🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <E0Ez14.FKK@midway.uchicago.edu>,
Christian Edstrom <cbedstro@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:

...

>Sunday brunches.  
>
>So, let me (and the rest of the hungry University community) know.
>Just where is the best sunday brunch in Chicago?

I personally like the Lucky Platter up in Evanston.  I think it's on
Main Street.  It is a small restaurant, decorated somewhat like a tacky
50s-60s diner.  It has the _best_ brunch-type foods (eggs, potatoes,
pancakes, etc).  The prices are really reasonable (bordering on cheap),
the food is delicious, and it is a great excuse to get out of Hyde Park.
Note:  it is not a true "Sunday Brunch", in that you just order off the
regular menu.  Still, I don't think it can be beat.

Nancy

I personally recommend the Original House of Pancakes. More pancakes
than you can shake several sticks at, the foods reasonably priced,
there's one two blocks north of Hyde Park Bank, *and* if you're 
really lucky, you might see Mr. T.

Pogie


-- 
Eric Pogrelis                                     
e-pogrelis@uchicago.edu                      
The University of Chicago... Where fun comes to die
(ain't it great?)                                  

Nancy Broughton wrote:
> 
> In article <E0Ez14.FKK@midway.uchicago.edu>,
> Christian Edstrom <cbedstro@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:

> >So, let me (and the rest of the hungry University community) know.
> >Just where is the best sunday brunch in Chicago?
> 
> I personally like the Lucky Platter up in Evanston.  I think it's
> on Main Street.  It is a small restaurant, decorated somewhat like
> a tacky 50s-60s diner.  It has the _best_ brunch-type foods (eggs,
> potatoes, pancakes, etc).  The prices are really reasonable
> (bordering on cheap), the food is delicious, and it is a great
> excuse to get out of Hyde Park.

There is now a second Lucky Platter in the Gold Coast.  It's in the
apartment building at 1400 Lake Shore Drive, entrance on the south side
of the building on Schiller St.  I think it's the same concept as in
Evanston, but much closer.

Parking can be tough, because the whole neighborhood is permit-only. 
You can park in the Astor House for something like $6 for two hours. 
Take LSD to North Ave exit, turn south onto the Inner Drive, right (W)
onto Schiller, pass the restaurant, turn left (S) onto Astor, and it's
at the end of the block on your right.

I haven't done brunch at this Lucky Platter, but their dinners sure are
good.  Prices are quite reasonable, and atmosphere is really pleasant. 
They don't yet have a liquor license (BYOB) but are working on it.

					--Robert Almgren
					almgren@math.chicago.edu

PS:  disclaimer -- my cousin runs the place so I'm a little biased. 
It's still really good, though.

espogrel@midway.uchicago.edu (Pogie) writes:

> I personally recommend the Original House of Pancakes. More pancakes
> than you can shake several sticks at, the foods reasonably priced,
> there's one two blocks north of Hyde Park Bank, *and* if you're 
> really lucky, you might see Mr. T.

if that's the place i'm thinking of, it is indeed very good, but
beware of odd hours and long lines :) (at least the Hyde Park one)

-- 
O // delirium                                   delirium@uchicago.edu

...caught a lite sneeze / dreamed a little dream / made my own pretty
hate machine...                                                 -Tori

Pogie <espogrel@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>I personally recommend the Original House of Pancakes. More pancakes
>than you can shake several sticks at, the foods reasonably priced,
>there's one two blocks north of Hyde Park Bank, *and* if you're 
>really lucky, you might see Mr. T.

All the above is true, but it's also amazingly noisy.  Loud, jarring
noise, constantly.  It's the only place in Hyde Park that I've completely
stopped going to because I find the atmosphere so intensely unpleasant.
But, well, your mileage may vary.  And the food (if not the coffee) is
excellent.

Are there any times when it isn't so crowded?  Maybe it'd be more 
tolerable then; but it's been packed every time I've been there.

Alan

In article <E0FsG9.68q@midway.uchicago.edu>,
Pogie <espogrel@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>I personally recommend the Original House of Pancakes. More pancakes
>than you can shake several sticks at, the foods reasonably priced,
>there's one two blocks north of Hyde Park Bank, *and* if you're 
>really lucky, you might see Mr. T.

I agree, I love the place. Noisy?... oh well, I don't think it's more
noisy than Salonica or any other place here in Hyde Park. And the
waiters are nice.

Why not giving it a try???.

Miguel

In article <E0GwFx.3Dw@midway.uchicago.edu>,
Alan Jaffray <ajaffray@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>Are there any times when it isn't so crowded?  Maybe it'd be more 
>tolerable then; but it's been packed every time I've been there.
>
>Alan
>
I tend to go in the late afternoon on weekends, only a couple hours before
it closes. It us usually a lot less crowded then. However, if you eat 
breakfast and brunch at normal hours, you'll probably have to wait.

