57th variety
With Caffe Florian closed, the Magazine provides a guide to current dining on 57th Street.
By Benjamin Recchie, AB'03
Illustration by Mark McMahon
Last fall Hyde Park lost a favorite campus eatery, Caffe Florian, a 20-year veteran of the local bookstore-and-restaurant district. For alumni and visitors wondering what dining options remain nearby, as well as for students seeking a substitute for Florian's ineffable want-to-take-her-someplace-nice-on-the-second-date-but-don't-want-to-come-on-too-strong atmosphere, we offer this field guide to dining along 57th Street. Click on the image to view the map (pdf).
Sammy’s Touch
Opened: 1979
A favorite of both the hard-hat and stethoscope sets, this fast-food joint specializes in gyros and deliciously greasy hamburgers.
Edwardo’s Natural Pizza
Opened: 1980
If loving Edwardo's heavy stuffed pizza is wrong, I don't want to be right.
Zaleski & Horvath MarketCafe
Opened: 2010
Serving coffee and sandwiches and selling specialty groceries, this offshoot of Z&H's original store on 47th Street may be the most popular thing to come out of Kenwood since Barack Obama.
Medici on 57th
Opened: 1957
Current location: 1989
Many a first date has taken place over pizza and burgers in this classic college hangout—owned for decades by Hans Morsbach, MBA'61, who died this past May (see Deaths)—and many a romance has been immortalized by a heart carved into the table with utensils.
Medici Bakery
Opened: 2002
Getting back to the Medici's coffee-shop roots, the bakery serves as the Med's carryout annex and ice cream shop.
Noodles Etc.
Opened: 1995
Current location: 2001
What would a Hyde Park commercial strip be without a Thai eatery?
Salonica
Opened: 1979
Hyde Park's own Greek greasy-spoon diner, memorable both for its pancakes and its (now removed) sign advertising "pan cakes."
Subway
Opened: 2003
For when you feel guilty about having eaten too often at Sammy's.
Café 57
Opened: 2010
This independent coffeehouse under the Metra Electric viaduct provides a place for students to study and commuters to grab a cup of joe to go.