Chow Fun

I went into Happy Chef today, as I knew that they have in the past served me an excellent beef chow fun, noodles browned, beef juicy, not oversauced.

Today's dish was nothing like that. There was Chinese broccoli on top (?!) and the noodles and beef were gloppy and most likely microwaved/cooked to death. I know I've had a wonderful chow fun there before, but now I can only express disappointment.

So where, I ask, do I go to recapture my lost beef chow fun?

Evan B. Druce wrote:So where, I ask, do I go to recapture my lost beef chow fun?

Evan,

I've waxed poetic numerous times about the crisp noodles at 'Little' Three Happiness. To me there is no finer noodle dish in Chicago than LTH's crisp pan fried rice noodle (chow fun) mixed with 5-spice perfumed roast duck and BBQ pork.

LTH's beef version is excellent as well and I'm particularly fond of the mixed seafood, though I prefer the seafood with thin wheat noodles, crisp of course. Being a belt and suspenders kind of guy, especially when it comes to crispy noodles, I always ask for my noodles crisp, light sauce.

I'm such a fan of crisp rice noodle at 'Little' Three Happiness I often order them plain as a side dish.


Here's a link to my GNR 'Little' Three Happiness nomination post, which contains numerous links to past posts.
'Little' Three Happiness GNR

Enjoy,
Gary

'Little' Three Happiness
209 W Cermak Rd
Chicago, IL 60616
312-842-1964

Gary,

I think that's exactly what I'm looking for. Those noodles, plus the beef, oily but not gloppy, and bean sprouts? Bingo. That's a beef chow fun. Probably a Cantonese dish (NYC's best version comes from Great NY Noodletown, a Cantonese hole in the wall quite similar to LTH) so I'm wondering what the hell I was doing going to Happy Chef (primarily a dim sum place) looking for it in the first place.

Oh yeah, that first really good chow fun. Perhaps I just got a good waiter, who was able to explain to the cooks how to make the dish in question. But I thought chow fun was a standard thing...

There are two different kinds of chow fun:
1) dry - b/c there is no sauce and the noodles are brown from the sauce, stir fried with bean sprouts and beef
2) the noodles are still white in color b/c the noodles come in a gravy sauce, stir fried with chinese broccoli and beef.

You and I both prefer 1. It sounds like you must have had 2 on your most recent visit. Be sure to specify when you order. Most restaurants will make it both ways.

Often times, I have noticed that the noodles prepared dry are shorter, more delicate and separated, while in the other preparation, the noodles are often left longer and sometimes stick together from when they were sliced. I'm probably not making much sense right now, but if you eat chow fun often enough you will probably have similar observations.

as mentioned before, there are two "Styles" of chow fun. the one you wanted was "dry", what you got... wasn't.

i think the one you are referring to is the "gung chow gow hu", which translates into "dry stir-fried beef chow-fun". i'm sure you can find it on a menu as something similar. (be warned though, it is called "dry" because no water is added during cooking. instead, loads of oil is used, resulting in a very greasy dish)

the one you got i think was the beef and brocolli on top of chow fun. This is actually pretty common (and i personally enjoy it), and the chow fun noodles can be interchanged with normal chow mein noodles.

dudefella wrote:i think the one you are referring to is the "gung chow gow hu", which translates into "dry stir-fried beef chow-fun". i'm sure you can find it on a menu as something similar. (be warned though, it is called "dry" because no water is added during cooking. instead, loads of oil is used, resulting in a very greasy dish).

Thanks for spelling out "gung chow gow hu." I have always struggled spelling out Cantonese with English letters. The Chinese pronunciation of my last name sounds nothing like how it is spelled in English.

G Wiv wrote:I'm such a fan of crisp rice noodle at 'Little' Three Happiness I often order them plain as a side dish.

To briefly take things off topic - when I first visited LTH earliar this year, I shamlessly stole your 'plain crispy noodle as side dish' idea and found it very much to my liking.

Plain crispy noodle with half a crispy skin chicken - sounds like a fairly bland dish, but it is actually one of the best meals in Chicago in my opinion (espelly with a little chili oil).

So cheers for that, much appreciated....

So what should I say in order to get my dry beef chow fun? "Gung Chow Gow Hu" or "dry beef chow fun"?

Which one will get me the version I had at Happy chef that long-ago summer night?

Evan B. Druce wrote:Probably a Cantonese dish (NYC's best version comes from Great NY Noodletown, a Cantonese hole in the wall quite similar to LTH)

I walked right past Noodletown yesterday on the way to Joe's Shanghai for soup dumplings. On your recommendation, I'll try to hit Noodletown early next week and report back on the chow fun, although sans camera this trip.

Traveling frequently to NYC, I find MenuPages.com to be a great source for basic restaurant info. Here's what they say about Noodletown:

http://menupages.com/restaurantdetails. ... uisineid=0

I really haven't found any of the dry beef chow funs in restaurants here to be exceptional. I've tried LTH, Happy Chef, Hong Min in the past, Seven Treasures and a few other places. LTH and Happy Chef were probably the best, and I will order the dish there but won't go out of my way. In my view, the versions there didn't get to that point where the noodles and beef are just on the edge of crispness/charredness, but not like pan fried (regular noodles) where they deep fry in oil on either side (which is more like the chow fun in the photo above and is fine but isn't the way beef chow fun should be).

I also find that this is a tremendously difficult dish to get right at home. It's hard to get noodles that are fresh enough and my stove just never gets hot enough (same as issue with a stir fry, but even greater impact).

Probably romanticizing things, but Noodletown in NYC really was the best. Would often split an order of beef chow fun and singapore rice noodles with friends. And it had possibly the best soft shell crab preparation I've had.

Man, now I have New York Noodletown on the brain. I can't stop thinking about their salt-baked shrimp with the jalapenos - I could eat that dish over and over (and did)...

ChrisH wrote:In my view, the versions there didn't get to that point where the noodles and beef are just on the edge of crispness/charredness, but not like pan fried (regular noodles) where they deep fry in oil on either side (which is more like the chow fun in the photo above and is fine but isn't the way beef chow fun should be).

*delurk*
Crispness/charredness isn't exactly what I look for, it's all about the smokiness of the 'wok-breath' for me (so I agree it shouldn't be deep-fried as pictured a la LTH). Have you tried Silver Seafood? I recall liking theirs for the 'wok-breath' (and haven't encountered any 'downhillness' in their cooking).
*back to lurking*

chiendy wrote:
*delurk*
Crispness/charredness isn't exactly what I look for, it's all about the smokiness of the 'wok-breath' for me (so I agree it shouldn't be deep-fried as pictured a la LTH). Have you tried Silver Seafood? I recall liking theirs for the 'wok-breath' (and haven't encountered any 'downhillness' in their cooking).
*back to lurking*

I agree on the "wok-breath" thing, but for whatever reason I find myself reluctant to say "wok-breath," at least without quotes. I tried Silver Seafood a few years ago. Was take out, which isn't a fair way to judge this dish, and there was some other dish that was so dreadful that it colored my views about the place. Maybe I'll try it again.