Anybody have a favorite spot? My preferred dish is Kung Pao Chicken and I'd prefer not to drive too far... I'm south of the tracks and just barely in Wheaton.
And if you're planning to write Panda Express, please don't...
We find Golden Wok II, up on Roosevelt just east of 355, to be decent. Not great, but the best that will deliver around here. I like Cafe Jasmine in Wheaton, too, sometimes. But we've yet to find a real Wow! Chinese place yet, and we've lived here 10 years.
Opera is the loudest restaurant in Chicago. Could never figure out what they were thinking when they designed the place. Concrete floors, open ceiling, loud music (no f-ing brown rice). Still, food is very good...but ridiculously pricey for "Chinese" cuisine. They had a plum soup with duck confit that was really good. Something you wouldn't make at home on a Tuesday night.
I have tried most local favorites (including all listed above) and find them all to be appalling. All. Loung Loi has very good Vietnamese food, but their Chinese choices blow. Service is laughably miserable. Get it to go.
Sometimes it's just best to do without when the choices are so awful.
That was a big bummer for us when we moved from the city - no good Chinese! We did go to Stone Dragon on Gary, just North of North Ave., but we have been disappointed the last few times. They do deliver, if you want to give them a try. It has gotten to the point where I got a wok and a rice cooker and it turns out Chinese isn't that hard to cook!
As Yoss and I have said numerous times.....Heng Wing in Palatine is the best around. Yu's Mandarain in Schaumburg is a close second. Everything around here stinks. Dragon Two or One or whatever is serviceable but certainly not good.
PF Changs......Clamato.......really????......come on.........I thought you were the resident food critic.......PF Changs........while very pleasing to the taste....is not Chinese food.
Tried most everything around here, and never found good carry-out.
I have mentioned Jade Dragon in downtown Hinsdale many times here on this forum. Yes, it is a drive (thus not a take-out candidate), but can't be beat for the price/food quality ratio.
A relatively new place opened up near work so its not super close to GE. But, if you want to drive a little, it's called Mapo and its on Naperville Rd, south of I-88, next to the Wendy's just when Naperville makes its split near Buona Beef.
Again, its probably not worth the drive but it might be worth a try. Chinese is one of those genres that depends upon the taster. Good for me may be junk for you and vice versa.
If you're going that far, you might go a little farther to Joy Yee off Ogden, west of Naperville, across from the Big Lots (yes, they still have those stores) in the strip mall.
And if you're really going that far, screw the Chinese food and go to HP Schmaltz Deli on the NE corner of Ogden and Naper. Unbuckle your belt, get yourself the Sloppy Paul, and don't eat for a day or two after.
We really like Peking Chinese in the strip mall on the southeast corner of Schmale and Geneva. Good quality meat, nice sauces, and lots of veggies. Beef with vegetables or mongolian beef are my favorite. Egg rolls are good. Fried rice is tasty.
"The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important things are not houses and lands, stocks and bonds, automobiles and real state, but friendships, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith. " -Bertrand Russell V. Delong
Posts: 3238 | Location: Glen Ellyn, IL | Registered: April 04, 2003
Originally posted by GE Fan: As Yoss and I have said numerous times.....Heng Wing in Palatine is the best around. Yu's Mandarain in Schaumburg is a close second. Everything around here stinks. Dragon Two or One or whatever is serviceable but certainly not good.
PF Changs......Clamato.......really????......come on.........I thought you were the resident food critic.......PF Changs........while very pleasing to the taste....is not Chinese food.
Jeez....I expected better from you Clamato.
I know for a fact that they have Kung Pao chicken. I know for a fact that their Kung Pao chicken is spicier and less gloppy than any of the craphole independent joints around. I know for a fact that serve huge @ss cocktails. Why would one choose the Golden Wok over such a place?
If you ain't eatin' authentic food in Chinatown, why bother? May as well go where it is tasty and they serve real booze. That's my mantra.
BTW, thanks for the biscuit. I had dinner with your newest client this evening and talked him out of doing business with you. The missing biscuit, as I explained to him, was a sign of a flaw in your character.
BTW, thanks for the biscuit. I had dinner with your newest client this evening and talked him out of doing business with you. The missing biscuit, as I explained to him, was a sign of a flaw in your character.
Shockingly, Valita never made it to the office today.
Originally posted by Clamato: [I know for a fact that they have Kung Pao chicken. I know for a fact that their Kung Pao chicken is spicier and less gloppy than any of the craphole independent joints around. I know for a fact that serve huge @ss cocktails. Why would one choose the Golden Wok over such a place?
Only because Golden Wok delivers. And I only eat Chinese food in my house, for some reason. To me, it's not a dining out kind of experience.
I agree with you there. A fabulous Chinese place that delivers has long been on my dream list for GE. Having experienced just that in other large city suburbs (Philadelphia, Long Island), I remain puzzled that for some reason the Chicago suburbs remain an oasis of bad takeout.
