Dmnkly wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:One question... What is the white, rubbery, spiney thing in the Triple Delight (Seafood special)?

I haven't had the dish, but it sounds like squid that's been scored in a cross-hatch fashion... flat, curled with perfectly cut diamond-shaped protuberances on one side? Very typical, if that's what it is.

No. It was about the size and shape of a thumb with pointy protuberances all around.

Very curious.

Yes, squid. They score a length of the tube (body) section that way, and it turns out exactly as described. Common, in Chinese, Viet, Thai places... Comes that way frozen very often.

I made it back to Katy's tonight after a long absence. Mr. Colored Shirt was not there, but the rest of the regular crew (Mrs. Colored Shirt in the back, Big Guy manning the stove, Miss Tall Younger Woman handling the front) was there. And there was a special appearance by what appeared to be Grandmama, who came out to check on something at one of the tables.

I am pleased to report that they were on their game tonight. I am not particularly adventurous at Katy's, because I stick to the things that appear to be the most authentic. I ordered the pork with stir-fry pancake (I alternate between this and the spicy fried noodle with chili, but I'd had seafood two days in a row in Boston this week) and an order of boiled dumplings. As per usual, ate half of each, took the other half home. Both were excellent.

Miss Tall Younger Woman seems to have identified me as a semi-regular: she did not give me a fork, and she brought over the hot chili oil which was on another table before I could get up to get it.

Also as usual, a gringo asks me what I'm eating, since I sit at the deuce in front of the refrigerator case. I ended up helping Miss Tall Younger Woman understand when the gringo was trying to ask for extra empty rice bowls for her two young children (maybe 3.5 and 1.5 years old). When Miss Tall Younger Woman disappeared into the back, the gringo asked me what I was eating, I guess for next time.

I made it back to Katy's tonight after a long absence. Mr. Colored Shirt was not there, but the rest of the regular crew (Mrs. Colored Shirt in the back, Big Guy manning the stove, Miss Tall Younger Woman handling the front) was there.

I don't know if the lady at the back is Mr. Colored Shirt's wife. I once heard that his wife (Katy) works at the Sushi House down the road on Ogden and Kingery. But I could be wrong.

For some time a few weeks ago there used to be another young lady in the front manning the register. She spoke very good English and was quite a saleswoman. She explained to me all the items in the refrigerator. I heard from someone else (who got the same sales treatment) that she told him her brother owns the store.

I was there last night and forgot that the dan dan noodle was a soup rather than a dry noodle dish. Delicious, but a bit too soupy when paired with the soup with beef tendon and the quite juicy potstickers.

Oh well, some thing to correct next time.

threadkiller wrote:I made it back to Katy's tonight after a long absence. Mr. Colored Shirt was not there, but the rest of the regular crew

I have it on good authority that Mr (Primary) Colored Shirt is out due to a medical procedure. Not serious and I imagine he will be back soon.

jow wrote:For some time a few weeks ago there used to be another young lady in the front manning the register. She spoke very good English and was quite a saleswoman. She explained to me all the items in the refrigerator. I heard from someone else (who got the same sales treatment) that she told him her brother owns the store.

The same authority informs me that there is a new female partner in the restaurant.

Also, that the recent success of Katy's has allowed them to open a restaurant in Shanghai.

gastro gnome wrote:
Also, that the recent success of Katy's has allowed them to open a restaurant in Shanghai.

Awesome!

Hi,

OUr dear Katy's Noodles was highlighted on Dolinsky's Hungry Hound. Thank you Jeff B and Sazerac for helping Katy get on the map of culinary destinations. Katy's was featured for its hand made noodles, which they demonstrated. We also got to observe the lovely Katy, who speaks wonderful English and is the wife of the Red Shirt guy. Guess what he was wearing?

Congratulations for their overnight success that took years to happen.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Our dear Katy's Noodles was highlighted on Dolinsky's Hungry Hound.

The video is available here.

I'm very happy for their success, but I've been on the road most of the last six weeks and was thinking of going there for lunch today.... I may have to wait a few days to let the post-TV rush subside.

Seriously, this is great news. I want to try the dan-dan noodles next time, but I'm not a cooked spinach fan - is it worth it to try them without, or do you really need the spinach to make the dish?

Spinach makes the dish (dan dan) for me, but can be avoided. There's enough in each bowl to share with two other people, so give someone else your greens. Make sure to add some chili oil.

