Z & H on Check, Please!

posted by chicago pop

Almost exactly three years after getting some love from Hungry Hound, Hyde Park - Kenwood's favorite sandwich shop and locally-sourced, organic specialty foods boutique, Zaleski & Horvath Market Café, gets some attention from Check, Please! Worth noting: of the two reviewers who recommended other eateries, neither dinged Z&H!

Hat tip to HPP reader LN

Saturday on 53rd St: The Flirty Cupcake Van

Whilst making our market rounds this Saturday afternoon, imagine our surprise when, directly before Rajun Cajun, steps from the meditative fiberglass Red Man, and across the street from the ever-scaffolded Herald Building, we chanced upon - Lo! - a cupcake van.

Yes, that's right. A cupcake van.

No sooner had we paused to consult the banner of cupcake offerings, both wondrous and manifold, than a line formed behind us. The treats are not cheap, but lovers of cupcakes have come to expect a premium for such imaginative toppings as bannana-strawberry cream and pineapple rum cakes. You may also be struck by the advanced design of the cupcake packaging, surely the most damage-proof and user friendly cupcake packaging yet devised.

And they come to you. A winning strategy: behold the hunger for mid-afternoon cupcakes on a Saturday afternoon.

 

The van is run by Flirty Cupcakes, a caterer operating out of the West Side, but fully mobile, and with scheduled stops all over Chicago-Land, including the 1500 E. block of 53rd Street on Saturdays from 3 o'clock onward. (Their van is tracked on Flirty's Facebook page).

Try them and come back to let us know what you think.

Robust Coffee Lounge: Caffeine in an Urban Fastness

posted by chicago pop

One of Hyde Park - Kenwood - Woodlawn's newest cool things is in the lower left-hand corner of the above building: Robust Coffee Lounge. We've been flagrantly remiss in not heralding its arrival much, much sooner. Chicago Weekly has a very nice write-up of Robust here. Neighbor blogger Woodlawn Wonder gives her personal take on it here.

So, after several friendly proddings from readers, we finally made it down to their corner location on 63rd and Woodlawn -- where, as a rosy-cheeked youth I walked in days of yore, neath the dappled sunlight of a cacophonous elevated rail spur, in search of Harold's Chicken -- to find that we weren't the only ones retracing our footsteps.

For the most interesting thing about Robust Coffee Lounge-- where, despite the name, it is hoped they do not brew robusta coffee beans -- is actually the owner Jake Sapstein's backstory. In opening up Robust, Sapstein is retracing footsteps of his own. Talk to him for a little bit and you'll quickly realize that he knows the South Side. The reason is that his family owned a chain of pharmacies throughout the area, back in the day when Walgreens was not the only game in town.

It's clear that running a small business, and entrepreneurial spirit, are in his blood; so is running a store on the South Side of Chicago.


I mention all of this because I couldn't help but wonder, approaching the building in this photograph from the north, surrounded as it is by enormous tracts of empty land, who would have the guts to open up here. Not just because it's kind of scary at night (ask Jake, he'll tell you), but because commercially it's deserted, and business loves company. The whole story has a sort of poetry: the old threads of social fabric, torn for over half a century, have been stitched together again on one particular street corner. With any luck, so we are told, Sapstein and his business partner may open up a restaurant next door.

And the coffee? Well, if you've gotten used to Z&H, you may be a little let down. Then again, Sapstein's aim is not to be a solo foodie boutique, but to grow and make money -- full-disclosure to Old-Guard Hyde Park anti-capitalists. But the baked goods are all locally sourced, and everything on the deli menu -- which is substantial, and includes staples that you can't get in Hyde Park anymore, like chicken salad -- is made in-house. "We want to be a curator for local vendors," Jake told me.

Seems to be working so far. Go check it out, if you haven't already.

Review: Michael's Fresh Market on 47th Street

posted by Elizabeth Fama

The new Michael's Fresh Market on 47th Street (between Woodlawn and Lake Park) is finally open. It takes the place of the ill-fated Co-Op Supermarket in the Lake Pointe Park Shopping Center.

The space is cavernous. The product selection is something between Village Foods and Treasure Island, and the prices for what I purchased weren't much lower than those at Treasure Island. There are lots of non-perishable aisles, but not much variety in produce, meats, or fish. Some aisles are mysteriously small, with little diversity given the space, like the cold cereal aisle, the bread aisle, and the selection of baby diapers and wipes. There are no upscale imported cheeses, there is no "unusual" fresh produce like rapini, and there are only a couple of brands of yogurt. But it's not all Target stock: you can find some common import brands like Bonne Maman jams, and Mestemacher German pumpernickel (near the deli).

The barbecue sauce, steak sauce, and condiments aisle.

The produce left something to be desired.

I'm not an expert in Asian foods, but that aisle is relatively big, with large bags of rice (Calrose, Thai) and bottled sauces (mostly Asian-American brands, though). There's an Indian section with bulk spices that seems more substantial than that of any of our existing Hyde Park-Kenwood stores.

A portion of the Indian aisle.

There's a taqueria just inside the front door.

By and large this is the sort of store where even the frozen pizzas tend to be Connie's and Stouffers, not Annie's or Puck's or even California Pizza Kitchen. But in a neighborhood verging on a food desert, Michael's is a welcome addition.

**Addendum, 8/2/2010: I revisited Michael's today, and had a much better experience. I think in the week since I've been there they have continued stocking, and there were noticeable improvements. There are still things missing, like fresh-baked loaves of bread, but perhaps those, too, are gradually on their way.**

"Cuisine of the Diaspora": African Food Emporium for 51st Street

posted by chicago pop

"Cuisines of the Diaspora" Entrepreneur Bernard Lloyd
[Source: Bronzeville Metropolis, http://www.bronzevillemetropolis.com/bronzeville.html]

In a Sun-Times piece of February, 2009, the paper took a look at "cuisines of the African diaspora" in Chicago's various neighborhoods. Curiously telling was the fact that, of the neighborhoods mentioned, none was on Chicago's South Side or Bronzeville, its historically black neighborhood.

