Phoenix Inn (Evanston Sichuan)

For years, Evanston's Phoenix Inn provided the community with a valuable service: Giving the elderly a quiet place to while away their remaining years by enjoying "Chinese" "food" in appropriately depressing surroundings. Undisturbed by the presence of flavor, adequate lighting, or indeed other customers, they could thus peacefully pass the time while awaiting death.

Then a few years ago, Phoenix Inn suddenly closed. Published reports cited a fire, but rumors spoke of Jack Kevorkian being seen exiting the premises. Regardless, the place remained shuttered for at least a year. It opened again this past spring, with some noticeable changes. There was a new chef and a new menu, featuring authentic dishes. The dingy interior was gone, replaced by cheerful colors, clean tables, and updated fixtures. And, most shockingly, for the first time there were actual Chinese people eating in the restaurant.

For the past few months, I've been sampling the menu at the reborn Phoenix. While nowhere in the class of LSC or my personal benchmark Asian Bistro, I would rate it a solid B overall, with some dishes that merit a higher grade. What follows is a list of a few things I tried and my impressions. This is from memory, so it's possible that I'm forgetting some dishes. I will update this thread, if on a future visit I find anything particularly enjoyable or egregious.

Homestyle tofu -- Pretty decent. Of note, the version here has no pork and is heavy on the vegetables. This is one of the few Sichuan dishes that appears on the lunch menu.

Sichuan string beans -- Not as good as Asian Bistro's, but not bad at all. This also appears on the lunch menu.

Dan dan noodles -- Blech. Store-bought noodles with a little chili oil. Avoid.

Salt and pepper tofu -- Should have known better than to order this at a Sichuan place, but I really wanted a good version close to home. Big mistake. Very bland and the crust was way too thick. Avoid.

Spicy fish fillet with tofu -- Okay, now we're getting to the good stuff. Fish with soft tofu in chili bean paste -- what's not to like? Based on this dish, I'm guessing the ma po tofu must be pretty good here.

Sichuan boiled fish -- The dish that first got me excited about this place. This is the kind of dish where it's hard to dumb down the heat -- if you get it, you're pretty much guaranteed an authentic version. And indeed, this is appropriately hot. Of course, boiled beef is also offered, but I've not yet tried it.

Fish fillet in hot bean sauce -- My other favorite of the things I tried. What doesn't seem to be mentioned in the menu is that this also contains bok choy. The combination is delicious.

From my experience so far, the best strategy seems to be to order from the very last section of the menu (called something like "House Specialties"). Non-Sichuan dishes are likely to be disappointing and I'd steer clear of noodles, as well. I still haven't tried "married couple" sliced beef, la zi chicken, etc. Like I said, there's definitely better Sichuan to be had, but I'm very glad to have this place nearby.

Phoenix Inn
608 Davis St
Evanston, IL 60201
847-475-7782

Evanston Lunch Group™ was there in August, and the consensus was that it might now be the best Chinese food in Evanston.

nr706 wrote:it might now be the best Chinese food in Evanston.

That's not necessarily a compliment....

What'dja have?

cilantro wrote:I would rate it a solid B overall

Between Phoenix Inn and 527 Cafe I am looking forward to an Evanston visit. (Even given the possibility of running into NR)

My dad and uncle live up the street at the Mather and they enjoy Americanized Chinese food (egg foo young, etc.), but they are not so old that they don't like to have a drink before dinner - does anyone know if they can get a scotch at Phoenix Inn? Also - are the chow mein, foo young dishes still on the menu?
Thanks!

My 2 visits at lunchtime a week after they opened were totally unsatisfactory: bland, greasy, poor quality chicken, poorly cooked rice. But I have to admit that I limited myself to the lunch specials that were quite cheap. Only the hot and sour soup was OK.
Service was fast and courrteous though.
Perhaps I should try again, spend more money and buy specials with a Sichuan touch

G Wiv wrote:I am looking forward to an Evanston visit. (Even given the possibility of running into NR)

As always, I'll do my best to avoid you.

