Chicago: one day trip to Chinatown, suggestions?

[Naftal]

Hello- My 4-day trip to Chicago will include one day in Chinatown. I plan to go to the Phoenix for dim sum, but I need some recommendations for other must see places. Specifically, I am looking for the best grocers, wine shops (that sell Chinese wine) and traditional tea-houses in that area.

[huiray]

What time do you plan on going to Phoenix for dim sum? On a weekday or on a weekend? (It makes a difference) On weekends cart service (if you like that sort of thing) starts around 9-ish more like 10 am. Order-by-card otherwise, and on weekdays. I'd try to get there before 11 am on a weekend otherwise the queue becomes horrendous.

Grocery shopping - I usually go to Chinatown Market, that stand-alone building up a bit from Phoenix on S Archer, just before the corner, with its own "car park" on the NE side. I also like to drop by the first "grocery store" on the east side of S Wentworth just south of Cermak - they often have very nice gai lan. :-) Otherwise I pick up stuff along Wentworth or Archer as catches my eye.

I also never leave the place without picking up roast duck and roast pork and char-siu and sometimes some form of whole chicken (spring onion, soy sauce, etc) from Great Wall, the second shop NE from the "middle split" of the arcade on the NW side of Archer opposite Phoenix. I might also pick up those inimicable "Chicago Chinese-'Murcan spring rolls" w/ peanut butter in them from the place. :-) I wouldn't choose that place to have a sit-down meal but I like their charcuterie. :-D Yum.

Consider swinging by N Broadway & Argyle. (Will you have a car?) Little Vietnam, sort of, but the overlap w/ Chinese stuff is great. Try Tai Nam Market, in the mini-mall off Broadway just south of Argyle. Have you also considered having a meal at Sun Wah BBQ and having their Cantonese rendition of Peking Duck? :-) Or have a nice bowl of phở at one of the Viet places for this. Or pick up Thai sweets from the place just south of Tank Noodle. :-)

Edited September 12, 2014 by Smithy
Member request (log)

[huiray]

... I also like to drop by the first "grocery store" on the east side of S Wentworth just south of Cermak - they often have very nice gai lan. ...

 

Oops.  Another correction.  It's on the west side of S Wentworth, not the east side.  I took a look at Google Maps and the name of the place is Tai Wah Grocery, at the SW corner of S Wentworth & W 22nd Place. I check them out because they often have open crates of the veggies they get (such as the gai lan I mentioned) rather than already-packaged stuff and I can pick through it.  It's not much good for most other stuff IMO (although I have picked up roast duck & some odds and ends on occasion before).

[Naftal]

Oops.  Another correction.  It's on the west side of S Wentworth, not the east side.  I took a look at Google Maps and the name of the place is Tai Wah Grocery, at the SW corner of S Wentworth & W 22nd Place. I check them out because they often have open crates of the veggies they get (such as the gai lan I mentioned) rather than already-packaged stuff and I can pick through it.  It's not much good for most other stuff IMO (although I have picked up roast duck & some odds and ends on occasion before).

What time do you plan on going to Phoenix for dim sum? On a weekday or on a weekend? (It makes a difference) On weekends cart service (if you like that sort of thing) starts around 9-ish more like 10 am. Order-by-card otherwise, and on weekdays. I'd try to get there before 11 am on a weekend otherwise the queue becomes horrendous.

Grocery shopping - I usually go to Chinatown Market, that stand-alone building up a bit from Phoenix on S Archer, just before the corner, with its own "car park" on the NE side. I also like to drop by the first "grocery store" on the east side of S Wentworth just south of Cermak - they often have very nice gai lan. :-) Otherwise I pick up stuff along Wentworth or Archer as catches my eye.

I also never leave the place without picking up roast duck and roast pork and char-siu and sometimes some form of whole chicken (spring onion, soy sauce, etc) from Great Wall, the second shop NE from the "middle split" of the arcade on the NW side of Archer opposite Phoenix. I might also pick up those inimicable "Chicago Chinese-'Murcan spring rolls" w/ peanut butter in them from the place. :-) I wouldn't choose that place to have a sit-down meal but I like their charcuterie. :-D Yum.

Consider swinging by N Broadway & Argyle. (Will you have a car?) Little Vietnam, sort of, but the overlap w/ Chinese stuff is great. Try Tai Nam Market, in the mini-mall off Broadway just south of Argyle. Have you also considered having a meal at Sun Wah BBQ and having their Cantonese rendition of Peking Duck? :-) Or have a nice bowl of phở at one of the Viet places for this. Or pick up Thai sweets from the place just south of Tank Noodle. :-)

Hello- I plan to be in Chinatown Thursday 9/25. Thanks so much for all your valuable info! Do you (or anyone else) know of a place where I could get shaohsing/shaoxing without salt added? I do not want the variety labeled "cooking wine". I only cook with the real stuff:)

[rotuts]

go to any liquor store in Chinatown.  that's what I do.

