Dixie Kitchen, Hyde Park Restaurant Touted On TV By Obama, Closing

The Dixie Kitchen & Bait Shop, a staple of the Hyde Park restaurant scene that President Obama once touted on "Check, Please!", is closing in June, the Hyde Park Herald Reports.

Owner Carol Andresen told the Herald she was closing the restaurant after the University of Chicago, which owns the Harper Court shopping center, declined to renew her lease.

Andresen plans to recreate the bulk of Dixie Kitchen's top dishes, like jambalaya, gumbo, catfish and fried green tomatoes, at the nearby Calypso Cafe, which she also owns.

Calypso remains the lone holdout to the University of Chicago, which plans to redevelop the courtyard, Crain's Shia Kapos reports. All the other tenants, including the Hyde Park Animal Clinic, have left.

Watch then-State Senator Obama talk about Dixie Kitchen on the first episode of "Check, Please!" in 2001:

Comments

[DS3M]

as a former UofC student, I can tell you firsthand that Bass Ackwards is standard operating procedure at a lot of the UofC.

Makes sense they would do this though - control all in out and throughput, and you can control anything, even communities of people. Thats why the U of C has the third largest police force in the state of IL (City of Chicago, U of I police, U of C police)

[kshawNCvoter]

thanks to ex president gw bush and co. many good businesses are null now. meanwhile he is enjoying his new home, buying new furnishings........ he really should be paying back America for bankrupting so many good people.

[Taz2]

He looks so young!!

[kshawNCvoter]

He is gorgeous but he looks better now. A bit more maturity and Presidential swagga fits him to a t.

[Yalegirl03]

I would have hoped that the university worked with the businesses more. But I know they are trying to redevelop that shopping center, which is really in poor condition. I wonder if the university offered to help relocate Dixie Kitchen to another site while the redevelopment took place? The thing is, that shopping center was always busy because of restaurants like Dixie Kitchen, Calypso and Pancake House around the corner. The buildings themselves were just in poor shape. I wonder why they could not renovate rather than just pushing everyone out and demolishing the place.

[HydeParkDusty]

It's the U of C, "Urban Dining Initiative" );

[rwext]

wow,, maybe all the workers can hold the owners hostage and not let them close... amazing, his suit shop closes, his restaurant, but he can't close Gitmo

[jsgaetano]

What a sad, sad thing Goopers have become. Even your attempts at trolling come off as pathetic. It's like you guys aren't even trying anymore.

[FairisFair]

Hyde Park name should be changed to Uof C Campus because everything in HP is own by Uof C. Hyde Park is losing it culture and identity that i remember growing up in. Hyde Park is not the same.

[atlantajoe]

Change is good, Hyde Park got it's identity because of affluence, we don't need that anymore, we need equality.

[AuntiepoppyCock]

Wow! I really liked their catfish.

[mjb5406]

Let's see... University of Chicago Hospital is shutting clinics, turning away poor and indigent patients as part of its "Urban Health Initiative", even though they are taxpayer-funded, but the university can redevelop a shopping center... what sense is that>