South Howard Avenue between Kennedy and Bay to Bay is the strip, and Hyde Park is the neighborhood behind it. They eat differently.
The institution. Bern's has been on South Howard since 1956, built out by Bern and Gert with their own craftspeople from what the restaurant calls an ordinary business block containing a grocery, a barber shop and a dime store. The wine list runs past half a million bottles across 6,500 labels in a 50-degree cellar on site, and dessert moves upstairs to its own room.
The small rooms. Koya on West Platt is eight seats, tasting menu only, and has held a Michelin star every year since 2023. Kinjo on South Boulevard opened in 2025 from the same couple. Jekyll is the hidden cocktail room, sister to Ciro's Speakeasy, which closed in 2026.
Hyde Park proper. Oxford Exchange is in an 1891 building across from Henry Plant's old hotel: a restaurant, a bookstore, a coffee bar, a tea bar and a champagne bar under one roof. On Swann has been in Hyde Park Village since 2016 with an open kitchen you are meant to watch. Forbici is a few steps away, and Quiote is on Bayshore.
The rest of the strip: Elevage in the Epicurean, Bella's further down Howard, Taco Dirty, and Good Luck Chuck's, which posts a 3am close and is one of the few rooms in this part of town that genuinely means it.
Everything we track on South Howard and in Hyde Park is on the neighborhood pages.