xmas in chinatown

Hi,
Does anybody have any suggestions for restaurants in Chinatown that are open on xmas day for dinner. We went to phoneix last year and it was surprizingly disapointing. We have been going there the past several years for xmas. But last year was really bad. Overpriced, poor service, and the food has slipped. Also, I need something americanized for the unadventerousin our group.
any help would be great.
thanks

Mandarin Kitchen will be open on Xmas. They are located a few doors down from Phoenix (2143 S. Archer Av.), they specialize in Shanghai style cuisine, have the best hot pot in Chinatown, as well as serving many standard American-Chinese dishes. You should probably make a reservation a few days ahead.

Looking forward to Christmas at the Mandarin Kitchen!

Any suggestions others than fish with seaweed and soup dumplings?

Franabanana wrote:Looking forward to Christmas at the Mandarin Kitchen!

Any suggestions others than fish with seaweed and soup dumplings?

Their hot pots are great!

als2554 wrote:Hi,
Does anybody have any suggestions for restaurants in Chinatown that are open on xmas day for dinner. We went to phoneix last year and it was surprizingly disapointing. We have been going there the past several years for xmas. But last year was really bad. Overpriced, poor service, and the food has slipped. Also, I need something americanized for the unadventerousin our group.
any help would be great.
thanks

You can't go wrong with "Little Three Happiness" although I don't know if they will be open.

Three Happiness Original Restaurant
209 W. Cermak Rd., Chicago
Tel: (312) 842-1964

An article in today's Tribune said that Lao Sze Chuan will be open, and expects to take 100 reservations--half Chinese and half Jewish.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 7219.story

Bruce wrote:You can't go wrong with "Little Three Happiness" although I don't know if they will be open.

Bruce,

'Little' Three Happiness is open on Christmas day, it was (is) open on Christmas eve as well. LTH is keeping regular weekend hours, which means open 9am, close 6am.

Hope you had a great 4 for 4 Christmas.

Enjoy,
Gary

'Little' Three Happiness
209 W. Cermak Rd
Chicago, IL
312-842-1964

[quote="G Wiv"]
Hope you had a great 4 for 4 Christmas.

Check your email for a photo

Franabanana wrote:Looking forward to Christmas at the Mandarin Kitchen!

Any suggestions others than fish with seaweed and soup dumplings?

stevez wrote:Their hot pots are great!

Franabanana,

Mr. Z is, as usual, spot on, Mandarin Kitchen's Hot Pots are "great"




Yan du xian, often referred to as the national soup of Shanghai.



A deceivingly simple soup containing salted pork, bamboo shoots and knots of dried tofu (Yuba) which, the appropriately named, Gary Soup, on the c-h Canada board, referred to as "a dish so home-y that it's seldom even found in restauarants"


Yan du xian is # 469 on Mandarin Kitchens take away menu, though those serious about trying the dish best write out yan du xian and show it to Aide, the co-owner, to be sure they get the right dish.

I've now been to Mandarin Kitchen 4 times and the last, which included hot pot, was by far my favorite. Previously my meals had been good, but felt, somehow, disjointed/incomplete hot pot seemed to act as a unifying factor bringing everything together for satisfying meal.

Enjoy,
Gary

The Reader prefaces its Asian roundup this week with something like "All of the Chinese and Korean places listed will be open Christmas day; all of the Japanese and Thai ones will be closed."* I thought it was interesting that it broke out so neatly that way.

* Can't find it this second so could be wrong about which nationality was open or closed (aren't Korean-Americans fairly heavily Christian and thus more likely to be closed?) Anyway, the point is that however it broke, it broke evenly by culture/ethnicity.

I was juat out picking up our bread for today's family dinner in Bartlett. What Mike G. (as well as conventional wisdom) says seedms to be true. Even our little Chinese take-away spot in the corner mini-strip mall is open.

Driving back along Lincoln: Japanese and Thai closed, Chinese and Korean open.

Chinatown was hopping tonight!

We arrived around 6 pm and the place was about half full--almost all Asian families and a couple tables of fellow members of the "Tribe."

