{"id":11793,"date":"2026-07-21T20:03:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T01:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/?p=11793"},"modified":"2026-08-02T15:30:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T20:30:48","slug":"evanston-eateries-foster-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/07\/evanston-eateries-foster-connection\/","title":{"rendered":"Evanston eateries foster connection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before arriving in Evanston, Liam McCall of Reno, Nevada, wasn\u2019t sure about the town\u2019s restaurant scene, saying he was skeptical about Northwestern University\u2019s suburban location. Several downtown restaurants later, McCall said he had a change of heart.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that sometimes college towns are a bit more bland, but I\u2019ve been pleasantly surprised,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce you get a taste of the other things that are in Evanston, Illinois, you can’t go back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Over four weeks, cherubs explored Evanston\u2019s culinary landscape. From Einstein Bros. Bagels to Hokkaido Ramen & Sushi Bar, local restaurants of all kinds became staples for the journalism students between lectures and deadlines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Alice Xiao of Beijing, visiting new restaurants was as much an exploration of American cuisine as it was of Evanston. While Xiao said she eats a diversity of food at home, living in the United States forced her to branch out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really novel experience for me,\u201d she said of eating the local cuisine. \u201cI think I’m definitely gonna miss that after I go home. I’ve discovered a lot of American food that I really love, like Chipotle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Xiao said there was no shortage of Chinese options, which acted as a bridge between Evanston and Beijing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really need a lot of time to adjust to American cuisines, and having that option to try Chinese food really helped me get more used to the food here and combat my homesickness,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pepper Chai of Alameda, California, has a running document of 43 local restaurants to try. The list began as a collaborative project between Chai and another cherub, Ariel Liu of San Ramon, California, after they dined at La Cocinita, a Venezuelan-inspired street food eatery, in the second week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried it, and we were like, \u2018That’s so good. We have to write about it somewhere,\u2019\u201d Chai said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the now seven-page document, the group ranks places they dine at, as well as notes recommendations from instructors, online research and community and academic associates. Despite having access to a dining hall, Chai said that contributing to the list has given her a better sense of Evanston\u2019s many eateries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m really gonna miss La Cocinita. I’m gonna be thinking about it when I’m home back in Oakland,\u201d Chai said. \u201cIt’ll be waiting for me, though, and anytime I come to Chicago, I know I’ll make an effort to go find La Cocinita again and be reunited with my one true love.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Chai, Xiao and McCall, going out to eat was more than an opportunity to try new cuisine or catch a quick bite. It was an opportunity to bond with new friends, some of whom live thousands of miles away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McCall particularly recalled celebrating Xiao\u2019s birthday over dinner at Hokkaido before the evening lecture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a good time together as fellow cherubs,\u201d McCall said. \u201cWithout the restaurants in Evanston, that moment would have been a bit more lacking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local restaurants offered a taste of college life and doubled as second homes for many cherubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":326,"featured_media":11359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,19],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[648],"class_list":["post-11793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-city","category-living-in-evanston"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":648,"user_id":326,"is_guest":0,"slug":"li26","display_name":"Arden Li","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6aa9390469cb00b82ca905a7a5d4ebaceaa2c58b8ad777470241a62e5f55e6ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Li","first_name":"Arden","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11793"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12882,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11793\/revisions\/12882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11793"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=11793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}