China Cafe Restaurant

Hi,

Of the three times I have gone to China Cafe Restaurant, twice I have met people from the Chinese-American Museum there. This restaurant seems to be favored by the Chinese community because I see very few non-Chinese people here.

We came today at noon for dim sum, we were promptly seated then food started coming at us via menu, carts and trays:





Less than five minutes after seating, we had all this with more to come:



We were quite full when we met the museum people. We had already passed on intriguing food promising to order next time. One of special interest was the fried dough wrapped in a soft rice noodle. I found it on the menu for next time. What I did not find was the museum lady's favorite: a fried tofu skin wrapped around tree ears, pork and other goodies, which we ordered despite being filled to the gills:



It did not disappoint and a new addition to our dim sum knowledge. Two other items I want to try another day: pea leaves with shrimp dumpling and stuffed eggplant with shrimp.

After lunch, we walked over to the Chinese-American Museum, which has three exhibits running concurrently. Their oldest exhibit is on silk and wood.

Their smallest exhibit was on tofu production. One of the senior members we met at the restaurant very kindly walked us through this exhibit. He advised they never expected to find fresh tofu made in Chicago, then found six different firms producing fresh tofu. While the exhibit made a point of Chinese not using Illinois soybeans because they are genetically modified. It turns out the real underlying issue is the type of soy beans grown in Illinois with varieties chosen for soy oil production. The preferred Illinois soy beans have a wisp of black on them which renders them undesireable to the those with a homogeneous tan color for making tofu.

On the second floor is their largest and newest exhibit having opened on Saturday: Chicago's World's Fairs specifically their inclusion of Chinese, Japanese and Korean exhibits. There is quite a bit of material on loan from the Science and Industry Museum related to the Columbian and the Century of Progress World Fairs, which are not often seen.

The Silk and Wood exhibit is closing in early July. Starting July 30th is Chicago's Chinatown - History and Archaeology until March 4, 2007.

China Cafe Restaurant
2300 S. Wentworth Avenue
Chicago, IL
Tel: 312/808-0202

Chinese-American Museum
238 West 23rd Street,
Chicago, IL 60616
Tel: 312-949-1000
about 1/2 block west of Wentworth Ave and 3 blocks from the Chinatown station of the CTA's Red Line.

The museum is open from 9:30-1:30 PM on Fridays and 10:00-5:00 on Saturdays and Sundays.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:One of special interest was the fried dough wrapped in a soft rice noodle. I found it on the menu for next time.

I love this dish! Several years ago when China Cafe first opened, they executed this very well! However, when they reopened this time around, it was not quite as good. Phoenix and Happy Chef can be hit or miss on this item. I find that the congee restaurant in the Toronto 'burbs does this the best, and no one else even comes close - not even in Hong Kong. Why are theirs so good? The fried doughnut remains crisp even after being wrapped in the rice noodle, and the rice noodle is so thin that it's basically translucent. Mmmm....heaven! Meanwhile, here in Chicago, sometimes the fried doughnut tastes soggy or stale - not crisp, and the rice noodle isn't as thin.

Whoa! Anyone notice this?






When I was in China earlier this year, I witnessed first-hand all of the mom and pop shops being hastily bulldozed to make way for garish new buildings. So why shouldn't Chinatown Chicago have some piece of that action. So I present to you the newly remodeled, newly modern, China Cafe. I read that there is a new owner, but I did not ask or attempt to confirm.

I have no recollection of what I previously thought of China Cafe, but my dim sum there last week was respectable - the majority of items were really good, though some were nothing special and I wouldn't order again.

Here's what we ate:


Potstickers - nothing unusual here, but can't complain when they're served hot and they're delicious.






Pork and shrimp siu mai - a couple could have been prettier, but they were also hot and delicious.






Har gow - yeah, the dough could have (should have) been a little thinner, a little more translucent. They were decent, but I've had better.






On the other hand, sticky rice in lotus leaf was everything I would hope for, including nice, large chunks of egg and Chinese sausage.






BBQ pork buns were delicious. Soft, steamed perfectly, hot and full of delicious pork filling. This was one of the better versions I've had in Chicago, where I often find the buns over-steamed or the filling sparse.








Steamed crepe filled with fried cruller was on the boring side. If you find this with a filled cruller, great . . . but here, all of the flavor is derived from whatever sauce(s) you happen to dip it in.






Steamed buns with some sort of chicken filling were, along with the crepe, my least favorite items. The bun was steamed alright, though maybe a tad too much. But the real problem was the terribly dense filling, making them difficult to chew. Taste was fine, but texture unpleasant.






Egg custard buns are a telling order. I love ordering these to find out how well the restaurant can produce a bun with a sufficiently oozing egg custard (that is not too sweet). I've had good and bad versions of these, even at the same restaurant (hello Cai). Well, these fell among the better versions. Not too sweet, sufficient viscosity . . . no, sufficiently custardy sounds more appropriate here (though they could have oozed a bit more). Damn, I should have taken a picture of the filling!






Finally, sesame balls filled with lotus seed paste. I prefer red bean paste, but these were excellent - hot, crisp and a delicious filling. I might have preferred them frying them just a tad more for a more toasty sesame coating, but I still loved them.







Add on top the fact that I didn't have to wait at all during prime time weekend dim sum hours and I walked out of the newly remodeled China Cafe pretty happy. I will probably return to one of my favorites next time (usually, Ming Hin these days), but you probably won't be disappointed heading here.

Hi BR, thanks for the update. My parents are dim sum aficionados so it's nice to have another place for them to try when they visit. I'll do a write up next time we go.

I have eaten at China Cafe a number of times when I arrive early in Chinatown on a Saturday morning.
Food is fast, well prepared and I'm or when with my wife usualy the only non Chinese in the place.
One time when very crowded, the hostess asked if we minded being seated with others. No problem. We were promptly seated at a large round table with 4 or 5 elderly Chinese gentleman who competley ignored us but no matter, it was cold outside and the restaurant was warm and steamy with excellent food.-Richard