Tobermory wrote:My dad and uncle live up the street at the Mather and they enjoy Americanized Chinese food (egg foo young, etc.), but they are not so old that they don't like to have a drink before dinner - does anyone know if they can get a scotch at Phoenix Inn? Also - are the chow mein, foo young dishes still on the menu?
Thanks!

I believe all of the old standards (e.g., chow mein, egg fu yung) are still on the menu, but your dad and uncle will have to BYO beer, wine, or Scotch--PI doesn't have a liquor license.
As far as new items on the menu, during the August Evanston Lunch Group outing, we focused on ordering a variety of these, but nothing is standing out in my memory at the moment. I do remember the three-color seaweed (exact name?), and I think everyone liked the PI version of salt-and-pepper shrimp. One new dish that did not come off very well, IMO, was the lamb stir-fried in cumin--unless you have an extremely strong craving for cumin. It really could have been any-meat in (overpowering) cumin.
I think we all agreed that the food had improved over that served by the old Phoenix Inn, but that's not saying a lot. For me at least, it certainly didn't have that pop-and-wow factor of, say, Lao Sze Chuan. It probably says something that--although PI is a heck of a lot closer to me than Chinatown--I haven't been back since our August lunch.

alain40 wrote:My 2 visits at lunchtime a week after they opened were totally unsatisfactory: bland, greasy, poor quality chicken, poorly cooked rice. But I have to admit that I limited myself to the lunch specials that were quite cheap. Only the hot and sour soup was OK.
Service was fast and courrteous though.
Perhaps I should try again, spend more money and buy specials with a Sichuan touch

The lunch specials are unimpressive, but beyond that, my best meals here have been at dinnertime (and one of those was during opening week). Maybe it's a different kitchen crew, I don't know. I do agree that the hot and sour soup is not bad.

My wife and I went to the Phoenix Inn this afternoon for dinner. Actually, she and her friends have always called it the "Penis Inn" since going there while Northwestern students in the 1970s, so the name has kind of stuck with us. Anyway, the experience was overall really good.

First off, the service was excellent and very friendly. Granted, there were only three tables filled at 3pm this afternoon, but the waitress was great.

The decor was bright and colorful, as opposed to the dingy decor the place used to have. The floorplan is about the same as it ever was, although the front counter is on the opposite side of the room from where it used to be. The waitress said that there had been a fire in the kitchen, which was the cause of the closing and the makeover.

For food, we ordered three mainstay (for us) Chinese items:

BBQ Pork chop suey:

There was a lot of flavorful pork in the dish, with vegetables that hadn't been cooked to death or over-salted.



Sweet and Sour Chicken

While I like this dish generally, I don't usually order it in restaurants because it doesn't come with vegetables. However, I had a taste for it so ordered it today. The flavor was good and the pieces fried nicely without any mushy, underdone batter in places. As with most places, the pieces were drowned in sauce, which was the only downside. I should have remembered to order it on the side.



BBQ Pork Egg Foo Young

I was a little suspect when this dish first came out because the patties and the sauce were both very dark. However, the dish was excellent. The patties were cooked really well, with lots of crunch of the ingredients, indicating that they hadn't been overcooked. The sauce was very good and not at all salty, which I expected due to the color.




Overall, the restaurant was a hit for us and we'll definitely return when we make it back to Evanston.

Just received a take-out menu from Phoenix Inn in Evanston; anyone have any recent intel on a new chef? In addition to the usual suburban-Chinese items, the menu now lists all manner of non-standard fare, such as 'Spicy & Aromatic Pig Blood," "Spicy Pork Intestine w/Tofu," Pork Stomach & Scallion," "Water Spinach in Bean Curd Pepper Sauce," :"Shredded Pork w/Smoke Tofu," and "Satay Beef Tendon." Pretty intriguing for this part of town - especially since all of the foregoing seem to be available for delivery (!).

Thoughts? Thanks.

Bump. Any recent experience?

I went Sunday and had the Eggplant with Garlic. It was really nice, and I can't wait to get to the leftovers. It was a good portion too, and only about $8.