Cantina Rosa, Hyde Park

Mexican has never been a particular strong point in Hyde Park beyond the fleeting 57th street Cemitas Puebla, but the current opening of Cantina Rosa (kin and nearby to Beard-winning Erick Williams' Virtue) and soon-to-come 5 Rabanitos are offering real hope.

We ate through the whole small botanas menu (really focused on cocktails over food) at Rosa this past week, and everything was quite good-to-excellent. Lamb borrego may be the menu highlight with a succulent guisado served over rice with four housemade tortillas, lime, and radish. Guacamole was actually a shareable portion size. Ceviche was more thinly gazpach-ish than protein-forward, but everything there was beautifully flavored and easily finished with a spoon. Empanadas were delicate and served with pickled onions and excellent salsa.

Picaditas were the prettiest plate and the only current vegetarian option other than the guac, but do note these were very light and small for the price point. All else was a good value, and the $14-20ish cocktails were nicely balanced with top-notch spirits, fresh juices and herbs, and not too sweet. Remarkably for the cherished neighborhood, service was completely on point, well-informed, and prompt. They have been consistently busy and, like Virtue, are best accessed with reservations. The overall culinary approach was actually pretty similar to the existing Rabanitos and (other than the cocktails) I will be curious to see how the Hyde Park menus distinguish themselves.

Cantina Rosa
https://www.cantinarosa.com
5230 S. Harper Ave,
Chicago, IL 60615
773.420.3735