That may change by the end of 2010.

If all goes according to plan (a big "if", given some of the epic failures we've catalogued in the immediate vicinity), a lot at 51st Street and Prairie and adjacent to the Green Line station will become the site of a 17,000 square foot food emporium highlighting cuisines from American Southern, African, Jamaican and vegan fare, together with a much-needed fresh produce market.

Former McKinsey partner and now developer Bernard Lloyd estimates that the project will bring 130 jobs to the neighborhood. The project will be financed with the help of $3 million in city TIF funding, that very special funny-money that sloshes around plentifully no matter what the prevailing economic climate.

With a good dose of City TIF money and the business acumen of a former McKinsey consultant committed to this project, it has a lot going for it. Let's hope this one comes through.

More Orly's Drama: Celebrity Chef Splits on Shopiro

posted by chicago pop

Celebrity Chef Jen Gavin, formerly of The Big Easy/Orly's*****

We'll get straight to the dish on this one: at a time when many folks have reason to celebrate all things New Orleans, The Big Easy (or Orly's, as it will always be known in our hearts, sort of like the Sears Tower will always be just that) is down one celebrity chef.

Here's what Hungry Hound Steve Dolinsky has to say about the drama on his Adventures in Urban Eating blog:

Less than a month after opening its doors, chef Jennifer Gavin and The Big Easy (not to be confused with Big Easy Cajun at Old Orchard Shopping Mall) have parted ways. Gavin – a former contestant on “Hell’s Kitchen” – had been brought in to help overhaul the new menu and concept in the former Jalapeño’s/Orly’s space in Hyde Park, on 55th St.

We ate there once a few weeks ago and noticed a definite improvement in the menu, plus an attempt to spruce the place up with a coherent decor and a new coat of paint. But, alas, the curse of Orly's seems to have quickly set in, and now the folks behind the latest Orly's makeover are now kitty-hissing at one another:

“She up and quit on us, right in the middle of the shift on Saturday afternoon,” said owner David Shopiro. “Jennifer, while a good kitchen person, was more into being a celebrity.” Shopiro said the restaurant was pretty busy this past Saturday, and they were expecting a large group from Operation Push to come in around 1 p.m. Gavin had approached him, asking if she could do an exit interview for the Fox TV f0lks at 1 p.m. “She told me it would take a few minutes, so I thought, o.k.,” said Shopiro. Next thing he knows, the kitchen is in the weeds, and the team is clamoring for help. Customers were getting upset that the food was coming out slow. “I went to the office at 1:25 p.m., and it was locked, so I was shaking the door, asking her to get off of the phone, and come out to help,” said Shopiro. “By 1:40 p.m., customers were getting pissed off, so I started pounding on door, telling her to give them your phone number and call them back,” an exasperated Shopiro recounted. Two minutes later, he says, the chef walked out to the kitchen, told her boss he owed her an apology for yelling at her, and left the premises.

OK. So now here's the other side of the story:

For her part, Gavin says “things were getting a little weird, and the situation was not what I had planned on.” She has hired an attorney to assist with her separation from the business.

A little weird. That just about gets it.



****(And for more weirdness, check out Dolinsky's upcoming bit on The Big Easy this Friday (ABC 7, 11 AM) in which he interviews now-departed Gavin.)
*****Photo above sourced at: [http://www.buddytv.com/pictures/jen-1-pictures/viewer.aspx?ai=58463&pi=1021928]

Anyone Want to Run Orly's? It's For Sale (on craigslist)

posted by chicago pop

Anyone want to put poor Orly's out of its misery? The owner is willing to pay you to do so.

A reader sent us this notice from -- interestingly -- craigslist: where you really can find everything.

Get the word out to all your friends and Iron Chef America fanatics that the kitchen can be theirs to dream with. The location has potential: Zig & Lou's is smaller, as is the Medici Bakery. Someone should be able to work some magic at a strategic and bustling Hyde Park intersection -- so we're re-running the ad!

CHICAGO RESTAURANT OPPORTUNITY (Hyde Park )

---

Date: 2009-08-22, 4:01PM CDT
Reply to: job-d2udy-1336996431@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

---

Unique opportunity for youthful yet experienced chef-restaurateur in densely populated Hyde Park.

Owner of 30 years in newly renovated central location wants to phase out and just focus on catering...the restaurant operation will be your ship to steer.
New operator will have complete autonomy to run kitchen & restaurant and keep 90% of profit...plus option to buy owner out at end of lease.

Must be capable of injecting his own 75K for working capital. Otherwise, a 700K 90 seat restaurant & bar is essentially free.

A fresh, new, ambitious face can take Hyde Park and the South Side by storm!

** Call David @ 773 330-0440 * Email your interest to: Beitalpha@aol.com **

Orly's: 30 Years and Still No Concept; Treasure Island Puts in a Soda Fountain

posted by chicago pop

A piece of paper floated to my doorstep the other day, a promotional menu for the restaurant once known as Orly's, but now apparently the "Hyde Park Barbeque & Bakery."

Now admittedly, this new name, which exists only on the menu, tells you more about what to expect there than the other, superceded name, which carried the symbolic baggage of an air terminal redolent of jet fuel in the fields south of Paris, unless you happen to be more familiar with one of the great names of Israeli tennis.