[Naftal]

go to any liquor store in Chinatown.  that's what I do.

Well that's easy enough

[rotuts]

not the food stores !

[Naftal]

not the food stores !

I know. The food stores only carry "cooking wine", which I always avoid:)

[huiray]

Well, in Indy I can get Shaohsing wine, drinking quality (no salt), from my local FOOD STORE/grocery, as well as good drinking sake, other Chinese drinking wines, etc.

 

I have had no occasion to need to look for Shaohsing wine without salt in Chicago so have never paid attention to that.  In any case, i myself don't think "cooking wine" (in this case Shaohsing wine w/ salt) is to be SHUNNED.  It's fine for most purposes, especially when one is cooking a dish where lots of other flavorings and spices and etc go in.  Besides, one would need to salt the dish anyway.  Using high quality drinking Shaohsing wine may be a waste, in such instances, in my view.

 

p.s. ...and I can get very good drinking sake (of very high quality) from a Japanese FOOD STORE in my area.

Edited September 13, 2014 by huiray (log)

[basquecook]

i have had a hard time finding liquor in Chicago Chinatown... I am heading to Chicago tomorrow morning.. I like Go 4 Food out there and also, Lao Sze Chuan is the best I have had so far.. I go about 7 times a year and usually try a different Chinese Place each time.  Go 4 Food is more Cantonese. 

[Naftal]

huiray, rotus, basquecook, thanks for your advice. Is anyone else familiar enough with the culinary joys to be experienced in Chicago's Chinatown to offer some advice?

[huiray]

Just roam around the arcade and environs around what is called "New Chinatown Square", that arcade I mentioned where that charcuterie shop (Great Wall) is, on the NW side of S Archer diagonally across from Phoenix.  (Lao Sze Chuan is also at the southern end)  There's a Chinese medicine shop or two you might browse in too.  Or stand and watch hand-pulled noodles being made - at Sing's, nowadays**....I used to watch him do his stuff at Hing Kee and slurp up a bowl or two of the stuff there too.  (Eh, Hing Kee's shui kow weren't too great the last time I tried them)

 

** see this article and also this one.

 

You say you have a (whole?) day to spend in Chinatown.  How about steamboat for dinner? :-)  There are some places for that in C-town, including Mandarin Kitchen & Lao Sze Chuan.

 

You ask about Chinatown in Chicago, but there are other places to get decent Chinese and Chinese-related food and also dim sum in Chicago.  I don't know where you will be when you are in town, but consider some of the other places, including the Argyle & N Broadway neighborhood I mentioned earlier. (Perhaps spend the daytime around Chinatown, the evening around Argyle?) There are also those who consider Phoenix not to be the *best* for dim sum, or that other places (e.g. see this list) are just as good or even better.  There is also a Westernized/"high-end" type place for dim sum in the Loop (which I have not been to), if one is interested in that sort of experience (that place apparently does their dim sum "in partnership" with Phoenix).  

 

I note you are in SE Michigan.  Would that be the Detroit-Ann Arbor area or somewhere closer to Lansing?  (Curious about your samplings of Chinese places in the DTW area - which I have never sampled - but which I understand contain several excellent places for Chinese food and, presumably, Chinese food supplies)

Edited September 18, 2014 by huiray (log)

[Alex]

Naftal, have you searched the Chicago-based LTHForum?

[Naftal]

Naftal, have you searched the Chicago-based LTHForum?

Hello- Yes, I looked at that forum, thanks. Now I have another, perhaps even more crucial question: I check a site that lists teahouses in Chicago, and I could not find one in the Chinatown area. Now I do not know Chicago that well, and I could have seen the address and not realize its location. So help me! Is there a traditional Chinese Teashop in that part of Chicago? I also am aware that some of the dim sum places may have particularly good tea. If that is the case, please let me know.

Thanks!!

[huiray]

http://www.worldoftea.org/chicagos-chinatown-not-a-tea-mecca/

Read the comments.

 

Boba tea (non-traditional):

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/saints-alp-teahouse/Location?oid=1025585

Directly under Phoenix.

 

Consider having "kook-pou" when you are in Phoenix having your dim-sum: a mixture of po-lei (pu-erh) (ask for "leng po-lei" ("beautiful" po-lei)) and dried chrysanthemum.  The last time I had it there it was a decent pot of tea, not outstanding but a nice change from the standard stuff dim-sum places give people in these parts.  You're supposed to be concentrating on the dim-sum, anyway. :-)

[huiray]

BTW the grocery stores (the bigger ones) often also have a selection of teas.  Check them out.  I currently drink a high mountain green tea from Taiwan which I get from my local Chinese grocery, as well as other stuff like Ti Guan Yin or Westlake Dragon Well teas.

