I wanted to celebrate Independence Day with some barbecue, but alas! I had no grill or deck or any of the other key elements of good barbecue.

So instead, I popped down to the Argyle Red Line stop and picked up a few BBQ pork buns for lunch. I’ve been hitting up the Chiu Quon Bakery for a couple years now and its never let me down. For 75 cents a piece, you can buy these massive steamed pork buns (a.k.a. “bao”s).

About 4 inches across, steamed castillo hinchable to perfection and filled with barbecued
pork, these things must be terrible for you, but they are incredibly
delicious. I get them every time I go in. You shouldn’t make a steady
diet of this, but you may want to.

I
also recommend the long coconut buns, which sell for 55 cents a piece.
These buns are filled with a buttery pulpy coconut paste, and must be
even less healthy than the BBQ pork, but they are tasty.

Chiu Quon Bakery
1127 W. Argyle St.