Argyle Street - Chicago

[guajolote]

I'm in the mood for some cheap SE Asian food tonight. Any recommendations? BYO would be nice.

Thanks to all

[Hopleaf]

Have you tried Thai Pastry? It's on Broadway (east side of street) just south of Argyle.

I highly recommend it.

[mikeczyz]

I love Argyle Street. I second hopleaf's thai pastry recommendation. If you don't limit yourself to SE Asian, try the Sun Wah BBQ Restaurant. Most of my 'white' friends find it to be a dirty little shack, but the meats there are fabulous. Try the rice plate with roasted duck, bbq pork and some greens for the low low price of $3.95.

mike

[elfin]

My husband and I eat in the Argyle area every weekend. We are regulars at Dong Ky (Vietnamese)-located on Broadway just south of Argyle in a large strip mall. (Look for the Blockbuster). The Orange Beef (listed only as orange chicken on the menu) is wonderful-almost like candy. Coupled with the spicey tray ingredients on the table it really excites the senses. It is BYOB and not at all a fancy place (AKA a dump). But we keep coming back for the food and friendly service. The portions are large and the prices are cheaper than similar places on Argyle (we have tried all of them except for Thai Pastry). Sun Wah is famous but IMHO there is a better and more friendly place just east of the El tracks on the North side of Argyle. It is new and has the same variety of meats hanging in the window as Sun Wah , but the food served is one of the better Chinese I have had in a long time. I had the Beef with Chinese broccoli with chow mein noodles and it was tasty and huge. There is also the cheapest carwash on Broadway just south of Argyle -less than $5 for a decent wash.

[guajolote]

Thank you everyone,

I was going to go last night but my sister wasn't feeling well and I didn't want to go alone. Hopefully next week I can make it.

By the way, have you ever driven down that part of Broadway on a sunny weekend? Between the huge lines for the car wash in the right hand lane, and the people trying to turn left into that great grocery store (name?) it can sometimes take 30 minutes to go 4 blocks.

[elfin]

We only do Argyle on the weekends but we typically go for Sunday morning breakfast(nothing like a big bowl of Pho and Vietnamese iced coffee to get you started). We avoid the long lines into the carwash by driving up to the front door. We find one of the towel guys and for a few extra dollars they hand wash your car and clean out the interior. We just drop off the car, eat our meal, shop at that grocery, go to the BBQ place I noted above for takeout and return to a clean car.

[RyneSchraw]

I'll definitely second mike's recommendation of Sun Wah BBQ Restaurant. We took the purple/red line el there from evanston, an easy way to avoid the traffic, and had an excellent meal of roasted duck, bbq pork, spiced ('with a lot of ginger,' mike pointed out) beef tripe, won ton soup, and those awesome hard boiled eggs soaked in salt water. All the food was great, but the duck in particular was exceptional---so tender with a very crispy skin and still on the bone. i guess i see mike's point about how some people may be put off by the place itself or the distinctive smell -- of chinese food cooking and duck being roasted -- when you walk in, but i'm your average white American male, ages 18-49 (i even lie about my age sometimes ), and i'll be back here eating a $3.95 combo plate in no time at all.

[budrichard]

On our way into the City yesterday, stopped at Argyle @ Broadway area to pick up some Vietnamese ingrediants. Had not been to the area in about 1 year. The Tai Nam Food Market http://www.tainammarket.com/ wasn't really changed and still has an excellent supply of freah sea food and vegtables as well as condiments. We picked up some gorgeous large blue crabs right out of the shipping container, squirming and biting each other. The guy that helped me bag them, made sure that we got only females for the roe. Shrimp with heads on , snapper and large hardshell clams were also purchased. The greens are now labeled with both Vietnamese and English names which helps a lot. Woked up the crabs tai style and they were the best hardshell blues I have ever had. Large and full of roe!

Around the corner on Argyle is Sea World Food Market whose claim to fame is a tank of Dungeness crabs and a tank of lobsters in the window. Crabs are $7.99/# and I got two large lively ones. They will go into crab with garlic butter ala Bob Chinn today. Did not do my usual tour down Argyle as we had to get into the City but we did stop at Ba Le http://www.balechicago.com/ and pick up some Banh Mi sandwiches. First time, and they were great as I ate driving down Lake Shore Drive. Ba Le is a franchise operation and with many locations. They are now also a wholsale supplier and many of the products used in thier sanwiches are available in the markets. If you haven't had a Vietnamese sandwich, you don't know what you are missing. They are an Asian influenced French type sandwich on a bagette with various meats and pate if you want. -Dick

Edited February 18, 2007 by budrichard (log)