The Dining Room at Kendall College
Profile
$$$ - expensive
Culinary student-run gourmet dining
Kendall College is a local, yet well-renowned, culinary and hospitality school. The culinary and hospitality students get hands-on training with their future patrons through The Dining room venue. The Dining Room always has at least one vegetarian option on the menu (I also asked and found out that they can do vegan options if you give them advance notice). It was recently named as one of Chicago's Top Ten Places to Eat.
From the Web site:
Eat someone's homework. Really. Kendall College Dining Room is an extraordinary classroom that provides students the opportunity to gain real-world experience in a professionally run fine dining restaurant under the supervision of Kendall's experienced faculty. Thanks to an outstanding faculty and dedicated students, Kendall College produces the finest chefs and pastry chefs in the Midwest. Come dine with the students before they become famous. The Dining Room offers guests an amazing view of the Chicago skyline, lots of free parking, full bar service and multi-course meals at very reasonable prices. Come see and dine for yourself.
On Goose Island. Slightly north of Chicago Avenue on Halsted Street. Accessible via the #8 bus and is within walking distance from the #66 (Chicago) and #70 (Division) buses.
Added by Jonathon Cihlar on Apr 19 06 (updated Apr 19 06)
Overall, the Dining Room is a great way to get really upscale food for a great price (about $35/person for three courses without drinks). I let the staff know I was vegan ahead of time, and the chefs were able to come up with a nice menu, a beet salad w/ artichokes, some sort of risotto, and a bean cassoulet. The only thing I was sort of shaky about was the service - we got the amuse bouche twice, and for a little while it was unclear who the server actually was. I would definitely go back for lunch or another dinner though.
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I actually visited again recently, and I was very pleased. The chef again took very good care of me, a very tasty salad mixed green w/ fried tomatoes, seared tofu, and a dessert trio of sorbets. The service was quite good this time around.