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. View the full 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.