Every time my family visits Evanston, we eat our last meal together at Clarke’s, 720 N. Clark St.

Before they travel back to Michigan, I try to give them that final glimpse of my life in Evanston. It just seems natural to bring my family to a restaurant that so epitomizes a college student’s lifestyle: laid-back, informal and comfortable.

With so many students around us as we eat, I feel like my family gets a sense of what it means to be a Northwestern student.

Even though Evanston is labeled the Dining Capital of the North Shore, a select few of the downtown restaurants serve as staple hangouts for NU students.

Whether the atmosphere or the food draws us in, these cornerstones stand out in our mind as places to meet friends for coffee, study for our endless midterms or proudly present to our families each time they visit.

We see restaurants as staples even in television shows. Think about Central Perk in “Friends.” Think about the Peach Pit in “Beverly Hills, 90210.” And think about that diner in “Seinfeld.”

Despite the different zip codes and cheesy moments, the restaurants in these shows have something in common with Evanston’s restaurants. They’re staples of the cities, places around which the character’s lives — and the plots — are shaped.

Like the characters in the sitcoms, we form personal connections to restaurants, and some give us a sense of familiarity or comfort. They aren’t just physical places; they can also evoke a state of mind.

I know I’m home in Michigan when my family and next-door neighbors take me to our favorite Mexican restaurant. I always order the same dish, and my family and friends seem to talk about the same things time after time. And somehow, every time I step into that restaurant, I automatically feel calm.

Restaurants are more than just places to grab a meal. They’re places to hang out with friends or family — outside of our dorm rooms, outside of our homes and outside of our busy schedules. These places give us the time to take a breath and socialize.

And we tend to come back to the staple restaurants that give us the right moods we want.

When we think about where to take our families for brunch, we have certain Evanston restaurants in mind. We also have standard places to take our out-of-town friends, such as The Keg of Evanston, 810 Grove St.; caf