The Lucky Platter

Lucky me! I live nearby and walk over. Never had a bad meal in15 years. Montana hash for breakfast, tandoori chicken salad or sandwich for lunch, pot roast and crunchy broccoli for dinner--all good. Reasonably priced, interesting artwork & found art mobiles. Once a week at least for me.

Holy cow, this place is dirty! We sat down at a dirty table.  Got to use a dirty high-chair.  When my coffee came, I took a sip and there was food stuck to the inside of it.  The pitcher of cream also had food stuck to it.  My wife's french toast tasted like hash-browns, so obviously they're not cleaning the cook top.

On the positive side, my oatmeal was good. I don't think we'll be back.  This place will skeez out anyone who enjoys a clean dining experience.

Lots or restaurants hang interesting art as a distraction from mediocre food. Maybe you won't notice. Lucky Platter in Evanston hangs and presents some pretty ghastly art that it doesn't need at all because the food is terrific, but somehow, the place would not be the same without the ambiance. The Platter has some of the most troubling bad paintings I have ever seen, efforts that are just far enough off the mark to make you think, "Ooooo....that was painted by someone who is completely batty." And that's not all. Try making birds from old coffee pots and various cans and utensils. There they sit, as though they are ready to clank into life and fly off into some strange aluminum and stainless steel universe. There's a painting of the Joe the Yankee Clipper that is genuinely uncomfortable. Fess Parker as Daniel Boone, that makes you think really hard about sitting in there. But it's all worth it. What an unusual place! You don't go to a restaurant to look at art, though. You go to look at food. I can report without hesitation that I have never had a meal there in more than a decade that I didn't enjoy. I have one complaint. Broccoli is important, but troubling as a vegetable. So it should not be served hot and cruchy. Just a personal thing. I like it mushier. The mashed potatoes are to die for. The hamburgers are memorable for all the right reasons. Pie and ice cream is served up the way you might want it at home. Breakfasts are simply spectacular, at least for me, because what could be better than three slices of thick bacon, very dark toast and some eggs? You get potatoes too, but I'm not much for that kind of starch at the start of the day. People like them, but I wouldn't eat them anywhere. You can get a bowl of oatmeal that sticks with you all day, and that's saying something in a world in which instant has become so common. How hard is it to boil water and cook oatmeal? But I digress. In its own strange way, the place is bold as can be. They have pot roast on the menu in the winter, and it comes out just like pot roast! Big flavorful cut of roast with those mashed potatoes with some skin left on (the ONLY way to make mashed potatoes in my world). Pumpkin soup is a special. And if you have never had a cream soda made from scratch, this is the place for it. Warning: It can get busy, and this is not one of those places that rush things along. Sometimes I get the sense that people are on the edge of panic when the place is packed up to its little aluminum foil balls on the ceiling, but that's just me. There is something comforting about being known in a restaurant that is so unusual. Take a minute to look around while you are waiting for your salad (huge, complicated salads) to arrive. yes, that is the most phallic looking baseball game hanging on the wall you have ever seen. you won't see it anyplace else!