All fine and good, but didn't this place put out a similar promotional menu a year or so ago, when it was converting itself into an old-schul delicatessin? There were the bagels, pomoted on this blog until they were outclassed by the competition from Zaleski and Horvath, and there was the overhauled menu with home-made corned-beef, matzo-ball soup, kreplach, and knishes.

It turns out The Restaurant Formerly Known as "Orly's" has gone through multiple mutations over the 28 years of its existence. Even the name of the restaurant's owner changes spelling as one voyages back in time and through the Herald archives (David ShOpiro, SApiro, or ShApiro).

Mutability may be a source of inspiration among romantic poets, but is it good for restaurants? Let's review the history of Orly's, starting at The Beginning, when the Herald proudly reviewed the new establishment in 1981.

Walk into Orly's and you feel that Hyde Park is a place where exciting things are happening, that you don't have to go to the North Side to find out what is current in dining. A complete redecorating job on the first floor of the Mayfair Apartments has produced an elegant Art Deco interior with heavy black mahogany tables, brass railings and hurricane lamps, lots of palms and fresh flowers and inset tanks of tropical fish. White Naugahyde upholstered booths, roomy tables, light rock recordings and a bright, active ambience spell comfort plus fun. From servers wearing Izod shirts and introducing themselves by first name through cutesy menu terminology ("One Helluva Burger") and "health" ingredients to elaborate fruit-ice cream cocktails, everything is almost slavishly obedient to current trends. Owner David Shopiro designed both the interior and the menu himself, and currently supervises both dining room an kitchen at lunch and dinner— a superhuman task.

Orly's Server ca. 1981

That was Concept #1, which was greeted by a rave review from the Chicago Maroon. Then came concept #2: in 1991 , Orly's completely "revamped its menu," "providing Hyde Park's only gourmet, low-calorie, low-cholesterol meals," focusing on "Mexican, Japanese, Italian, Polynesian and Israeli dinners."

Concept #3 came in 1995, when Orly's diversified a bit by adding "the most spectacular salad bar Hyde Park has ever seen," and a complementary Asian vegetable stir fry bar.

Concept #4 followed shortly thereupon in 1996, when Orly's ditched the tightly focused Japanese, Italian, Polynesian, and Israeli menu with attached Asian vegetable stir fry bar to concentrate on Southwest cuisine. This is most likely when the Sonoran murals went up (the Sponge Bob fish tanks set into the walls date to Concept #1, and blend nicely with the arid, desert wall paintings). Orly's began sprinkling its print ads with lots of words like "huge" and "massive".

Two years into Concept #4 (1998), Orly's became "Jalapeño's" until a revolt of "old Orly's" regulars resulted in Concept #5, a return to Orly's from Concept #3 in 2002.

So bearing in mind that Concept #5 is really Concept #3, Concept #6, a "Corner Bakery style cafe in Hyde Park," arrived in 2006, when Orly's owner realized that opening a bakery and selling "focaccia and bagels" "was a no-brainer," and Orly's cooks were sent for one month to train at the California branch of a New York bagel-eria and started making the bagels that we reviewed on HPP in 2008. (There was also talk of an "oatmeal bar").

Which makes the Hyde Park Barbeque and Bakery Concept #7

So there you have it. A little bit of something for everybody.

In other news, we see from a Treasure Island ad in the Chicago Tribune that a soda fountain is coming.

It's things like this that will help make the onset of the Great Recession bearable.

chicago pop ca. 1981

Hyde Park's Bagel Breakthrough

posted by chicago pop

Hyde Park Scores Major Bagel Asset; Zimmer Provided Vision, Zalevski & Horvath Supplied Execution

Brain function requires quick calories. There are a lot of quick calories in bagels. University research communities achieve optimum brain function when fueled with lots of bagels.

The above syllogism establishes one of the foundational truths of University life. Behind the research grants, the search for donors, the battles over funding, it all boils down to bagels. If you've got them, you can go farther, faster.

If you don't have them, well, it's just harder. So we expect great things from the assembled minds of the University of Chicago now that Hyde Park-Kenwood has made its great bagel breakthrough: Zalevski & Horvath Market Cafe has decided to round out its delicatessen-ess by offering bagels on the weekends.

For those of you who remember last year's Great Hyde Park Bagel Hunt Part 1 and Part 2, it was then determined that there is a great, pent up reservoir of unmet demand for real bagels in the neighborhood, and it wasn't being met by any of the local options.

At the time, we concluded that the best of Hyde Park's limited selection was available at otherwise questionable Orly's. We weren't necessarily satisfied with this, it was just the best we could find. If you don't bother to get out and eat a real bagel once in a while, over a period of time you might be able to convince yourself that Orly's makes a real bagel.

But those days are over, we're happy to say. We've taste-tested a batch of Zalevski and Horvath Market Cafe's glorious, aromatic, chewy, and just plain delicious bagels today and we're still feeling the glow.

Clockwise from Upper Left: Plain, Poppy Seed, Onion, and Everything Bagels from Zalevski and Horvath Market Cafe

Z&H's Samuel Darrigrand tells us that University President Zimmer convinced him it was time to make the move when he observed that there was "a lot of bagel-shaped bread" in Hyde Park, but no bagels. After an initial stint distributing bagel-shaped bread from Orly's, Z&H decided to throw their own dough in the vat, and not long afterwards found a cook that really seems to know what they're doing.

Taste Test Results


This onion bagel just looks like a bagel. Its lumpy, has an irregular hole in the middle, and has a gnarled, wrinkled skin. It does not look like a fat little balloon or a doughnut. Like the other samples, this one was completely blitzed with flavoring. So far, so good.

Let's cut it open.


This bagel is hard to hold while you cut it, because it's so moist and floppy. The knife tears the bread inside, leaving a ragged edge, which is good, and indicates that this is not a muffin, not a biscuit, but a punchy, chewy bagel. And when both sides fall apart, a pleasant, sweet odor immediately rises from the dough. Perhaps a little honey in the water during boiling, in the Montreal tradition?

