Best Chinese take-out in Lake County

Inspired by the "best Chinese take-out in Niles area" inquiry, I'd like to ask about opinions on the best Chinese take-out in Lake County?

I am so disillusioned since the last place I liked changed hands. Everything seems microwaved, overly salty, and filled out with big chunks of cheap vegetables to me. Best Chinese take-out experience I've had this year was lunch (egg rolls, Mongolian beef) from Jun Ho in Mundelein when owner was there; another atttempt at dinnertime was disappointing. Do I have to drive all the way to Chef Ping's, which is to say, give up finding any decent take-out Chinese in Lake County?

Hi,

For lunch, I go to China Kitchen. This is not a restaurant, it is take-out with a few seats for waiting or eating.

I really like their Beef Chow Fun ordered, "Dry, crispy, Chinese-style." It took a few times to get it right for my taste, though now they get it.

Beef Chow Fun is not on their lunchbox menu. However, they have a Thai dish, which is very close: Pad See Ew Rice noodle. Stir-fried thick rice noodle with Chinese broccoli, mushroom, egg in special sweet soy sauce. I ask them to make it dry and crispy like Beef Chow Fun. Fortunately, they go along with me.

My friend Helen almost always orders the Shrimp Egg Foo Young. At one point, it seemed over crisp or pretty much burnt. One or two times, she ordered her Shrimp Egg Foo Young NOT Burnt. They got the message and didn't fry it as heavily.

There is a Chinese guy whom we encounter at lunch from time to time. Whatever he eats is Chinese style, we usually have order envy inquiring what he's eating so we might order it next time. As usual, I forget what it was when I return and go back to my favorite rice noodle dishes.

China Kitchen
114 W Washington Ave
Highwood, IL 60040
(847) 433-8809

I'm becoming a fast fan of China Kitchen in Highwood as well. I work with an Asian gentleman in Bannockburn, and he has quite the repoire with the staff at China Kitchen. When he orders for the office, nobody ever complains about their food. He orders in the native language that the staff speaks, and they are very accommodating to special requests.
Cathy2 - one of the things he turned me onto that was pretty deccent was the "Fish Fillet and Brocccoli Chow Fun." Fried fish chunks with broccoli in oyster sauce, with a bunch of extra crispy/chewy chow fun noodles. (as always, order the noodles extra crispy.) Not sure if that sounds like it'll float your boat, but if it does, give it a try some time. They've packaged it with the noodles on top, so they don't get soggy.

My standard "lunch special" now is either Fish Fillet with Tofu, or Kung Pao Beef.

The running joke in the office is NEVER order China Kitchen unless the co-worker calls it in for you. I had some very less than stellar experiences when I have ordered from them in the past, but when he orders, it's pretty darn good.

If China Kitchen is one of the best in Lake County, I think that qualifies it as "barren."

You might want to give Yu's Mandarin a try? I've only had a few lunch specials there, and I didn't find them particularly GREAT, but there seems to be some potential. I WANT to try more, but we've only done take out for office lunches.

http://www.yusrestaurant.com/

Having been a Lake County-ite for 21 years this last Wednesday, I have yearned for that Americanized (some would call Jewish-Americanized) Chinese food I enjoyed in my youth & early adulthood in Skokie from places like Lin's Garden, Pekin House, Ah Fong, Nankin, Bamboo House and China Chef.

Sad to say, maybe it's the environment or not but I still haven't found it. However...Hong Kong Chop Suey on Rte. 45 and Hawley in Mundelein is somewhat shy of the upper echelon but will do more often than not. Dependable, and their lunch specials are dirt cheap and very value-driven. For what it's worth, people have been known to drive from afar on the strength of their egg rolls alone.


Hong Kong Chop Suey
316 N. Lake St.
Mundelein, IL 60060
(847) 949-9019

I can contribute a reassuring "it scratches the itch" for Hong Kong Chop Suey in Mundelein. Their egg rolls are the closest thing to Pekin House that I've found the last few years. I leave satisfied with their affordable lunch specials. I haven't found any entree that would make it destination worthy but they're all fine representations of American-Chinese.

I mourn the loss of my American-Chinese stalwart New Canton Chop Suey in Prospect Heights. While still open, the new generation has run this ghost ship aground. A take out only storefront, it was worth a half hour drive for 20+ years. Lunch special of orange shrimp, very respectable fried rice and Egg Foo Young (subbed in place of forgettable egg roll) was the best Chinese lunch special I've had. Crab Rangoon also set my golden fried standard.