Pogie


-- 
Eric Pogrelis                                     
e-pogrelis@uchicago.edu                      
The University of Chicago... Where fun comes to die
(ain't it great?)                                  

Pogie <espogrel@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>I personally recommend the Original House of Pancakes. More pancakes
>than you can shake several sticks at, the foods reasonably priced,
>there's one two blocks north of Hyde Park Bank, *and* if you're 
>really lucky, you might see Mr. T.

All the above is true, but it's also amazingly noisy.  Loud, jarring
noise, constantly.  It's the only place in Hyde Park that I've completely
stopped going to because I find the atmosphere so intensely unpleasant.
But, well, your mileage may vary.  And the food (if not the coffee) is
excellent.

Are there any times when it isn't so crowded?  Maybe it'd be more 
tolerable then; but it's been packed every time I've been there.

Alan

In article <E0GwFx.3Dw@midway.uchicago.edu>,
Alan Jaffray <ajaffray@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>Pogie <espogrel@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>>I personally recommend the Original House of Pancakes. 

Shouldn't that be "Original Pancake House"?

>>More pancakes than you can shake several sticks at, 

Has anyone here been able to eat an entire Apple Pancake in one sitting?

>>the foods reasonably priced,
>>there's one two blocks north of Hyde Park Bank, *and* if you're 
>>really lucky, you might see Mr. T.

Also, the service is, by Chicago standards, good--which means that, by
Hyde Park standards, it's out-of-this-world.

>All the above is true, but it's also amazingly noisy.  Loud, jarring
>noise, constantly.  

	Fortunately, there are locations in Lincoln Park, the Shire
(i.e. Oak Park), Evanston, and possibly elsewhere.  I've been to the first
two and they are much less noisy than the HP branch.  The menus are not
identical either (they lack the unsurpassed Dutch Baby Treat, for
instance, though Oak Park has something similar), but all branches seem to
have the Apple Pancake, the Dutch Baby, and the insanely thick-cut bacon.
What else do you need?

>Are there any times when it isn't so crowded?  Maybe it'd be more 
>tolerable then; but it's been packed every time I've been there.

	How early do you get up?  At 8, it's quite empty, even on a
Sunday.

-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!

RE: the Original Pancake House.  Does anyone know where the location
in Evanston mentioned by a previous posting is?

In article <E0s71K.3Ju@midway.uchicago.edu>, lcohen@midway.uchicago.edu
(Elisabeth Cohen) wrote:

> RE: the Original Pancake House.  Does anyone know where the location
> in Evanston mentioned by a previous posting is?

The Original Pancake House in Evanston isn't.  It's actually in Wilmette,
barely.  It's at 153 Greenbay Road in Wilmette just north of Evanston past
the Jewel and the Dominick's.  (Anyone else remember when Dom's was
Hi-Lo?  I'm talking 25 years ago.)  You can't miss Walker Bros...it's got
the little cartoon guy in the big chef's hat flipping a pancake on the
sign which says PANCAKES.  (Check out www.bigbook.com if you want to get a
map of the location.  Enter "Walker Bros" for the name and Wilmette IL for
the city and state in the search dialogue box.  www.bigbook.com a VERY
cool search site.)

Also, a very picky detail.  The Original Pancake Houses are all franchises
and there is variation between them.  The one on Greenbay Road and the one
mentioned earlier which is located in Highland Park as well as one that is
somewhere in Glenview are all part of the "Walker Bros." family of
Original Pancake houses.  They are, IMO, in a league of their own.  They
have the best breakfast meats (including a variety of chicken sausages
which are excellent) excellent coffee served with heavy whipping cream,
and the BEST pancakes.  I have never been to the one in Hyde Park, but it
sounds like it's good too.

In article <D-Sperling-1311961809360001@ip184-243.neiu.bgu.edu>,
D-Sperling@neiu.edu (David S. Sperling) wrote:

> In article <E0s71K.3Ju@midway.uchicago.edu>, lcohen@midway.uchicago.edu
> (Elisabeth Cohen) wrote:
> 
> > RE: the Original Pancake House.  Does anyone know where the location
> > in Evanston mentioned by a previous posting is?

> Also, a very picky detail.  The Original Pancake Houses are all franchises
> and there is variation between them.  The one on Greenbay Road and the one
> mentioned earlier which is located in Highland Park as well as one that is
> somewhere in Glenview are all part of the "Walker Bros." family of
> Original Pancake houses.  They are, IMO, in a league of their own.  They
> have the best breakfast meats (including a variety of chicken sausages
> which are excellent) excellent coffee served with heavy whipping cream,
> and the BEST pancakes.  I have never been to the one in Hyde Park, but it
> sounds like it's good too.