Only on toasting does the exterior of the Z&H bagel crispen, and only moderately, while the interior retains its moist density. The sweetness first detected on slicing the bagel survived the toasting and comes through in the mouth.

You Know You Want This.

Good news is hard to find these days. So we'll take what we can get, and this is pretty solid. So we salute the historic synergy activated by Zimmer and carried out by the gang at Z&H, who are doing their part to bring the delicatessen back to the city where it belongs.

On the Pavement: The End of BYOB on 55th

posted by chicago pop

The timing couldn't be better: as the financial meltdown accelerates, Hyde Parkers may soon be able to to forget the plunging value of their 401(k)s by ordering a drink with their noodles at any of the restaurants on 55th Street between the Metra tracks and Cornell.

According to a notification sent to neighbors last week, MAC Properties is seeking a zoning change that would allow the restaurants on the 1601-1623 stretch of E. 55th to operate as "General Restaurants," thereby enabling them to obtain a city license to sell alcohol on their premises.

The idea, according to MAC representative Peter Cassel, is to make it possible for restaurants on this strip to sell higher-margin items, such as alcoholic beverages, in order to improve their income statements. Higher revenues would allow them to invest more in interior refurbishments and menu improvements.

The request for a zoning change was arrived at in discussion with the strip's businesses, who support the zoning change and the increased revenue it would allow: Morry's, Nile, Thai 55, Cafe Corea, and Kikuya.

The proposed change will be discussed at a community meeting at 6PM, Thursday, October 2, at 1621 E. 55th Street. Fifth Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston will be in attendance.

Blogs You Should Read and Things You Should Eat

Very Sexy Italian Espresso Machine That May Soon Be Living at
Zalesky Und Horvath Market Cafe

posted by chicago pop

Now that the break in geological time known as Labor Day has passed, and the boat pond in Harold Washington Park has managed to be full of water for half the summer, though not full of boats, I'd like to direct your attention to some of the following developments in the greater Hyde Park/Southside, both in and out of the blogosphere:

Woodlawn Wonder, the dynamic and quite entertaining voice of I Hate my Developer, describes being too close for comfort to the insane spate of gunshots in mid-August, some of which were directed at CTA buses on Stony Island and 65th Street, down the street from her ranch and the future south campus U of C dormitories.

I am appropriately horrified, even from the distance of 47th Street. And the tragic gunfire continues.

Looks like you can have firearms and mayhem even without a decrepit elevated spur along 63rd Street.

You might also read her narration of our first face-to-face meeting, in which we observed her handling table service for at least two successive tables of families with kids, all with impeccable aplomb. From our conversation that evening, it sounds like things are looking up for Woodlawn Wonder. You can cheer for her when you check out her blog.

Meanwhile, another little shop appears poised to enter the local retail landscape: Open Produce, at 1635 E. 55th Street, tells me that they're in the last stages of their build-out, and hope to win their last duel with City inspectors in the next few weeks, which you can read about on their blog.

They have some remodeling pics on the blog, which like the shots J/Tati put up of his shop when his ceiling collapsed earlier this year, remind us how crappy a lot of the lead-paint death-trap retail space in Hyde Park really is. (We note that Tati's old basement shop at 55th and Cornell is still vacant. Low rent with free lead poisoning, anyone?)

Back on topic, here's what the Open Produce folks say about themselves:

Open Produce ... will provide as many fruits and vegetables (conventional, organic, local, really local) and dry goods as we can fit in our storefront. In addition to providing good food at good prices, we also want to push the envelope in terms of transparency and accountability to the community -- all of our bank statements, wholesale prices, contractor payments, employee wages, etc. will be made available for everyone to scrutinize.

"Social entrepreneurialism" it's called, and it looks like the next generation of Hyde Park innovation with some interesting bells and whistles. We'll see if it marks an improvement over what came before when it comes to the bottom line: quality goods, quality service, and reliable operation. Our fingers are crossed.

Meanwhile, of course, our favorite "Zig and Lou" has been blogging about the long-awaited arrival of the Zaleski & Horvath Market Cafe at 1126 E. 47th Street, undoubtedly named after the well-known Polish-Hungarian retail merchants who bring their business acumen, and taste in finer imported foods, here from the Old Country.

Can't wait to meet them and tell dirty jokes in Yiddish.

Read about blogger Z&L's meetings with "cheese reps," the joys of having ComEd inspectors come over, the punctuality of City inspectors, and the super hot technology that is going to make Z&H the hippest Polish-Hungarian outpost in the neighborhood. There's more to learn here about opening a small business in Chicago than I've found anywhere else.

You know we've been cheering for this one for a long time. With Z&H and Open Produce hopefully here this fall, we could be eating very well indeed. Stay tuned.

Companion to the Other Very Sexy Italian Espresso Machine Above

Chant and Repeat: 6 Months Later

posted by chicago pop

The photo of Chant's interior above -- which doesn't do justice to its calming charm -- is stolen from Time Out magazine, since by the time we had eaten our meals, my dining partner and I realized we hadn't smuggled a camera in to bootleg the whole experience. Next time, we promise, it will be on YouTube.

So we'll breath deep, exhale, and get to the point:

The prices at Chant are much more in line with the quality of the food than previously -- which is to say, no longer overpriced -- and the menu is solid. If you want hard-core Asian cuisine of any national or regional variety, you'll probably find Chant on the bland side. If you want squat-and-gobble Thai or Chinese, for which there is no lack in Hyde Park, you'll probably feel ripped off.