Tonight's visit (intended to clear the sinuses of my 7th grade teacher better half after the first week of school) revealed that Katy's can whip up a plate of shrimp in garlic sauce to rival the best in Chinatown. This is a tourist dish, but in Katy's hands it is a winner, with lots of diced green pepper, plump shrimp, black bean and garlic sauce, ginger, and wood ear. Lovely. $15 for two people (shrimp, dan dan, dumplings) with enough extra to last us well into the weekend!

my wife and I went to Katy's for dinner yesterday night for the first time. We were greeted warmly by the proprietress (assuming thats who she was) We ordered the pork with stir-fried onion pancake, stir fried noodles with dry chilli, Szechuan Noodle soup, and an order of boiled dumplings. At the conclusion of our order the lady commented with a big smile that we had ordered too much. I assured her that we would most likely be taking home leftovers. Tonight Mr red shirt was Mr. brown shirt, and sat reading a paper at a corner table.
Everything was outstanding, particularly the pork with onion pancake, which was the highlight of the night for us. The soup was flavorfull, generously heated(spicey), and the noodles were satisfyingly chewy and fresh. I enjoyed the pork filled dumplings, but my wife was least impressed with this item, and in the future would like to try the potstickers.
Angie (wife) and I had not eaten since breakfast and we finished everything but our order of Dumplings. Both Mr. Brownshirt, and the Mrs. seemed amused and delighted by this. They looked at the food and us as if to say who else was here. Adding to the humor both Angie and I are rather slim, and hardly appear as the hearty eaters that we are. LOL

We were the only sit-down customers around 5:00 pm, a few patrons trickled in with take-out orders. Clientele while we were there seemed rather diverse including, whites, Chinese, and East Indian/pakiistani. This tells me that word has gotten out about this place, as I noticed from other posters that usually Katy's had a mainly chinese client base. Of coarse this may still be true, but not on this night. Thanks for the great recomendation, we will certainly be back.
Derek

For the first time ever we ate at Katy's. I have gone by there forever, but only passing to go to Shree or the Indian stores.

We had pork with onion cake which ended up to be a noodle like dish and very good. My favorite. Then spicy noodles with dry chili which was not hot and also good. The pot stickers were good too. The shrimp in garlic sauce was not a favorite. We got a huge amount of food and have copious leftovers. We really enjoyed it and will go back.

in my experience, the noodles tend not to reheat too well, and the stir fried pancakes are fairly oily... has anyone had success with leftovers from Katy's?

I always get leftover noodles from Katy's. Nuke em in the broth, they're fine.

My favorite Katy's leftover needs no re-heating. Cold Szechuan Noodles. They work so well as leftovers that I always buy an order (or two) to go on my way out.

Best,
Michael

The best k's leftover? In fact the thing I've really been craving from this place lately? Something that actually improves with a little age....

The pickles!!

In the refrigerator case can be found little plastic containers of what might be the very best pickles ever. Almost impossibly crunchy, and with a perfect balance of hot and sweet. Really remarkable, and unlike any pickles to be had elsewhere.

I hate ultimate, definitive statements, but this is a must:

The. best. pickle. in. human. history.

Bravo on the recommendation, Kuhdo. A pound plastic tub is $4.95 and worth every penny. I will spill blood for the recipe and still know I'd never be able to reproduce the Katy refrigerator case magic.

Hey all you guys & gals, when you are coming out to Katy's pls PM me if you would like company. I work about 10 minutes away and am always happy to do a Katy's lunch (even though my schedule is not always so happy).

dicksond wrote:Hey all you guys & gals, when you are coming out to Katy's pls PM me if you would like company. I work about 10 minutes away and am always happy to do a Katy's lunch (even though my schedule is not always so happy).

ditto!!!

Per the discussion further upthread, perhaps we can have day-after-Katy's gatherings and test out different methods for reheating the three pounds of delicious extra noodles that are always left over.

Sorry I didn't think to write in advance - it was a late Sunday afternoon spur of the moment decision after automovite-related errands. And the pickles are even better today than yesterday, without losing any of the crispness. I think Mr. Red Shirt enchants the cukes before preparation.

Santander wrote:

I hate ultimate, definitive statements, but this is a must:

The. best. pickle. in. human. history.

Bravo on the recommendation, Kuhdo. A pound plastic tub is $4.95 and worth every penny. I will spill blood for the recipe and still know I'd never be able to reproduce the Katy refrigerator case magic.

Good to find another picklephiliac

They are indeed amazing.

