Chicago Foodies

Belly Shack

Belly Shack, the follow-up act to the much-lauded Urban Belly, has arrived. Personally, I have been eagerly awaiting this opening ever since the news broke in July that Bill Kim had signed the lease for this space, right under the Western Blue line stop (rather than in a strip mall). Urban Belly put a sophisticated, contemporary spin on noodles and potstickers. With this new venture, Kim moves into Asian-Latin fusion street food. Though this was only the restaurant's first night, the results are impressive, and more importantly, fun.

After ordering at the counter, we plopped ourselves down in the center of the room at a large communal table constructed of reclaimed 200-year-old maple. Belly Shack's decor was designed by Yvonne Cadiz-Kim and has been self-described as "reclaimed industrial." With an abundance of metals and browns, and a sprinkling of anti-establishment-esque graffiti messages on the walls, Belly Shack is the restaurant incarnate of a skater. I reached for my Vans and red hair dye. The noise of the trains overhead even serves to amplify the urban grittiness.

Han 202

My jaw dropped when I first heard the news in June--a five-course dinner for a mere $20? How does that even begin to cover food costs? Review after review urged readers to run, don't walk to Han 202, Bridgeport's newest Asian fusion restaurant with an incredible recession-friendly deal. To further sweeten the pot, the restaurant is even BYOB. I picked up the phone and held my breath, hoping that all the positive press wouldn't make it impossible to snag a table.

This is when I discovered a new wrinkle: Han 202 only takes parties up to four people, no more. Unfortunately, I had guests visiting from out of town, and we totaled five. Were they serious about only serving groups up to four people? How small was this dining room, anyway? What if I volunteered to sit on a lap? I debated my options and decided that if they were adamant on putting their foot down, we could always go down the street to Ed's Potsticker House. I called back and reserved a table for four.

Sabai Dee: Chicago's Laotian Restaurant

As far as I know the only Laotian restaurant in Chicago is the recently opened Sabai-Dee on Broadway. I enjoy Thai food a bit more than Vietnamese and find Laotian food to be a good mix of the two for my tastes. It seems a bit more Thai-leaning and the fish sauces are pretty light. the upside is that they still integrate tons of fresh herbs and use rice in terrific ways.

Le Lan

For quite some time I have heard great things about Le Lan, a French-Asian restaurant in River North. It turned out to be a wonderful restaurant with personable and helpful staff, as well as an open plan atmosphere.  A gift certificate for Christmas made it easier to visit.

Golden Pacific – Northside Asian Market

Come and walk through the gates of Golden Pacific, an Asian market in the Edgewater neighborhood. Here you will find various foodstuff that cater to Thai, Vietnamese, Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Indian cuisines. What draws me to this store over any of the stores in Uptown's Argyle neighborhood, is the very pristine nature inside.

Chiu Quon Bakery – 4th of July BBQ Pork Buns

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).

Indie Cafe pt.2

It's been a long while betweeen visits to Indie Cafe. My experience had been months ago, during their Reader-induced celebrity. It was time to go back.

They're still BYOB and they're still packed. Thursday night we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. The dining room is small. So I'm guessing their business is still very brisk. That was a good sign and I was in for more good news.

Pingpong

Pingpong is yet another one of those Asian fusion restaurants that seem to be popping up in every neighborhood. Pingpong however is not new to Lakeview. I remember it opening about four years ago, just before I moved out of the neighborhood.  I didn't get a chance to try it then but I've always heard from people in the area that it is a favorite. 

OYSY 2: Suburban Oysy

After adopting Oysy (OH-EEE-SHE) downtown as a great lunch place I decided to take some relatives out to the one in Northbrook feeling the white tuna in yuzu would be much appreciated.

I would never have tried this place without prior knowledge as it's in a mall and actually shares space with its partner restaurant Pacific Rim Asian... Yikes. 

Blue Elephant

Blue Elephant has been on the border between Roger's Park and Edgewater for about a year (1235 W. Devon Ave). As of late Indie Cafe has been getting lots of props. They both blend Thai with other Asian foods.

I'll confess I am a Thai Pastry fan that has never been to Arun's. I will have to go back to confirm this but I found Blue Elephant's panang better than any I've had in a long time and I eat panang often. It was creamy but not too creamy, spicy but not too spicy, sweet but not too sweet... The ingredients were fresh and not overcooked.

Spice World: Asian Spice

I’m sure a studious foodie out there could author an entire treatise on the near-infinite spice combinations in Asian cuisine.  Today, let’s pull our Asian spice example from Thailand.  Picture a mouth-watering platter of chicken satay with spicy peanut sauce. How on earth could any wine handle soy sauce, peanut sauce, spicy red peppers, garlic, and onions?