If, however, you want an awesome vibe -- there is no better date or couples restaurant in Hyde Park -- with gracious service, cozy seating, in-house liquor, together with well-done, varied albeit somewhat bland offerings of Asian fusion, you'll be relatively happy. We both were.

Six months after our first visit, the menu was almost unrecognizable, and neither of the entrées we ordered the first time around were available. The same is true, so we were told, of the chef, who was brought in a few months after Chant opened in fall 2007 to shape up the original, faltering, menu.

To begin with we shared an order of seafood shu mai in a lime dipping sauce, which struck me as unremarkable. It needs to be tweaked.

For her entrée, my partner took in the snapper with honey miso glaze, which was cooked artfully and presented well. With a side of carrots and sugar snap peas, along with some potato slices, it left her with no complaints. The sauce was reported to be a little salty, usually a sin to the East Asian palate, but we agreed that such is the nature of miso broth.

I thought I would put the kitchen to the test with beef tenderloin and so went for the Szechwan filet mignon, the restaurant's big ticket plate. I was not disappointed. The cut was choice and the meat was cooked as ordered (rare), with an understated char of peppercorn seasoning that linked up nicely with the equally light hoisin broth.

The highlights of this dish, however -- given that slabs of beef must generally stand on their own -- were the sides of wasabi mashed potatoes sake-sauteed baby bok choi, both of which were enjoyable counterpoints to the uniformity of the beef and helped keep up my momentum as I made it through the latter.

My partner ordered a side of white rice with her snapper, but it never came to the table. The waiter was very gracious about the mistake, and took it off our tab right away. Apart from this, we agreed that the service was fine -- not too cloying, but friendly and professional. Nothing objectionable, and certainly above the mean for the neighborhood.

Menu for 2

Hors d'oeuvres

Seafood Shu-Mai

Entrées
Miso Glazed Red Snapper
Szechuan Crusted Beef Filet Mignon

Drinks
Chant Mojito

Tab (Tip not included)
$65


Chant, 1509 E. 53rd Street, Chicago, Illinois. Hours may vary.
773-324-1999
773-324-9994 (Fax)
Sun-Mon Noon-10
Tu-Th 11:30-Midnight
Fri-Sat 11:30-1:00

Park 52 Review

posted by Elizabeth Fama

Kleiner's signature: stenciled walls and copious red velvet.

Note: If you can't slog through a long blog entry, feel free to scroll to the bottom for the QUICKIE REVIEW.

Here is the...
LINGERING REVIEW

You should go to Park 52. All of you. You'll have a good time, and then we can talk about what you liked and didn't like. It turns out that it's not my style place, but I can tell that many people will love it, and (hooray!) that's progress.

Park 52 feels like some of Jerry Kleiner's other restaurants in many ways (Red Light, Opera, and Room 21). I don't care if it's a little formulaic, though. The fact is, Hyde Park deserves a Red Light. Hyde Park deserves a Room 21. The interior is trendy but not off-putting. The food is upscale, but rich and hearty, with large portions. Maybe too large. (If any restaurateur asked me, "What's the one thing the average Hyde Parker wants in a dining experience?" I'd have to say with a discouraged sigh, "Large portions.")

When you enter, the space is open with long sight lines, a bar on the south wall, and stairs on the east wall that lead enticingly to what must be private dining rooms. Without a foyer I'm not sure the revolving door will be defense against the cold when we're having a sub-zero, gusty night, but maybe they'll hoist up even more of the ubiquitous red velvet in the entryway during winter months. There are colorful light fixtures with gigantic fabric shades. The velvet upholstery on the chairs makes them look like Pee Wee Herman dominoes, with large, multi-colored buttons. The walls are ragged, stenciled, stippled, gilded...you name it, the faux finisher has done it. There are celebrity photos on the walls -- not my favorite art, but like everything at Park 52, the aim is not for "unique" but rather "highly serviceable."

The menu is simple, with few choices, which is better than too many. I've heard people describe the genre as American Bistro, which must mean high-class bar food. There are honkin' sized cuts of beef with enormous cottage fries, chicken, salmon, and a pile of short ribs slathered in BBQ sauce (with a few apologetic strands of carrot slaw). The only vegetable sold a la carte is succotash, which I count as a starch. I'm not a wine expert, but the list seems respectable -- decent choices in what might be considered a mid-range price. I had a margarita, and it was unfortunately a mix.

Our waitress, Nia H., was top notch. In contrast to Peter Rossi's waiter a week ago, Nia did everything she was supposed to do, in the right order, with grace and relaxed charm.

I ordered the seared tuna with apple crisp salad as my appetizer, and my husband and I shared the spinach salad with dried cherries and jicama. The tuna was perfectly cooked, with a thin crust of breading on the outside. The apple crisps were not crispy in the least, but they were cute, and the dressing on their little bed of endive was fresh and nice. The cherries were a sweet addition to an otherwise unremarkable spinach salad. For my main course I ordered the roasted whitefish because Nia said it was one of the lighter things on the menu. It was beautiful to look at, but overcooked, and the presentation didn't make it seem light. For one thing, the bed of curly fries was too tough to break into along with a forkful of fish, so I hacked away at it separately. I think you can see in the photo that the curly fries are sort of a "block" under the fish. Perhaps it was fried and shaped ahead of time. The spinach between the fish and fries was salty.


My husband ordered the special: a grilled lamb loin with an eggplant-wrapped pillow of goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. Now, I'm a sucker for anything with eggplant, goat cheese, or sun-dried tomatoes, and the combination was wonderful (and of course rich). The lamb was exactly medium-rare, as he ordered it, and it was a nice cut of meat, too. That's a dish that could survive on the regular menu.