My brother and I finally made it out to Katy's for the first time today. Bro had the beef noodle soup and I had the beef tendon soup --I am a real fan of tendon in general. We both loved the soup and were enamored of the noodles (everything looked just as the photos in this forum portray them). My tendon soup was deliciously rich and slightly spicy. One of my favorite parts of the soup was the pickled greens that came on top-- I thought they added a slightly acidic briny bit of funk that really worked well against the richness of the broth. The generous amount of chives and cilantro in the soup also added to my enjoyment.
We also got some steamed dumplings--- they were good but we ended up taking most of them home after eating the generous portions of soup. We also bought another 50 frozen dumpings and a batch of rolled, sliced pig ears from the cold case. We fried up the leftover dumplings later on in the day and I enjoyed them more than the steamed version.
I had one of the slices of gelatinous pig ears when we got home- cold, from the fridge. This is something I would expect to like but I found it not so great. I am planning on frying some up tomorrow with an egg to make a sort of bacon and egg combo. Does anyone have any other ideas to deal with these slices of pig ears?

All in all, a great meal. Thanks for the rec, LTH!

hantav wrote:I had one of the slices of gelatinous pig ears when we got home- cold, from the fridge. This is something I would expect to like but I found it not so great. I am planning on frying some up tomorrow with an egg to make a sort of bacon and egg combo. Does anyone have any other ideas to deal with these slices of pig ears?

Hantav,

Pig ear and eggs for breakfast, sounds good, but what type of toast do you serve with that?

Far as other uses for Katy's pig ears, an add-in to any type of stir fry or catch as can fried rice, add in to congee, soups or even textural component for salad.

Enjoy,
Gary

Anyone know if there are any vegetarian dishes or if that is an option? It looks like the dan dan without pork could be vegetarian if the broth isn't meat based...

cjchaps wrote:Anyone know if there are any vegetarian dishes or if that is an option? It looks like the dan dan without pork could be vegetarian if the broth isn't meat based...

I think you're out of luck on the dan dan noodles. I couldn't be certain of the exact composition of the broth, but there's no way it wasn't a meat stock. But if you got the cold spicy noodles without the pork mixture, I'd think you're in the clear there. And that's one of my favorites.

Anyone know if there are any vegetarian dishes or if that is an option? It looks like the dan dan without pork could be vegetarian if the broth isn't meat based...

They made the onion pancake for my wife with veggies only. Quite good.

Thanks for the replies

Went to Katy's today after a very long time. Had the stir-fried noodles with dry chilli. It was absolutely delicious -- as good as I have ever had it there. Mr. Red Shirt was in good spirits. He told me the Chinese name of the dish is "la jiao chow mian". I said I will remember it.

I have been perusing this thread for years--YEARS--waiting for an opportunity to go to Katy's (we don't have a car and we live on the North Side), and finally got one when we realized we needed some things from IKEA before Thanksgiving (requiring a car rental). I was quick to insist we go to IKEA's Bolingbrook location rather than Schaumburg and got directions from home to Katy's and Katy's to IKEA.

Creeping traffic every step of the way made us grumpy, but once we arrived at Katy's (and ordered and started eating) we were very happy. We shared the potstickers, the stir-fried onion pancake with pork, and the the beef noodle soup. The waitress wouldn't let me order anything else; she said it would be too much food.

She was right, but we ate almost every bit. And then took home stuff from the takeout case: cucumber pickles; spicy cold noodles; and a container with cold noodles (of a rather rubbery kind), meat in sauce, sliced cucumbers... it's been a while and that one was not my favorite.

The spicy cold noodles, though, were wonderful, as were the hot ones. We really adored the stir-fried onion pancake dish. The beef noodle soup was also delicious. And the potstickers were very good.

Very much appreciate all the information in this thread, which pointed us toward this succesful excursion.

debo wrote:I have been perusing this thread for years--YEARS--waiting for an opportunity to go to Katy's (we don't have a car and we live on the North Side), and finally got one when we realized we needed some things from IKEA before Thanksgiving (requiring a car rental). I was quick to insist we go to IKEA's Bolingbrook location rather than Schaumburg and got directions from home to Katy's and Katy's to IKEA.

That's funny. We just moved to Edgewater and gave up car ownership as part of the process. Our last eating trip with the car was to Katy's which we combined with a visit to IKEA for some stuff for the new place. Maybe Katy's and IKEA should pair up for a special discount!