 

I also assume you know of these websites?

http://www.teavivre.com/

http://www.sevencups.com/

[Naftal]

BTW the grocery stores (the bigger ones) often also have a selection of teas.  Check them out.  I currently drink a high mountain green tea from Taiwan which I get from my local Chinese grocery, as well as other stuff like Ti Guan Yin or Westlake Dragon Well teas.

 

I also assume you know of these websites?

http://www.teavivre.com/

http://www.sevencups.com/

http://www.worldoftea.org/chicagos-chinatown-not-a-tea-mecca/

Read the comments.

 

Boba tea (non-traditional):

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/saints-alp-teahouse/Location?oid=1025585

Directly under Phoenix.

 

Consider having "kook-pou" when you are in Phoenix having your dim-sum: a mixture of po-lei (pu-erh) (ask for "leng po-lei" ("beautiful" po-lei)) and dried chrysanthemum.  The last time I had it there it was a decent pot of tea, not outstanding but a nice change from the standard stuff dim-sum places give people in these parts.  You're supposed to be concentrating on the dim-sum, anyway. :-)

Thanks! I love pu-erh straight, and I love Dragon Well. So now I am even more excited!!!!!

[Naftal]

BTW Is the High Mountain green a "Mao Feng"?

[huiray]

BTW Is the High Mountain green a "Mao Feng"?

 

I don't think so.  The one I referred to is from Taiwan, not Anhui on mainland China.  The one I have is produced by Da Guan and labeled simply as "clean/clear fragrant high mountain green tea" (清香高山綠茶).

[Naftal]

Hello- My research seemed to indicate that Cai is the most popular dim sum place among the Chinese. So, tomorrow we do China town and Cai!

[Naftal]

Hello- Cai was wonderful beyond words. Truly, I cannot describe how wonderful it was. and my nephew agreed.   For the record, we also discovered a liquor store in Chinatown that sells Shao Hsing, and they sell a variety of brands at a variety of prices! The place is called "China Place Liquor. Inc."  The address is 2105 S. China Place #A (sic), and the phone number is 312-225-8118. The clerks may not speak English, but if you show them what you want they can steer you to a good buy:)

[huiray]

Cai is listed as choice #1 in the TimeOut list I referenced in my post above.  ;-)  Glad you enjoyed it.  Perhaps one day you might sample dim-sum in Vancouver/GTA/SGV/(even SF) and perhaps in Hong Kong. :-) 

[Naftal]

Cai is listed as choice #1 in the TimeOut list I referenced in my post above.  ;-)  Glad you enjoyed it.  Perhaps one day you might sample dim-sum in Vancouver/GTA/SGV/(even SF) and perhaps in Hong Kong. :-) 

Hello- It does not surprise me that Vancouver and SF have good dim-sum. Please elaborate; I am not familiar with the abbreviations: GTA/SGV. I imagine (though I have no proof) that one could get good dim-sum in Toronto. And, of course, I cannot imagine anything more wonderful than dim-sum in Hong Kong:)

    Also, I live in the Detroit-Ann Arbor area and know many fine Chinese places(but I am always on the look-out for more).

    Lastly, did you know that Metropolitan Detroit (the TriCounty Area) has a small China-Town area of its own? It does not compare in size to any you have mentioned, but it does have a few interesting sites. And we do have one particularly good dim-sum place, and a very traditional Chinese  TeaHouse that would compare favorably with any I've seen.

[huiray]

Naftal,

 

GTA = Greater Toronto Area.  Markham & Richmond Hill are areas with concentrations of good Cantonese restaurants.

SGV = San Gabriel Valley.  Said by many to be THE premier area for Chinese food of widely varying regionalities (and including Taiwanese) within the USA (note, NOT North America)

 

For Cantonese food (which includes dim-sum) in North America, Vancouver & the GTA are said to be the best.

 

The concept of going to "Chinatown" for anything good in terms of Chinese cuisine or supplies is gradually fading as the East Asian populations spread out and move into the larger population in many metropolitan areas nowadays.  In some cases the "old" Chinatown even ceases to be the go-to place for excellence and new areas (more spread-out, even) take over. 

 

Yes, I've read about the exploits of folks in eating well in various Chinese restaurants in DTW and Ann Arbor on another (cough) food forum.  I wondered about your experiences in an earlier post here.

Edited September 27, 2014 by huiray (log)

[rotuts]

""   The clerks may not speak English, but if you show them what you want they can steer you to a good buy:) ""

 

exactly the same in Chinatown Boston.