I had prepared extensively, thanks to the folks at LTH, and had a list of the dishes to try. We ended up ordering Flounder with Seaweed (I almost stumbled and ordered the Braised Flounder, but then located the Fried...), Homemade Noodles with Seafood, Crispy Duck, Sizzling Rice with Chicken & Seafood, and Orange Beef (a sop to my non-adventurous hubbie, who loves him some Orange Beef).

We also ordered Pork Soup Dumplings and Sesame Pancakes. The little banana got his egg rolls and dish of rice, although I should have saved him some more shrimps from the Chicken & Seafood dish.

Well, in order of favorites, it was:
Flounder with Seaweed. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who recommended this. I would never have seen it or thought about it but it was just outstanding. My sister and I were the only ones who really got into this dish, and we pigged out. My only complaint is that it came out last, so I was already near full. I managed. Hee.

Pork soup dumplings. Yum yum yum. I could have had the whole order myself. No spoons to eat it with. Next time I'll have to ask.

Homemade Noodles. Toothsome, slightly spicy, not greasy, well stocked with goodies.

Sesame Pancake: Very pleasing and doughy.

Orange beef: Yes it's American, but they do it very well.

Bottom tie between...
Sizzling rice with Chicken & Seafood: This was OK at first, but once the rice soaked up the sauce, which was very thick, it got a bit gummy. Not something I'd order again (actually, my sister ordered it, so go figure)

Crispy duck:
A little dry, not much flavor.

Their tea is outstanding - not too strong, but nicely scented and hot. The service was very good, the food came out nicely spaced (which is OK for family style eating), and my tummy is very happy.

Next time, hot pots! Many people had ordered them and they did look fabulous.

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I've enjoyed reading the posts about the various restaurants in Chinatown. I do need some additional help, however. In about a week or two I'm taking about 10 high school students on a trip through Chinatown, and I've promised a lunch stop.

Would the restaurants previously discussed fit the needs for teenagers who are sometimes unadventuresome eaters? If you can think of any other places that would fit...please let me know. These are city kids, and always seem to roll with punches, but I want to have my bases covered.

Thanks,
Katy

KatyK wrote:Would the restaurants previously discussed fit the needs for teenagers who are sometimes unadventuresome eaters? If you can think of any other places that would fit...please let me know. These are city kids, and always seem to roll with punches, but I want to have my bases covered.

Moon Palace is perfect for that kind of group. They have big enough tables that you might all fit around one and everything from fried rice to noodle soup with Chinese pickle on the menu. Or, if you're going at lunchtime (and preferably not on a Sunday because of the crowds) I'd also consider Phoenix. They also have big tables and a nice view of the skyline and that plus the rolling carts make it an experience that your teens might not have already had. I'd order a noodle dish or two to compliment the dim sum, and then they can take turns urging each other to try the curried octopus.

Spring World is open on X-Mas eve and X-mas.

Has become my favorite Chinatown spot... went last year for X-mas eve.


Spring World
2109 S. China Pl.
Chicago

Hi,

For the some what uninitiated, I favor Seven Treasures and then only for their soup noodles, which can be topped with BBQ Pork, Roast Duck, Dumplings and much more. The cooking of the soup occurs in an open kitchen to the left of the door, so you can watch an order being prepared. If you are there at the right time, there is a clutch of people speedily making dumplings.

The soups are very tasty, traditional and will not evoke any 'yuck' factor teenagers like to play up in new circumstances. The soups there are also cheap in the $6 or much less category. Another cheap and authentic alternative is BBQ meats on rice for $5 or less. For a $1 extra, you can get Chinese vegetable, which is a type of broccoli, which emphasizes the stems rather than the flowerets.

A visit to a Chinese Bakery is also interesting. The sweets there are really for the American audience. The BBQ buns, bean paste buns, taro root cake, turnip cake, moon cakes, dumplings are for the Chinese.

Good luck! Do report later where you ended up and how they reacted to it.

Seven Treasures Cantonese Cuisine
2312 South Wentworth Avenue
Chicago, IL 60616
312-949-1880