Our kids ordered the NY strip with cottage fries, the lone vegetarian offering (fettuccine with wild mushrooms and asparagus -- richer than it sounds and a near-miss "meh" sort of dish), and that huge blob of short rib Hot Mess.

We were so full we didn't even contemplate dessert. But given that Istria Cafe is almost on our way home, we broke down and got a couple of gelati, sat in the outdoor seating, and enjoyed the rest of a warm spring evening together.



SILLY SIDE STORY
I was so intrigued that Kleiner decided to put pictures of Audrey Hepburn in the women's room of two of his restaurants that I asked my husband, "Did you notice if the photos in the men's room were the same as the ones in Room 21?" He said, "No, here they were softer core, not full frontal nudity." My fourteen year-old son immediately agreed. Yes, readers, it turns out Jerry thinks that women want to see high class images of Audrey Hepburn while they pee, and men (and boys) want nameless females in lingerie spreading their legs for the camera.


QUICKIE REVIEW
Park 52 is a very nice addition to the neighborhood, and well done overall, but not my style. The menu is upscale enough to count as trendy, but the food is hearty, not fussy. The interior design is nouveau bordello. The food was presented well, the ingredients were good, the waitress and busboys were helpful. The downside is that other than the salads, the dishes are almost uniformly heavy, salty, and rich -- not something I want to eat often. The prices are high ($7 for a salad, $12-14 for an appetizer, up to $28 for a main) but no higher than this experience would be anywhere in the south loop or north side. If you're like me, you'll be quite happy with a salad, an appetizer, and a glass of wine. And next time, if the coast is clear, I'm ducking into the men's room to take a gander at the art.

What Servers Need To Know - a HP Primer

I wince every time I go into a restaurant in HP. I expect incompetent service and I usually get my way. Last night's experience at Park 52 was no exception. Beth Fama is planning a full review post soon, but the service was not up to snuff. It wasn't a matter of delays which one might expect in a new restaurant (which has been open 2 weeks); it was a matter of gaffes. It seemed to me as though no one had bothered to train the wait staff in the fundamentals.

I hope things get better as HP deserves a restaurant that is well-run.

In hopes of promoting better service, below is a primer on the basic flow of events in any quality restaurant:

1. Host/Hostess seats party
2. Busboy asks water preferences, serves water
3. Waiter drops by for drink order
4. Waiter brings drinks, ask "do you want to hear the specials?"
5. Waiter asks if you are ready to order, if not comes back in a few
6. Waiter takes order, asks for refills on drinks
7. Waiter/other servers bring courses
8. Busboy/waiter clears entree plates
9. Busboy asks if you would like coffee/tea
10. Waiter drops by after c/t served and asks if you would like to see the dessert menu
11. After a discrete interval, the waiter drops by and asks "is there anything else?"
12 . Check is delivered

Park 52's untrained wait staff left off many of the above and muffed the others.

Can someone explain why Jerry Kleiner can pull this off at 21st and Wabash (Room 21) and not at 52nd and Harper?

Some will say -- give them a break, they just opened. Come on, people! This is a simple matter. Our waiter apologized profusely for his incompetence (this reminded me of a U of C undergrad waiter apologizing to me at the Court restaurant, years ago).

Stay tuned for Beth's review.

Gentrification, From a Woodlawn Perspective

posted by chicago pop

Very Nice Map of Woodlawn

Woodlawn Wonder, one of our happy band of local South Side bloggers, shares an interesting take on gentrification in Woodlawn from the perspective of a black "urban pioneer" in a largely black neighborhood, in conversation with mostly young folks, some white, affiliated with the University of Chicago, who feel guilty about it.

Fascinating, Captain. It scrambles a lot of the usual categories we use to think about this issue.

Here's an excerpt, since I'm lazy, and it's a good read. Or just check out the blog it comes from, where you'll also get the latest skinny on the 3 new farmer's markets (see the Tribune's article also) opening up on the south side food desert.

Woodlawn Wonder reflects on the gentrification panel:

Naturally I was curious about one’s role in gentrification since it’s a much discussed and vilified topic these days. Since I’m a condo owner and by definition a gentrifier in Woodlawn, I had to stick my head in and see what all of this was about.

Perhaps I was slightly disappointed because of the un-preparedness of the panel.

Perhaps I was slightly disappointed because of the sparse turnout.

But one thing struck me as the discussion progressed, I’d bet you a million dollars that you’d never see a group of educated successful Black people beat themselves up over gentrifying a neighborhood.

Some say gentrifying, I say improving.

The panel was in the process of developing a brochure about responsible gentrifying. There seemed to be a lot of hand wringing by some people about gentrification in general.

People in attendance and the panel realized that good intentions and your personal budget often collide. As a result of finances and due to some people’s personal living preferences they have to (or choose to) live in “emerging neighborhoods.”

That’s a nice way of saying minority neighborhoods

I think it’s awfully conscious of the people at the forum to be concerned about being responsible gentrifiers.

But as far as I’m concerned, it’s called being a good neighbor.

And as we all know, you can’t teach consideration, manners or good taste.

Well maybe you can try.

What I think the young people in that room may not have considered that change is a constant in Chicago neighborhoods.

Humbolt Park wasn’t always Hispanic. Woodlawn wasn’t always Black. Some parts of Old Town and River North used to be the “red light district.”

Obviously block busting, redlining, overt racism and down right ignorance played a huge role in the changing of the guard in the residential areas.

As those of us in the Chicagoland area know, it’s not the neighborhood but who lives in it that drives how it’s perceived and the services it receives.

Hey that rhymed.

In a sort of neighborhood circle of life, older neglected neighborhoods are bound to be rediscovered by those seeking beautiful, architecturally interesting buildings.

Not to mention accessibility to public transportation and green spaces.

Older neighborhoods in the city are experiencing a renaissance. Naturally, gentrification will follow.