I don't think your detail is picky at all. We went to the OPH in Lincoln
Park and in Hyde Park. They share the name and menu but the food is just
ok. In addition to the food at Walker Bros.is the collection of stained
glass esp in Wilmette.
 We have also eaten at the original OPH in Portland, Oregon. Busy place,
food probably as good as Walker Bros. but we still prefer Wilmette or
Highland park

Bob & Kim

> > > RE: the Original Pancake House.  Does anyone know where the location
> > > in Evanston mentioned by a previous posting is?
> 
> > Also, a very picky detail.  The Original Pancake Houses are all franchises
> > and there is variation between them.  The one on Greenbay Road and the one
> > mentioned earlier which is located in Highland Park as well as one that is
> > somewhere in Glenview are all part of the "Walker Bros." family of
> > Original Pancake houses. ...

Useless trivia fact:
The "original?" Walker Brothers restaurant in Evanston was on the north
side of Central street, two blocks west of Green Bay road, next to the
park that is still there. This would be in the 50's. If you ever bought
their chop suey, it came from a Chinese take out place about two
blocks away, My dad would put it in big mason jars and I would deliver
it to Walker Bros. circa 1959. They later moved to their location on Green 
Bay road, which is actually in Wilmette. I still see long lines waiting
to get inside the pancake house on Sunday mornings whenever I go back up
to that area. And the pancakes are good...in my opinion.

h.sue
ETHS '66

Very cool...not useless...

> Useless trivia fact:
> The "original?" Walker Brothers restaurant in Evanston was on the north
> side of Central street, two blocks west of Green Bay road, next to the
> park that is still there. This would be in the 50's. If you ever bought
> their chop suey, it came from a Chinese take out place about two
> blocks away, My dad would put it in big mason jars and I would deliver
> it to Walker Bros. circa 1959.

I grew up in Evanston and love hearing about "trivia" like this. 
Especially when it's related to FOOD!  What was the name of your family's
take-out restaurant and how long was it around?

Also, on the Sunday brunch note, I heard from a friend that the Hyde Park
OPH is NOT very good.  I've never been there.

To try and stay on topic, another recommendation for Sunday brunch...a
place on Kedzie just south of Montrose called Thai Little Home Cafe?  I'm
never sure of the name but it's some combination of those words and they
have a buffet brunch that is good and cheap.  Something like $7.95 per
person.  Noodle dishes, meat dishes, soup, mussels on the half shell, and
on and on.  It's always crowded so there's usually a short-medium wait for
a table.

hsue (hal109@Jupiter.Mcs.Net) wrote:

: Useless trivia fact:
: The "original?" Walker Brothers restaurant in Evanston was on
: the north side of Central street, two blocks west of Green Bay

That site has probably been a few other restaurants since ...
when I first moved into the area, a couple of years ago, it
was a "Dancing Noodles" ... now, it's "Symphony's" ...

I guess that the Walker Brothers have done well, since they
also have restaurants (but without the OHP designation) in
Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates and Arlington Heights (near 290).

gld
-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Je me souviens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gary L. Dare                            gld@prairienet.org
                                     	gld@ripco.com
Vive le Quebec libre - in Canada!     (formerly gld@columbia.edu)

David S. Sperling (D-Sperling@neiu.edu) wrote:
 
: Also, on the Sunday brunch note, I heard from a friend that
: the Hyde Park OPH is NOT very good.  I've never been there.

Isn't there also one in the Gold Coast, just off Rush Street
across from the Hotel Le Meridien?  It's non-Walker Bros. as
well as I can remember (we go to West Egg Cafe up the road).

gld
-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Je me souviens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gary L. Dare                            gld@prairienet.org
                                     	gld@ripco.com
Vive le Quebec libre - in Canada!     (formerly gld@columbia.edu)

In article <D-Sperling-1911961000450001@ip184-243.neiu.bgu.edu> D-Sperling@neiu.edu (David S. Sperling) writes:

   ...

> To try and stay on topic, another recommendation for Sunday brunch...a
> place on Kedzie just south of Montrose called Thai Little Home Cafe?  I'm
> never sure of the name but it's some combination of those words and they
> have a buffet brunch that is good and cheap.  Something like $7.95 per
> person.  Noodle dishes, meat dishes, soup, mussels on the half shell, and
> on and on.  It's always crowded so there's usually a short-medium wait for
>  a table.

It is on Kedzie but it's a little south of Lawrence (4800 N) on the
east side of the street.