prairiemoonrestaurant.com/v3/ima ... ecials.pdf

Thanks, everyone. We're going to stay at the Orrington Hotel and probably have dinner at Oceanique or Bistro Bordeaux. It may be a long walk from the hotel but we want to get a sense of what the community looks like as well.

One final query: any wine bars (or good bars) near Oceanique or Bistro Bordeaux for a nightcap?

champs2005 wrote:Walking distance of your hotel is Taco Diablo. I highly recommend their tacos, tortas and margaritas. Very fresh, inventive combinations of almost a dozen fillings. It is among the prettiest dining rooms in Evanston. Really cool decor. It is run by the folks who run Lulu's which was also mentioned upstream. One of the best new restaurants to open in Evanston (since Edzo's!) http://tacodiabloevanston.com/

Also within walking distance, I'd suggest having a nightcap at Prairie Moon. Best beer list in Evanston. They currently have Three Floyds' Zombie Dust on tap according to their daily specials, link below. An amazing beer worth a trip if you havent tried it yet. http://prairiemoonrestaurant.com/v3/ima ... ecials.pdf

And there's a good nightcap answer. Thanks.

Yes, Stained Glass is close to Bistro Bordeaux and is a good place for wine, even if you don't go there for dinner. See The Stained Glass Wine Bar, Bistro & Cellar. About half-way between Oceanique and your hotel is Union Pizzeria, which is a very good restaurant and has a nice beer, cocktail, and wine list. See The pizzeria formerly known as Wild Geese (Union Pizzeria)

I've enjoyed every meal I've had at Oceanique. I haven't been to Bistro Bordeaux. I presume you've read the existing threads on Bistro Bordeaux and Oceanique. If not, the links are below. Please post your experiences in the appropriate thread.

Bistro Bordeaux, Evanston

Oceanique: Four thumbs up!

You'll find other mentions of these places in other threads on the site.

Darren72 wrote:About half-way between Oceanique and your hotel is Union Pizzeria

I haven't been that impressed with Union - I've found that the pizza is rather mediocre and the other stuff isn't much better - but it's notable because right behind it is Space, a truly outstanding nightclub concert venue. They have some of the very best acts for a variety of types of popular music, and it's small enough that every seat is terrific. You can view their schedule of upcoming shows on their website at evanstonspace.com. (They will let you bring pizza from Union in to the show, but be forewarned, the reserved tables are TINY and the general admission seats have no tables at all, so you're probably going to be holding it on your lap while eating it.)

One other noteworthy restaurant in that immediate vicinity - the Dempster and Chicago intersection, about half a mile south of downtown Evanston - is Blind Faith, which specializes in vegetarian cuisine.

Also, a block south of there, a new Trader Joe's is under construction.

Water 4 the Pool wrote:One final query: any wine bars (or good bars) near Oceanique or Bistro Bordeaux for a nightcap?

The Alcove is right across the street from Oceanique - it's tiny (about 12 seats) but with a very friendly vibe. Ward Eight is a top-notch cocktail bar, and it isn't far from Oceanique, but I'm not sure I'd recommend walking there after dinner - you'd be walking through one of Evanston's grittier neighborhoods. If you stay in the downtown area, The Cellar (Stained Glass' sister establishment) is a particularly good wine bar.

The Alcove: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=35337

Ward Eight: viewtopic.php?f=32&t=36586&p=440437

The Cellar: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=25948&p=280900

nr706 wrote:Ward Eight: http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 6&p=440437

This!
(though, probably not the best place for a glass of wine)

=R=

Just a reminder to please keep your posts focused on food, drinks, and related topics.
Posts on taxes, schools, etc. will be pulled.

Thanks for your understanding,
Darren72
For the moderators

Evanston is the place to be for somebody who came from a city - you can walk places. I think that you will do well with bistro bordoux, I've been to oceanique a few times and its ok, but I don't see it as good value for the money.

