Pingpong, pleasant post-show spot

Last night we were at the Lakeshore Theater in Boystown for the fabulous "Judy at Carnegie" concert. (Music lovers, there are three more nights of this terrific Judy Garland revue featuring some sublime voices re-creating a historic 1960s concert.)

Afterwards, we looked for somewhere to eat without moving the car. Late-night choices nearby turned out to be the Melrose diner and Pingpong. We opted for Pingpong. That's been mentioned here a few times in passing as decent neighborhood Asian, and that's pretty much what it is, though the menu is more elaborate and varied than I'd expected. It's also more thoroughly pan-Asian/fusion.

And smaller. Talk about a hole in the wall ... table seating for 14, all white Formica, and counter stools for perhaps four more. It's cute. They seem to do a big delivery business.

The food mixes Japanese, Chinese, Korean and what-have-you. The item we enjoyed the most fell in the oddball category -- fish tacos: A pair of decent corn tortillas spread with creamy avocado-lime sauce, each topped with a hunk of crisply tempura-battered tuna.

Our other choices were more humdrum:

Potstickers that we should have ordered steamed, since "fried" turned out to mean deep-fried, and they were rather tough. The filling had a nice flavor, though; I might give the steamed version a try.

A ginger stir-fry that we ordered with shrimp (many menu choices offer multiple protein options, such as beef, chicken, shrimp or tofu; oddly, no pork). This featured a goodly number of plump shrimp and lots of meaty shiitake 'shrooms, but the ginger, cut in matchsticks, hadn't been given any opportunity to flavor the other ingredients.

Our beef mu-shu suffered from overly dry, unheated pancakes. (They'd have been better off serving more tortillas.) All of the other ingredients seemed very fresh, though.

I think we ordered badly. Looking around, I noticed several patrons who looked more like neighborhood residents tucking into delectable-looking broiled salmon and wok-seared sea bass, so those might be better options.

Not a destination place, but certainly a pleasant-enough option if you're looking for late-night food in Lake View. They're open till midnight daily. And they're BYOB, too.

Pingpong
773/281-7575
3322 N. Broadway, Chicago
www.eatpingpong.com

Be warned that on weekends pingpong transforms from the cute little hole-in-the-wall neightborhood spot into an unbearable uber-trendy place where one "must" wear all black and listen to mind-piercingly loud electronic music.

The rumor is that Pingpong is expanding into the space next door previously occupied by Mamacitas.

I live nearby and usually avoid the scene by getting delivery. Unfortunately, they refuse to sell the fish tacos for take out/delivery (but persist in listing them on the delivery menu), so I still haven't tried them although I fish tacos. One of these days.

The tuna tartare appetizer is solid...it's served with wonton "crackers." The crab rangoon is nothing unusual, but it's good. I love their wonton soup, which features very gingery-chicken wontons. (Oohh...I'm sick right now and I'm now reminded that this is a great soup if you're sick.)

My go-to entrees are the pad thai and the chicken mu shu. (I've never experienced the problem you encountered with dry pancakes, but the advantage of takeout is that you can always wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave them.)

Despite you're fish observations, I've been perpetually disappointed with the fish, whether I've eaten in or gotten it delivered. It's just bland. I've tried to warn others off when my friends have ordered it, but they want to learn from their own mistakes. Their choice!