And while many opinions will continued to be expressed about the re-emergence of urban neighborhoods, a few things continue to ring true.

People who want affordable accessible homes aren’t the problem. They shouldn’t be treated as such.

If you don’t want the flavor of your neighborhood to change, purchase it. Short of eminent domain or a federal injunction, not much can be done to take it away from you.

...

And to my fellow forum attendees that happen to be white a small aside:

You don’t need a manual on how to be a good neighbor. In fact, I think it’s somewhat ridiculous to feel guilty or apologize for simply being who you are.

On the Pavement: Istria/Cornell and Park 52 Coming Soon

posted by chicago pop

Wow. We needed that little break. So now we're back, and ready to raise a little more ruckus.

So let's start the new quarter with some uplifting news. Word is out that Jerry Kleiner will be opening Park 52 -- for real -- on April 8. That's this Tuesday.

Let's hope that competition from the new arrival gives Chant, with its good-looking decor but still-struggling menu, the kick in the pants it needs to break out of the bland pan-Asian cul-de-sac that left us somewhat disappointed last fall.

The savory irony of Kleiner's arrival, hopefully no less savory than the dishes we soon hope to sample at Park 52, is that while the hoary Hyde Park talking shops have been spinning their wheels about Harper Court, a local entrepreneur walked in and did something about it.

Right next door. In fact, this seems to be a trend with the most interesting things going on in the neighborhood: where there's less talking going on, more things are happening. Did we need a survey to get Park 52? Zaleski & Horvath Market? Hyde Park Produce?

But that's not all. Anyone who walks down Cornell weekday mornings has surely noticed the activity behind the shredded window papering at Istria's north Hyde Park location. The windows have been etched with the offerings soon to be had, and the coffee machines have been spotted against the wall.

Once the hardware's in, there's no going back. I'm already looking forward to my first morning café au lait at a sun-dappled table, beside the broad windows of the new Istria.

Sooner Than You Think!

posted by Elizabeth Fama

I hear through the foodie grapevine that Treasure Island will be opening its new store this Wednesday. That right, this Wednesday, March 12th, 2008. In fact, all of their deli meats and cheeses are arriving Monday.

How many syllables are there in the word "saahwheeet?"


(Now I'm just showing off, with my homemade pizzas, roasted acorn squash, and spinach salad. Yeah.)

What is this Sh*t! or Why I Love Jerry Kleiner

posted by chicago pop

"It’s been 50 years since we had anything here with any style or energy."

--Jerry Kleiner on his new Hyde Park Restaurant

Photograph by Sarah Preston

Jerry Kleiner's first words when viewing the property that has since become the home of his Restaurant -- Name Pending: "It's like, what is this shit! What an ugly effing building." (Chicago Reader, April 14 2006)

Not only did he win my heart then and there with his frank appraisal of the ski lodge that never made it to Vail -- around here known as Harper Court (and its nearby clones) -- but the man is the most perfect confounding element in a rather pious neighborhood with 5 theological seminaries (that I know of) and a lot more people who, though maybe not thinking so much about G-d, know that this is where "fun comes to die."

Long story short: here's to more men in pink pants in the vicinity of Harper and 53rd. White guys, actually, who don't mind getting kneed by beautiful black women (well, she's not really "black," she's his Italian-American girlfriend). That's what Hyde Park is all about, right?

As much as I love him, I can't help but ask myself: can Hyde Park survive Jerry Kleiner -- assuming he can ever find a name for his restaurant?

Here's some more, from Chicago Magazine: “I was going to call it Hyde Park Grill but I ... got people saying to me, ‘It’s a shit boring name. All of your places have cool names like Red Light, like Gioco, like Marché. It’s been 50 years since we had anything here with any style or energy.’ And I got to thinking about it, and they’re right."

This can only be good.

While our community leaders set up their committees and subcommittees with preliminary expanded meetings for later preparatory reviews of previous exploratory committees on the future of 53rd Street, some on the 4th floor, some in the basement, Kleiner has got the neighborhood figured out. As he said in a 2006 interview for the Chicago Reader: "Somebody like me needs to set the bar for the community. Somebody needs to take a shot at it." ... "Even Kleiner complains about the retrograde aesthetic sensibilities of Hyde Parkers: "Where they are now, there's no real fashion or design."

This little corner of 53rd might get a whole lot more interesting before you can say the word TIF.

Jerry Kleiner Thinks About What to Call His Hyde Park Restaurant
(Photo courtesy of Jim Newberry http://www.newberryphotography.com)

Kleiner is right, of course, though most Hyde Park crunch-sters, grad students, and full-time activists probably don't care what they wear. Or, like me, are probably too busy trying not to freeze most of the year to wear anything interesting. But it's nice to see someone try, and know that, like a PhD in some obscure topic in the humanities, someone (thankfully not me) is out there doing it.

And after all, Kleiner knows that he can't push it too far too fast. He knows, just like we do here at blog headquarters, that Hyde Park will never be the meatpacking district of West Randolph, or the high-rise jungle of South Loop, or alt.Wicker.Park. Of all the nightmares we try to plant in the minds of neighborhood NIMBYs, this isn't one of them. "My feeling is to create something that has a little bit of flair to it, but not too much ... a sophisticated approach to non-sophistication."

Or maybe a non-sophisticated approach to sophistication. Whatever. Just open the damn thing Jerry. Don't leave us with Ein Kleiner Nichtmusik. I need someplace where I can wear my pink pants.

