CAN THIS MAN HEAT UP HYDE PARK?
His restaurants have revitalized other neighborhoods, and the arrival of Jerry Kleiner gives new hope to the underserved U. of C. enclave
By Phil Vettel
Tribune restaurant critic
Published September 8, 2005
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."
It was Kleiner, with partners Howard Davis and Dan Krasny, who launched the Randolph Street Renaissance with the opening of Vivo. Kleiner and Davis got the fine-dining ball rolling in the South Loop by opening Gioco and Opera.
And now Johnny Restaurantseed is coming to Hyde Park.
Kleiner got an attractive lease from his landlord--the University of Chicago--and a great location at 5201 S. Harper Court. Next door to the Kleiner concept--actually sharing the same address--will be The Checkerboard Lounge, a legendary blues club that is moving from its location on East 43rd Street. The Checkerboard Lounge will have a liquor license but will not serve food.
Hank Webber, vice president of development for the University of Chicago (Hyde Park's largest employer at 12,000), was instrumental in luring Kleiner to Hyde Park. "One of our real hopes," he says, "is that this new restaurant and the Checkerboard Lounge will continue the momentum that I think has been developing over the years."
Hyde Park isn't exactly restaurant-deprived. There are many small, neighborhood-style eateries in the area, including an impressive assortment of ethnic restaurants. Storefront Korean spots, Middle Eastern restaurants, pizzerias, coffee shops--the neighborhood has a little of everything. But Kleiner's arrival adds legitimacy and name recognition to a neighborhood whose restaurant scene is hungry for both.
"What we've lacked, traditionally, is upper-end dining," says Webber, "although Mary is clearly an exception."
"Mary" refers to Mary Mastricola who, with her husband, Michael, owns La Petite Folie, an upscale, white-tablecloth French restaurant in the Hyde Park Shopping Center at 55th Street and Lake Park Avenue. It is arguably Hyde Park's sole destination restaurant.
But even La Petite Folie's name, which means "my little foolishness," is a self-deprecating jab by the Mastricolas at their decision to locate a fine-dining restaurant here.
"I thought I knew the neighborhood better than most," Mary Mastricola says. "My husband thought we should locate somewhere else. We're trying to hang on long enough to see who was right."
Though it has been a struggle, Mastricola says she's happy with her decision.
"The market share for a restaurant like ours is not enormous," Mary Mastricola says, "but the neighborhood has been incredibly supportive. And more people from outside are discovering that the neighborhood is a deal. I'm four blocks from the lake, in a shopping center with a 400-car free parking lot."
But Mastricola says she has encountered her share of obstacles, from suppliers who will only venture to Hyde Park on certain days to her inability to lure any convention trade from McCormick Place, which is only five minutes away.
"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."
For the small, lower-priced restaurants, it's a different story. Steve Soble, who owns Seven Ten Lanes bowling alleys (previously known as Lucky Strike) in Lincoln Park and Elmhurst, says his Hyde Park location is the biggest-grossing location of the three. "It's been great," he says. "There's definitely a captive audience here; this neighborhood is totally underserved.
"I've lived here since 1997," Soble says. "I love the neighborhood, but I wondered for years why there was no place to go to grab a drink and a burger. I talked to the owner of Pizza Capri, and he said his Hyde Park location was his best store. The Leona's people said their Hyde Park location did great. It started me thinking, `If these two are doing well . . . .'"
A year or so later Soble had his bowling alley/restaurant up and running in a parking-garage building the university owned. "It's been a fabulous place for me."
On paper, Hyde Park looks like it can't miss. Factors in its favor include a well-heeled residential base (25 percent of households with annual income greater than $75,000) and easy access to downtown Chicago (via a picturesque stretch of Lake Shore Drive). There's also an influx of wealth arriving in the adjacent, gentrifying neighborhoods of Bronzeville and South Kenwood, and leadership that's committed to growth, including the heads of the University of Chicago and Ald. Toni Preckwinkle.
Negatives include a lack of parking, and the fact that Hyde Park's concentration of wealth is surrounded by neighborhoods with a conspicuous lack of wealth (which, as noted before, is changing) and attendant crime issues. And many of the available storefronts in Hyde Park have not been home to restaurants before; bringing such places up to code is much more expensive than converting a previous restaurant space into a new concept.
But these are issues that have been resolved in other neighborhoods, among them Lincoln Park and Wicker Park. Perhaps Hyde Park is next in line.
"The thing about pioneers," Soble says, "is that a lot of them are found dead on the trail. Restaurant people are risk-takers by nature, but they're prudent risk-takers. It's all about the margins, and where you take that marginal risk."
Which is why Soble not only is thrilled with Kleiner's arrival, but also hopes the new venture is a hit. "When [they] become a destination area, it'll expose people to other restaurants."
With the arrival of Kleiner and Checkerboard Lounge, the hub of Hyde Park's dining scene will indisputably be Harper Court, a short stretch tucked in between Lake Park and Harper Avenues at 52nd Street, an area already home to boutiques and restaurants such as Mellow Yellow, C'est Si Bon, Calypso Cafe and Dixie Kitchen & Bait Shop.
"I feel good about the space," Kleiner says. "It'll be an American-style restaurant, popular prices, but a sophisticated casual environment.
"There's a tremendous need for something like this. I think there are enough people here. Look what happened in Evanston; it's just exploding there."
As Checkerboard Lounge and Kleiner's restaurant are expected to keep later hours, they may increase pedestrian traffic in an area where most restaurants are closed by 11 p.m.
There's evidence that the market will support that. Roger Greenfield established a Bar Louie location in Hyde Park a year ago, serving food until 1 a.m. "There was some trepidation at first, but it has been amazing," Greenfield says. "We're really happy with the neighborhood and the neighborhood is happy with us."
And quite possibly its happiest days are just ahead.
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