I would highly recommend living within a 250 meter radious of Main and Chicago, or ditto Greenbay and central, in terms of walking to great places.

in terms of eating - there is a fantastic hamburger place - enzo's, world class chicken - chicken shack, pretty good pan Asian joy yee and lulus' (one of the bid handicaps of chicagoland, in my opinion is a lack of good neighborhood Chinese, but you have pan Asian instead), good sushi, a few high end places, and a few good bars.

in terms of bars - the alcove, found, prarie moon and union are all good

globetrotter wrote:I would highly recommend living within a 250 meter radious of Main and Chicago, or ditto Greenbay and central, in terms of walking to great places.

While there are a few very good places to eat near both those intersections, there aren't all that many, and you might get tired of those pretty quickly. The number within walking distance in downtown Evanston is much, much, MUCH greater than in either of those areas.

Hey Water, where did you go, and how did you like it?

well, yes, that isn't the reason I would live near those intersections. but we are a food forum. walking from main Chicago to bistro bordeux isn't too much of a hardship, but I can also walk to the beach for a picknic, which is less easy when you live downtown.

Assuming it's the same Water, I believe I saw a post of his on City Data indicating that his trip was slightly postponed due to the forecast over the past few days here.

If we are expanding to burgers its worth noting that Evanston is in the center of (what seems to me) a high concentration places you can get a good burger. In addition to Edzo's (superb) mentioned upthread, there is Weiner and Still Champion, Poochies, and the underappreciated Little Island. There are actually far more than this, but these are the places I find myself going to. For some reason, despite their upbringing, my kids are fans of Mustard's Last Stand...

bw77 wrote:If we are expanding to burgers its worth noting that Evanston is in the center of (what seems to me) a high concentration places you can get a good burger. In addition to Edzo's (superb) mentioned upthread, there is Weiner and Still Champion, Poochies, and the underappreciated Little Island.

Although I've never ordered it when dining there, I've heard people say that Pete Miller's serves an awesome burger.

I've had some very credible burgers at places where we do carry-out, including Cross Rhodes and Panino's and, just across the border in Skokie, Dengeo's and Hub's.

Thanks. I will give some of those a try. Its never occurred to me to order a burger at Dengeos.

We should probably mention Hackney's on Harm's as well, though I haven't been there for quite a while and can't say how they stack up.

Now if we could just get a good Italian Beef place.

Italian beef is decent at Dengeo's too. I'm sure the aficionados will turn up their noses, but it's not bad, and a lot closer than Taylor Street. It's worth a try!

In a current Eater article for "Burger Week" Chef Daniel Rose of Spring in Paris chooses the Niki Special (topped with Gyros meat) from Chuck Wagon as his favorite.

bw77 wrote:If we are expanding to burgers its worth noting that Evanston is in the center of (what seems to me) a high concentration places you can get a good burger. In addition to Edzo's (superb) mentioned upthread, there is Weiner and Still Champion, Poochies, and the underappreciated Little Island. There are actually far more than this, but these are the places I find myself going to. For some reason, despite their upbringing, my kids are fans of Mustard's Last Stand...

I've had a couple of really good burgers at Prairie Moon as well. Last night I got their Dark Side of the Moon and a pint of Zombie Dust. Hard to beat that combo!

In that same Eater series, Alpana Singh picks Edzo's griddle burgers as her favorite and there is a review of Found's oven roasted burger.

bw77 wrote:In a current Eater article for "Burger Week" Chef Daniel Rose of Spring in Paris chooses the Niki Special (topped with Gyros meat) from Chuck Wagon as his favorite.

It's actually located in Wilmette and they're only open until 7 (Sundays until 4). Thread here.

Too funny. Chef Rose obviously has impeccable taste!

=R=

Wilmette Chuck Wagon
1120 Central Ave
Wilmette, IL 60091
Phone:(847) 256-0120

bw77 wrote:In a current Eater article for "Burger Week" Chef Daniel Rose of Spring in Paris chooses the Niki Special (topped with Gyros meat) from Chuck Wagon as his favorite.

It all makes a bit more sense when one knows that Chef Rose is a Wilmette native.