Restaurant suburbs (Chicago, Schaumburg, Oak Park: hotel, high school, closing)

[ks-man]

Originally Posted by pvande55

I think the reason Highwood became a restaurant center was the surrounding towns were dry. Most diners want a drink with their meal. I think Chicago Executive airport (formerly Palwaukee) had something to do with Wheeling's Restaurant Row. I have heard Bob Chinn gets fish flown in that way, and no doubt pilots from around the midwest fly in for lunch.

The real estate taxes are lower in Highwood compared to Highland Park. There are some real gems in the area but the prices are akin to what you would expect to find in HP, Lake Forest or Glencoe.

[pvande55]

OK we all agree that the North Shore is not conducive for restaurants for a number of reasons: No through East-West traffic (except for amphibious vehicles, LOL), Few major North-South routes, Exclusively residential, Dry or formerly so. Yet plenty of customers. But that still doesn't explain why Wheeling and Highwood became restaurant suburbs.

[mark.caryl]

I am surprised that La Grange has not been mentioned. There is certainly a wide variety of establishments to choose from in their downtown. Back in late April, their downtown hosted a restaurant week.

[LakeShoreSoxGo]

Golf Road

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by deechee

LaGrange, IL?

La Grange does have a nice mix of "white table cloth" as well as casual dining options near its core, and has for any years.

Neighboring Western Springs has few options, but the success of Vie seems to continue to draw folks from a wide area. Brookfield has few interesting spots too.

Hinsdale is home to a little "empire" of nicer spots that sharre a common investor pool (ilPoglio , Nabuki and the up comng "small plates"spot in the former theatre space).

Tiny Clarendon Hills has a surprising range of dining spots, including Scapa, the upcoming Aquamiel with a more authentic sophisticated Mexican, Lindy's , Nami and Zazas.

Westmont has long had a big variety of well run ethnic spots, with 20+ years of sushi just steps from the train, Korean just a little farther, Italian in between and Indian a little farther north & south, along with an incredible number of pizza and similar offerings like bbq.

Downers has a nice mix spots too, but given its larger population base you'd think there would be more. Years ago there were, but maybe the pull of placces around Yorktown Mall and the FInely corridor makes stuff tougher to run in the core.

Naperville has already been mentioned, and with light traffic (which does happen...) one can make pretty good time getting from one end the BNSF corridor to the other so there is a fair bit of mixing.

[aga412]

Batavia has a surprising number of Thai restaurants, and I think the Tri-Cities in general have a lot of great options for dining.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by pvande55

OK we all agree that the North Shore is not conducive for restaurants for a number of reasons: No through East-West traffic (except for amphibious vehicles, LOL), Few major North-South routes, Exclusively residential, Dry or formerly so. Yet plenty of customers. But that still doesn't explain why Wheeling and Highwood became restaurant suburbs.

Highwood is easy; it can be answered in one word: Italians. Once mostly Italian (today mostly Mexican), Highwood became a mecca for Italian food. Add to that the fact that the North Shore was dry for, well, an eternity, the taverns definitely served a need.

Wheeling? I suspect it was the Milwaukee Avenue location, the long time link between Chicago and Milwaukee in the era before cars.

Half Day (basically Lincolnshire's core today) was named for being a half day out of Chicago, located on Milw Ave, too. Wheeling, a bit south, always had those road houses on Milw, places were travelers stopped by for meals.

[darstar]

I always considered Hinsdale as a sPecial place, separated from all the others. There was a time when just the "name" ment for a lot, and for good reason, if for nothing else it's age and stature.Looking further into this , I always found it interesting that Hinsdale could stand alone , being so close to Oakbrook I remember with fond memories it's quaint little downtown area at winter holiday times.Hinsdale was my stomping grounds for many years. Strange that in all those years, I don't remember eating there,except for breakfast at the " Clock" on my way to work with my now ex wife.She was always a Hinsdale kinda person. I often wondered if she remained there over the years, as i moved on to the far western burbs. Hinsdale was a name drop, that brought comfort ,considering all that grew up around it's borders

[Northwest Indiana]

May not be the level people are thinking of, but I think this is pretty good news for a near South Suburb:

Panera Bread breaks ground in South Holland

[linicx]

I'm curious Edge. How are Oak Park restaurants cross-wise to any other suburb with restaurants?

Originally Posted by edsg25

Oak Park is transversed;

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