I previously Posted about my recent experience with Hong Kong Chop Suey.
Inexpensive, fresh vegetables, but the Kung Pao was lacking in any ginger or Pao (POW). Totally bland.
The Mu Shu Pork contained no egg, again bland
I can't even remember the third dish, the experience was so memorable.
I know of no place in Lake County for Chinese take out of any kind and similarly in it's adjacent County of Kenosha or Racine farther north.
It'a a sad situation but I firmly believe that one needs a sufficient ethnic community to support a viable ethnic restaurant.
-Richard

I haven't so far been impressed with anything about Hong Kong Chop Suey but their egg rolls and their hot and sour soup, but I'm willing to do some more testing.

Best egg rolls around here seem to be Jun Ho. I need to do more research there too.

I haven't tried Yu's Mandarin (Vernon Hills) yet. Such was the impatient wait for this place to open and the frequently full parking lot once it did that I thought I'd wait til they got their sea legs first. I am surprised to see that the Yelp reviews have gotten worse, not better, since then. (I like to sort the Yelp reviews to see Newest First.) Can't remember when I've checked on the Yelp reviews of a place in Chicagoland and seen an average rating that low. So that's not encouraging.

I am not familiar with China Kitchen in Highwood; I'll check it out. My highest hopes so far are for Jun Ho.

Hi,

A bit more about China Kitchen:

A few years ago, they were contemplating closing for Christmas. They thought they'd be sitting through a pretty quiet day. I suggested they stay open, because of the informal Jewish tradition of a movie and Chinese food on Christmas day.

They had an over-the-top busy day and were glad they took my advice.

I will give the fish filet and broccolli a shot sometime soon. I like to get out of my ordering ruts. Thanks!

Regards,
Cathy2

Katie wrote: I haven't so far been impressed with anything about Hong Kong Chop Suey but their egg rolls and their hot and sour soup, but I'm willing to do some more testing.

Agreed, Katie. We discussed just this topic at the LTH North Lunch at there a few months back. But convenience trumps out for me much of the time. It's 5 minutes to Hong Kong or 45 minutes to China Chef.

I like their egg foo young as well, but I'm still trying to grasp the vague concept of Americanized Chinese food and why my favorite haunts on the Far North Side and Skokie/Lincolnwood/Niles all had that vibrant freshness with a tad of exotica back then, and seemed to taste so much better than what I currently experience.

Or maybe nostalgia has clouded my brain from 30-40 years ago & I'm whistling Dixie. Stevez seems to have a handle on this--care to comment, Stever?

Katie wrote:
I haven't tried Yu's Mandarin (Vernon Hills) yet. Such was the impatient wait for this place to open and the frequently full parking lot once it did that I thought I'd wait til they got their sea legs first. I am surprised to see that the Yelp reviews have gotten worse, not better, since then. (I like to sort the Yelp reviews to see Newest First.) Can't remember when I've checked on the Yelp reviews of a place in Chicagoland and seen an average rating that low. So that's not encouraging.

I am not familiar with China Kitchen in Highwood; I'll check it out. My highest hopes so far are for Jun Ho.

I can almost guarantee you that Yu's Mandarin is better than China Kitchen. Yu's will be more expensive, and probably way better ingredients. China Kitchen is more of a take out counter / two or three trick pony. Yu's will be more upscale, and probably have better / fresher / brighter flavors all around.

I live almost exactly one mile from Yu's. We get take out from there about once every two weeks. So here a few observations. Ingredients are fresh and pretty high quality, flavors are not as bright as you'd expect and even asking for something extra spicy doesn't seem to make any difference. The vegetable egg rolls are very good and a good bargain. Singapore Noodles are well done with lots of shrimp and chicken. Yu's Noodle Platter is good but not as good as from their other location.

Be careful ordering from the on-line menu. It is same as the one for their Schaumburg location but several items on the it are not available in Vernon Hills. Their take out process has gotten much better, their time estimates a now fairly close. When they first opened, no matter what time you were given, it was not ready.

Out of all the other local places the quality here makes it our choice even with the higher prices. There are items that I like at Jun Ho and Green Dragon in Mundelein but if we order several items, some will be mostly vegetable chunks fatty/gristly meat.

But really wish their flavors were up to their other location. I hope this topic points me to new places.

Thanks to all for the suggestions so far. Cathy and Jay, when you say China Chef, do you mean China Kitchen in Highwood, or somewhere else?

