I mean, it wasn’t like some dude tweeted me and told me he was sleeping with my wife, but it was still a surprise. Instead I had to find out about it on the Sun Wah Facebook page. I’ve almost always ordered co-owner Kelly Cheng‘s recommended vegetable of the day–because when you get sweet stuffed honey-glazed eggplants or killer bitter greens dripping in garlic and lemon, who can say no?īut apparently, during all those forays, there lurked an untapped secret menu at Sun Wah. While I’m not quite the regular at Sun Wah that many in the Chicago food community are, I felt like I deserved the intel. I’d been going to Sun Wah Bar-B-Que on Argyle Street for more than three years, now eating my way through every Chinese barbecue item on the menu and ordering all the goodies written in black Sharpie on styrofoam plates nailed to the wall on the annex menu. Unique appetizers include marinated beef and pork wrapped in Hawaiian leaves and Vietnamese-style calimari, and while pho, stir-fries and banh mi are all on hand, you’ll want to save room for heartier fare like the “shaken filet mignon,” a hearty portion of beef with red wine, butter and garlic served on a bed of watercress.Whatever your take on social networking, the Internet, and all manner of digital time-stealing inventions, one thing you can’t deny is the awesome power of these media to expose some serious eats. One of the snazzier dining options in the neighborhood is Hai Yen, a restaurant that sports an artsy and romantic dining room with traditional Vietnamese cuisine and even table-side cooking that allows guests to cook some of their own food. Wash it down with one of the drinks off the dizzying beverage menu, like preserved plum juice, young coconut juice or egg yolk blended with condensed milk and soda. Case in point, the sensational DIY rice paper rolls served with grilled shrimp, beef, chicken, meatballs and additional accents like lettuce, cucumber and various basils. Some of the best dishes here are ones that get you up close and personal with meatballs and shrimp. They also have non-beef options like tofu and barbecued pork, but with so many solid beef bowls to order, it’s certainly the way to go.ĭon’t be shy about eating with your hands at Cafe Hoang, a prominent Argyle fixture that his since expanded with an outpost in Chinatown. Here you’ll find locals pouring over nourishing bowls of pho, like the insane bargain that is the Special 777, which contains eye of round steak, well done flanks, brisket, soft tendon, tripe and meatball. Accent your bowl as you please with customizable add-ons like bean sprouts, basil, cilantro and jalapeños.įurther east down the shared street, Pho 777 is more of a hole-in-the-wall than gargantuan Tank. Each and every cut is rendered tender by simmering away in the aromatic broth, absorbing all those spicy, herbaceous notes. The best versions are the beefy ones, like the oxtail pho, the sliced beef pho with bible tripe and the flank pho. Rice flour rolls, squid salad, sizzling savory crepes, rice congee and banh mi sandwiches are all well and good, but you’re really here to focus on the pho, the aromatic noodle soup native to Vietnam lore. In many ways, it serves as the launching point for many Argyle first-timers, which makes sense not only for its location but for its phone book-sized menu that affords a comprehensive glimpse into Vietnamese cooking. Situated at the corner of Broadway and Argyle on the Western terminus of the street, Tank is regularly regarded as the most famous Vietnamese restaurant in Chicago, renowned for its steaming bowls of pho that single-handedly make Chicago winters tolerable. The most iconic restaurant in the neighborhood also has the most visible real estate.
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