I’ve been writing about restaurants in Chicago for nearly 20 years, and one thing is for certain: Operating a destination restaurant in Hyde Park is no easy task.
Of course, restaurants like Valois and Medici have had successful runs in the neighborhood, but they are more restaurants of the neighborhood — you can find a great diner and Italian-American eatery somewhere near you, no matter where in Chicago.
But a Hyde Park restaurant that’s not just catered to university students, but worth driving across the city? It’s been a tough go.
Virtue, the Southern restaurant from chefs Erick Williams and Damarr Brown, has been the exception to the rule. Their blackened catfish is one of my favorite dishes in Chicago.
I think there’s a good chance Mahari, located at 1504 East 55th Street, can be another.
Mahari opened one year ago, and it’s proven to be a unicorn of a restaurant. They’ve been consistently busy and they’re drawing positive customer reviews online for their Afro-Caribbean cuisine.
This past January came the best validation to Mahari won “Best Neighborhood Restaurant” from the Jean Banchet Awards, Chicago’s culinary Oscars.
Mahari is the partnership of a group of restaurant veterans who tired of working for someone else and dreamt of building a place they can call theirs.
There are not many black-owned restaurants in Chicago with their concept: Not so much reflecting the African-American experience, but food of the African diaspora. You’ll find dishes with nods to West African, the Caribbean, and New Orleans, sometimes all combined on one plate, and executed with techniques you’d find in fine dining kitchens (and with a top-notch cocktail program to match).
I hate to say a restaurant “punches above their weight,” because this implies a place that exceeds lowered expectations. But I don’t think Hyde Parkers will fight that charge. Because the neighborhood isn’t used to having a restaurant exhibiting the thoughtfulness, ambition, and technique of Mahari.
Mahari is already one of the better restaurants in the neighborhood; in time, they have a chance of being one of the better ones in all of Chicago.
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