The Great Hyde Park Bagel Hunt (Part 2) & Thai Restaurant Debate (Part 1)

posted by chicago pop

Sesame Seed, Poppy Seed, and Everything Bagels from Orly's

The best bagels in Hyde Park come from a very strange place. Orly's Restaurant, at the corner of Lake Park and 55th. It's weird, there's no doubt about it. But this isn't a restaurant review, so I'll hold off on just why Orly's left me wondering whether I had walked into a Mexican restaurant (southwestern murals), a Wisconsin trucker bar (those tinted windows), or a strip club (those tinted windows). Or maybe some combination of all three, with a bagel rack perched prominently by the door.

But I came here to praise bagels, not to bury restaurants. And on that score, I don't differ from the reader consensus that emerged from the first installment of The Great Hyde Park Bagel Hunt, that Orly's has the best bagels -- in Hyde Park. And considering that Orly's bagels became available only as recently as 2006, this fact alone represents quite an advance. (See this very helpful review from the Maroon on just where to find the best bagels in all of Chicago.)

So Orly's get's an "A" for effort. In fact, I just enjoyed a sesame seed bagel schmeared with my wife's amazing chopped chicken liver, and am now quite content. But the fact remains that Orly's bagels are still not equal to our chosen baseline, bagels from The Bagel on Broadway. And, though we haven't had a chance to get up to Dempster this month, reader sentiment was that Orly's would have to work even harder to compete with other North Side bagel kingpins: New York Bagel and Bialy, and Kaufman's.

Let's take a look at what we have:

Egg and Sesame Seed Bagel Halves from Orly's Restaurant

Orly's bagels come close to the dynamic tension that must be maintained by any great bagel, between an outer surface that becomes nicely crunchy when toasted, and a doughy, twisty-chewy interior. On repeated tastings, however, Orly's seemed to push that dynamic too far, resulting in a very crisp shell encasing an overly- fluffy interior. As far as the seasonings, I have no complaint; it was only the dough that was a little too bread-ish.

By now it should be clear that anyone offering bagels in Hyde Park has to satisfy a discriminating audience. That's how it should be, and how we intend to keep it. Dining establishments only offer quality product where and when they know it will be appreciated, and they only maintain that quality when they face the continuing pressure of discerning customers (which is why the Thai food in Hyde Park is so poor, but that's another post...)

Orly's has definitely raised the bagel bar. Now we don't have to bend down nearly quite so far to get one. If they keep it up, hopefully we might have to reach up a little.

The Great Hyde Park Bagel Hunt

posted by chicago pop

The subject first came up in conversation with a faculty couple from the East Coast. "Where can you get a decent bagel in Hyde Park?" It's come up many times since then. It's not that bagels are unavailable; it's just that, well, they're not really bagels. I don't mind being thought of as a bagel-snob, as I'm sure there are others who would join my club. The point is, progress comes in all shapes and sizes, and in this case it comes with a hole in the middle.

So I've decided to go on a hunt for Hyde Park's best bagels. I'll start with 2 local bagels, and one bagel of reference, imported, of course, from the North Side. There will be future reviews, and this is by no means a definitive or comprehensive sampling. I'll taste bagels as I find them, and maybe readers can tip me off to some purveyors that I've missed. But for starters, here's what I've come up with.

The Bagel Standard

Sesame, Everything, and Poppy Seed bagels from The Bagel, 3107 N. Broadway

OK, these are real bagels. They look the way a bagel should look, like that girl your mom keeps inviting to dinner, the one with hair on her forearms and a broken nose, but an undeniable va va voom. They're lumpy and have a nice, random smattering of topping. They're nice and crispy-golden on the outside. But let's not limit ourselves to superficial appearances, as pleasant as they are.

Now, when you cut one open, here's what it looks like:

Cross Section of Poppyseed Bagel Above

Like good French bread (which is another post, Bonjour Bakery), there should be some small holes in the dough, which displays a varying density throughout. This contributes to the bagel's "mouth feel" of chewiness, in pleasant contrast to its crisp shell. If I cut into a bagel and it looks like a slice of Wonder Bread -- smooth and fluffy and even -- I give it to my dog.

OK, so armed with a standard of reference, let's see what we've got.

The Medici Bakery

Poppyseed, Sesame, and Cinnamon-Raisin Bagels from The Medici Bakery, 1327 E. 57th Street

These bagels are beautiful. I can't deny that. I like looking at them. The problem arises when I decide to eat one. But sticking to aesthetics, these bagels strike me as the kind that Jimmy Stewart would make with his family on Christmas Eve. No hairy forearms here. They are perfectly round, have geometrically round holes in the middle, and look at that almost perfect band of poppy seeds. It's all just so nice!

The problem is, these are bread rolls with holes in them. I think they might be good with butter and jam, but I don't eat bagels with butter and jam. I'm not quite sure how they got this way, but the dough lacks the chewiness and tastiness that lets you know you've bitten into a bagel that means business. I buy these once in a while, but they always leave me wistful for Dempster Avenue.


Third World Cafe/Costco/Einstein's Bagels

Everything and Sesame Seed Bagel from Third World Cafe, 1301 E. 53rd St.

Third World Cafe buys their bagels outside. When I asked the cashier most recently, she told me they were from Costco. I frequently buy bagels in bulk from Costco, and they are usually labeled as Einstein Brother's Bagels. So my assumption -- and it could very well be wrong -- is that these are Einstein's bagels.

I've had Einstein's around Chicago and they are good, and they are just as good when served up at Third World Cafe. They're a little on the oval side, with a nice messy smattering of topping, and when you cut into them, they look like this:

Cross Section of Poppy Seed Bagel Above

Nice and doughy with plenty of holes inside, all translating into that light-but-chewy mouth feel that I love in a bagel. So, you can't really go wrong with the bagels at Third World, but that's because you're more or less buying standardized Einstein's bagels. Not spectacular, but pretty good. They're the best I've been able to find in Hyde Park so far, but I'm not done looking.