LTHForum Hands Out Great Neighborhood Restaurant/Resource Awards
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Apr 24, 2012 4:00PM
LTHForum's David Dickson stood at the dais set up at Manny's Deli last night and said, "Tonight is our way of paying you back." Dickson was addressing the winners of this year's Great Neighborhood Restaurant and Resource awards.
The local culinary chat site doesn't pack the influence it did a few years back, but the GNRs still serve as a barometer of what restaurants and stores local gourmands are frequenting, and a point of pride for fans of under-the-radar neighborhood eats.
This year's winners included popular choices like Floriole Café and Bakery, The Butcher and Larder, Owen & Engine, Big Jones, and Pleasant House Bakery, which we've believe is the best restaurant to open in Chicago in the past year not involving Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas.
The awardees also included Rip's Tavern in Ladd, Ill. Located 130 miles from the intersection of State and Madison, Rip's earned the nod for its fried chicken and now holds the distinction for being the restaurant farthest from Chicago to earn a GNR. Troha's Chicken and Shrimp House, nominated for its fried shrimp, has been in business since 1920 and is the oldest operating restaurant to earn a GNR. Tony Hu of the Chinatown Lao Empire earned his second GNR for Lao Hunan. (The Butcher and Larder's Rob Levitt also earned his second award.)
The full list of this year's winners is here.