Take that, Lincoln Park!!
Residents of Hyde Park are keenly aware that although our neighborhood possesses many fine qualities — ample bookstores, nice housing, diversity of residents — one quality it does not possess is a surfeit of great restaurants.* For that, you have to go up to the downtown, the West Loop, or the North side. In today’s ...
Residents of Hyde Park are keenly aware that although our neighborhood possesses many fine qualities -- ample bookstores, nice housing, diversity of residents -- one quality it does not possess is a surfeit of great restaurants.* For that, you have to go up to the downtown, the West Loop, or the North side. In today's Chicago Tribune, restaurant critic Phil Vettel says this may be changing:
Residents of Hyde Park are keenly aware that although our neighborhood possesses many fine qualities — ample bookstores, nice housing, diversity of residents — one quality it does not possess is a surfeit of great restaurants.* For that, you have to go up to the downtown, the West Loop, or the North side. In today’s Chicago Tribune, restaurant critic Phil Vettel says this may be changing:
Where is Chicago’s next hot restaurant zone? We’ve already seen the Miracle on Randolph Street, West Division’s dining surge, the South Loop’s gradual buildup. What’s next? Would you believe … Hyde Park? Don’t scoff. Or, go ahead and scoff. No one saw Randolph Street coming either. But Hyde Park, a largely well-to-do neighborhood (bounded by 44th Street, 60th Street, Cottage Grove Avenue and the lake) that for years has been underserved by the restaurant community, is poised to become, within a year or three, a legitimate dining destination. “I love that area,” says restaurateur Jerry Kleiner. “There are 50,000 people here [44,700, according to the neighborhood’s Web site], you’ve got the university and the hospital, and the city has been fixing up Lake Shore Drive. I thought this would be a good opportunity.” And so in spring 2006, Kleiner is opening a 160-seat, 4,000-square-foot restaurant in the heart of Hyde Park. What has the dining community giddy with anticipation is the fact that Kleiner is regarded as something of a culinary pied piper. Where he goes, other restaurateurs quickly follow. More to the point, Kleiner has a track record of launching successful restaurants in neighborhoods others regard as “iffy.”
Read the whole article, if you care about such things. I’ve heard this kind of talk about Hyde Park many times since I’ve been here, but Kleiner’s track record makes me more optimistic than usual. Look out, Lincoln Park — in, say 20 years, we will have closed the restaurant gap! Of course, this section of Vettel’s piece brings me back to reality. It quotes Mary Mastricola, the owner of La Petite Folie, the one high-end restaurant in the area:
“The one shocker was not being able to find kitchen employees,” she says. “You can get students to work in the dining room, but we ran ads looking for kitchen workers and we had kids responding who wanted $2 an hour extra because we’re south. They’d rather work in higher-visibility places.”
Left unspoken in the piece is why Mastricola doesn’t just hire neighborhood residents beyond the student population. And don’t get me started on the supermarket situation around here….. *Yes, devotees of Dixie Kitchen, or Medici, or Pizza Capri, there are some lovely places to eat around here. But a neighborhood of this size needs more than just a handful of good eateries.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
More from Foreign Policy
What Putin Got Right
The Russian president got many things wrong about invading Ukraine—but not everything.
Russia Has Already Lost in the Long Run
Even if Moscow holds onto territory, the war has wrecked its future.
China’s Belt and Road to Nowhere
Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy is a “shadow of its former self.”
The U.S. Overreacted to the Chinese Spy Balloon. That Scares Me.
So unused to being challenged, the United States has become so filled with anxiety over China that sober responses are becoming nearly impossible.
Sign up for Morning Brief
Foreign Policy’s flagship daily newsletter with what’s coming up around the world today. Delivered weekdays.
By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.
