Brunch in North Shore: Walker Brothers Pancake House

Cuisine: American/ Brunch
Location: 153 Green Bay Rd., Wilmette, IL
Price: $$
Food: ****
Service: ****
Overall: ****
 
There’s something just so comforting about brunch – it starts with basic staples, like French toast or pancakes if you’ve got a sweet tooth, or eggs and potatoes if you’re more of a savory type. Add in proteins like bacon and sausage, throw in a slice of toast, some OJ and coffee (or Bloody Marys and Mimosas, if you’re in the drinking mood), and you’ve got a meal that is almost impossible to mess up. It’s so easy to you can whip up all of the basics in your own kitchen, yet the communal nature of fighting off a killer hangover to drown the poor decisions of last night in greasy food like syrup on a stack of pancakes never fails to bring people out for the tried and true tradition of Sunday brunch.

In the immediate Northwestern area alone, both Clark’s and Le Peep serve brunch food within walking distance of campus – yet that doesn’t stop hordes of college kids and Evanston residents alike from flocking to Walker Brothers Pancake House on Sunday morning.

Ode to Rollin'

Worship-worthy homemade potato chips.

Cuisine: Italian/ Sandwiches

Location: 910 Noyes St., Evanston, IL

Price: $

Food: So amazing, you'll cry tears of joy.

Service: The guy behind the counter who always greets me as "bro" is positively awesome.

Overall: God, I really want to go and get a sandwich from there RIGHT NOW.

Website: http://rollin2go.com

It took me a whole year of being at Northwestern to make my way out to Noyes St. for food. Armed with a meal plan bequeathing me a never-ending supply of grilled chicken, sandwiches incorrectly made to order, and whatever the disgusting vegan option of the day was (Quinoa! Seitan! Tempeh!), I ate most of my meals in the dining hall¹. This was made easier by the fact that I lived in a dorm where the dining hall was in the basement, so dinner consisted of knocking on everyone’s door at 5:30² and traipsing down the one flight of stairs to the lovely Elder dining hall.

So, in retrospect, it was entirely reasonable that I would never bother to make the 10-minute walk west³ for an entire school year. Which is a shame, because on Noyes St., one can find the greatest sandwich establishment known to mankind – Rollin’ to Go.

I wouldn’t formulate that opinion until sometime during my junior year, when, finally weaned off of dining plans, I ate out significantly more often, and it was the closest option to where I lived. The very first time I went, it wasn’t exactly a memorable experience – at about 4 PM on Dillo Day, having eaten a few pancakes but having also drunk approximately my body weight in shitty tasteless rum or whatever the alcohol du jour was, I was not only completely inebriated but also so exhausted from waking up at 8 AM and going to three concerts in a row that I passed out at the table waiting for my sandwich.

Fine-dining in a college town; French-American in Evanston: Oceanique

Cuisine: French-American, Seafood

Location: 505 Main Street, Evanston, IL

Price: $$$

Food: ****

Service: 3.5*

Overall: ****
Website: http://www.oceanique.com/

Evanston, for some reason, is home to a litany of fine dining destinations – from the now defunct Trio¹ to the trio of chefs behind Camapgnola², there is no shortage of places to eat, and eat well, when in Evanston. Of course, this hasn’t stopped students from slogging through four years of college at lovely Northwestern subsisting entirely on Rodeo Cheeseburgers and that banana pepper that comes with your weekly Friday 1 am order of Papa John’s large pizza³.

Of course, the budget of your average college student makes it difficult to eat out and eat well on a constant basis. That hasn’t stopped restaurants from making a name for themselves in Evanston, as locations where Evanston locals can get out and have a nice meal or for students to splurge every now and then.

Two of my favorite restaurants in Evanston to date have been Bistro Bordeaux, a traditional French place right off of Church St. that offers amazing French Onion Soup to go with delectable classic entrees⁴,  and Davis Street Fishmarket, which has been serving up fresh seafood of all shapes and forms to doting parents hoping to take their kids out for a nice meal for years now.

Which brings me to my newest find of Evanston – Oceanique, a French-American/ Seafood restaurant down on Main St., a combination of Davis Street Fish Market and Bistro Bordeaux that manages to outdo both by the virtue of being extremely attentive to detail in their dishes and by being creative and inventive with their menu.