Hyde Park: New Restaurant Hotspot?

By Anthony Todd in Food on Oct 15, 2012 2:30PM

In September the news that The Promontory, a new restaurant from the Longman and Eagle team, was opening in Hyde Park sent ripples through the restaurant gossip world. Who opens a nice restaurant in Hyde Park? The Sun-Times found it shocking enough that they sent someone to figure out what was going on. Now, two more high-end restaurants are coming to Hyde Park - is this officially a trend?

Chef Matthias Merges, owner of Yusho, told Eater Chicago last week that he was opening two new restaurants in Hyde Park, including a scaled-down version of Yusho itself. One restaurant will be opening in a historic building at 1466 W. 53rd Street (part of the new Harper Court development) and will preserve the building's vintage character. The other, the Yusho clone, will be at 1301 E. 53rd Street, and will offer some take-out options.

The story of Merges' move sounds very similar to that behind The Promontory: a chef or owner who always felt a connection to the neighborhood but never believed that Hyde Park offered enough in the way of business potential. Now that the University of Chicago is pouring money into the north side of Hyde Park, chefs and restaurants feel that the opportunity is there.

No definitive word on cuisine for the other restaurant yet, but Merges gave Eater some hints. Go check it out.

Is 53rd Street going to be the hot new restaurant spot? Maybe these new additions will mean that foodies will be able find something worth eating in Hyde Park.