Thanks in particular to wesuilmo for your notes on Yu's Mandarin so far. I went through the online menu yesterday. The vegetable egg rolls do seem to be a bargain (two pork/shrimp egg rolls for $2.95 vs four veg egg rolls for $3.50) if they are good. I wrote down several other things I thought I'd like to try. But it's interesting that you say that the online menu does not fully reflect availability at VH. I wonder if I'd be better off to walk in to place a carryout order and come back later to pick it up.

And -- not that LTHers give too much credence to Yelp, but -- what do you think of Yu's Yelp reviews? Considering it took the place of Silk Mandarin and is intended to be a dining-out spot rather than carry-out spot, I am surprised. Average is 2.5 so far.

By Green Dragon, did you mean Dragon Star?

One more question: have you tried Royal Cantonese on Route 45. I've never tried it, but it's been around a long time, so I wonder if they must be doing something right.

So, to restart my research project, I'll check out some things at Yu's and Jun Ho. And maybe Royal Cantonese.

Katie--here's the China Chef/Morton Grove thread:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=11132&hilit=China+Chef

The pics and the comments tell the story...

Ah, thanks, Jay. Just wanted to make sure you and/or Cathy weren't referring back to China Kitchen in Highwood. I do have a pushpin in my map for China Chef in Morton Grove, but it isn't in Lake County. Maybe I need two lists: best Chinese carryout truly near home and quick, and best Chinese in a 25-mile radius --- which brings in China Chef Morton Grove, Yu's Mandarin Schaumburg, Cheg Ping Rolling Meadows, and maybe some others.

I tried Royal Cantonese, actually ate in with my family, about 5 years ago. I suppose you could say this about a lot of Chinese joints that have been there a long time, but this was truly 'the place that time forgot'. Similar to the aforementioned now-defunct Kow Kow in Lincolnwood. Food was decent but forgettable.

Maybe I should try migrating to where many of my discerning Northern Cook County/Lake County Jewish friends hit on Christmas or Easter--Yen Yen or Golden Dragon in Buffalo Grove. Anybody been to either?

Katie wrote:Ah, thanks, Jay. Just wanted to make sure you and/or Cathy weren't referring back to China Kitchen in Highwood. I do have a pushpin in my map for China Chef in Morton Grove, but it isn't in Lake County. Maybe I need two lists: best Chinese carryout truly near home and quick, and best Chinese in a 25-mile radius --- which brings in China Chef Morton Grove, Yu's Mandarin Schaumburg, Cheg Ping Rolling Meadows, and maybe some others.

I went back and corrected my slip. China Kitchen - Highwood, China Chef - Morton Grove. I like both.

Personally, I would prefer Take-Out in north suburbs over Lake County or a specific community. You then don't have to worry whether it is north or south of Lake-Cook Road. If it includes someplace just over the Wisconsin border, it is still in the region. Plus we all move around, so a far away place can work our really well sometime.

Regards,
Cathy2

You make some good points, Cathy, but I don't move around much, I work at home, so my question really is what is the best Chinese take-out in Lake County. Places such as those mentioned above that are not, say, within 10-15 miles of me but are within 25-30 miles or are farther away I would still probably only have a chance to visit fairly rarely, to be realistic, if I were combining a stop at one of them with at least one other reason to be in the area. I'm just wondering if I can find a good go-to Chinese place close to home.

Doing some more online searching today, I noticed that there are at least twice as many 4 and 4.5* rated Japanese/sushi restaurants within 10 miles of me as there are Chinese restaurants. I wonder why that is. I don't think the Japanese population in Lake County is any greater than the Chinese population; I would guess it'd be smaller.

Speaking of Japanese/sushi in my radius of interest, I did eat at Sushi Mike's (Tonoshii Sushi) in Highland Park last week and enjoyed it thoroughly, but any more comment on that I'll put in the appropriate thread.

My go to place is Hong Kong Chop Suey. I don't think it's great, but it's consistently good.

I've tried Jun Ho twice and was disappointed both times. Those were at least a few years ago, maybe it's improved.

I've been to Royal Cantonese twice and liked it both times. I would probably go there more, but HKCS is so convenient and it's my daughter's favorite.

I haven't tried Yu's in Vernon Hills, but it seems like it gets a nice lunch crowd. There used to be (long time ago) a Yu's on the NE corner of Rt 176 & Milwaukee Avenue in Libertyville, that I liked. Probably not related

D.