Chef Ping is the New Yu

Korean-Chinese food fans in the Northwest suburbs were not pleased when Yu's Mandarin changed hands several years ago. They'll be happy to know that Chef Ping at 1755 Algonquin road in Arlington Heights is a new resturant from the original owners of Yu's, and features most of the dishes that made the original so popular, with some worthwhile additions. The toothsome house made noodles, noodle soups and ja jaing mein are back, along with some good fresh seafood and tofu preparations and the overall quality is as good as the original. With comfortable seating and a full bar, this is a nice addition to the ever expanding Asian food scene in the area. Those who like a bit of Kim Chee with their salty egg crab or steamed fish will not be disappointed.

You beat me to it! I'd been meaning to post about our dinner, but I've been sick and out of town. We went for dinner before Christmas Eve services a couple of weeks ago. I think this used to be a Bakers Square location. They have done a nice job renovating the space. The service is VERY attentive, and the host was very friendly. We were all running late, but my sister did a surprisingly good job ordering! We ordered potstickers and crabmeat siu mai mostly for the kids, but since we ordered 2 of each, we were all able to sample some. The siu mai were packed with crabmeat. They are petite sized compared to the pork siu mai you'd get from dim sum. We also had Mongolian beef, lemon chicken, aged tofu w/pork, sauteed pea pod tips, Szechuan string beans, Ping's noodle platter, seafood Peking noodle, pocket tofu, and some others that I am probably forgetting to mention. The aged tofu and seafood peking noodles were the standouts of the evening. I'll be returning next Saturday for my niece's birthday party. I will try to take pictures and better notes.

Chef Ping
1755 Algonquin Rd. (just east of Wilke by Oberweis)
Rolling Meadows, IL
847-981-8888
Closed on Mondays

Interesting - will definitely have to check it out some time! Does this location serve the dishes towards the end of Yu's menu [written in Chinese and Korean exclusively]?

I guess I wasn't aware Yu's changed hands since I only get there 2x a year or so these days. Been going for almost 25 years and when I was last there a month I can't say that anything seemed different.

What has changed at Yu's?

Jamieson22 wrote:I guess I wasn't aware Yu's changed hands since I only get there 2x a year or so these days. Been going for almost 25 years and when I was last there a month I can't say that anything seemed different.

What has changed at Yu's?

From my visits to Yu's, my impression is that the original chefs stayed for at least a couple years after the ownership changed, as I could not detect any changes in the food. But in the past year, the food has been somewhat inconsistent, especially the dishes on the Chinese/Korean menu. But food was spot on when I visited two weeks ago. I guess it depends on which chef cooked your food that night.

Went to Chef Ping's last night for dinner and we will definitely be back. My fiance and I have been on the hunt for a good place for Korean-Chinese Ja Jang Myun noodles (black bean sauce with onions, veggies, pork and/or seafood) for some time now. We weren't able to find a Korean-Chinese place, and we were totally bummed. We had heard about Yu's and went last month. There Janpong (a spicy seafood soup with the same noodles as Ja Jang Myun) was good but the Ja Jang Myun noodles and the fried pork with sweet and sour sauce (tang su yok in Korean)were mediocre.

But...

We were so excited to find Chef Ping yesterday. The Ja Jang Myun was on par with the best we've had in other cities, the Janpong was delicious. We also had some spicy, garlic chicken (like ganponggi) which was called Chef Ping's Wings on the english menu I think. These were yummy too. We got small chicken pieces, but next time I would try and specify the lollipop, drummy version. Chef Ping is a modern, clean restaurant that was jam-packed with families (many Korean) last night. All the food we saw looked great, but it's definitely the best spot for Korean-Chinese favorites we've found. We'll be back for sure.

A group of 4 went for lunch.

We ordered 3 appetizers dishes plus 3 entrees . Everything arrived in time and piping hot. Our appetizer selections were crab shu mai, salt n pepper tofu, and pork potstickers. The potstickers and crab shu mai were ok, but the tofu was awesome.

For entrees we ordered, walnut chicken, pea pod tips and general taos chicken. The walnut shrimp and pea pod tips were outstanding, but the chicken was just good.

I will go back to try some more dishes.

I found myself in the wilds of Schaumburg at lunch time yesterday, and with thoughts of home made noodles dancing in my head, I took the opportunity to visit Chef Ping for lunch.

Chef Ping


The restaurant itself is in a nice free standing building. When I arrived just after 1:00 P.M., the parking lot was completely full (a good sign) and after finding a parking place around back and getting out of the car, I was greeted with the smell of some serious Wok Hay coming out of the exhaust fans (another good sign).

Inside, the dining room was smaller than I would have expected (I think there might be a private dining room located off the main dining area). The patrons were a nice mix of Suburban housewives out for a day of shopping and business people enjoying a nice lunch, with the crowd skewing around 40% Asian (yet another good sign). All the tables were filled, but the nattily suited Matre'D told me that since I was alone, I could order food at the bar if I didn't feel like waiting for a table.

Chef Ping Dining Room


At the bar I was immediately served tea and given Western style dining utensils by the lovely Bartender/Waitress. I ordered the lunch special Ping's Noodle Platter "extra spicy; not white guy spicy, but spicy like you would serve your crazy Uncle", which caused the waitress to smile and ask if I wanted chopsticks.



The lunch special comes with a fried wonton chip and an eggroll, but instead of that the waitress asked if I would prefer a salad. Not eager to roll the dice on an un-vetted suburban eggroll*, I gladly accepted the substitution, as did the only other person eating at the bar, a gentleman of Chinese descent.

The salad was pretty good as side salads go; consisting of crisp iceberg lettuce along with some shredded cabbage and carrot. It was dressed with a light ginger/soy vinaigrette typical of Asian themed restaurants like Benihana.

Chef Ping's Side Salad


The Ping's Noodle Platter consisted of a bed of spaghetti-like noodles topped with a mix of veggies, various types of seafood and strips of pork. To their credit, the seafood included shrimp, squid and scallops and no Krab or other imitation products. The waitress brought some chili oil in case I needed a bit more heat.

Ping's Noodle Platter (as served)


Ping's Noodle Platter (mixed)


I enjoyed this dish very much. The seafood and the veggies were standouts. It packed a respectable amount of heat. I managed to break a sweat, even though I did have to add a little extra chili oil for some toasty flavor. The weakest part of the dish, unfortunately, were the noodles, which I found a little overcooked, lacking any sort of the al-dente consistency that I prefer. While the dish wasn't bad by any means, I don't think Katy's is in any danger of losing my noodle-eating business in favor of Chef Ping. Still, I'll take Chef Ping any day of the week if I find myself in a similar situation in the future. Certainly, Chef Ping deserves a little more exploration...especially the whole Chinese language section of the menu, which I didn't even ask about on this first visit.

Chef Ping
1755 Algonquin Rd.
Rolling Meadows, IL 60008
847-981-8888

* I'm very picky about eggrolls. I generally don't like them except for a very few exceptions.

A scan of the crowd filling the dining room at 5PM on Saturday revealed that Chef Ping's staff have a tough balancing act to implement. About a third of the patrons were older suburbanites that reminded me of my garlic-hating, spice-averse grandparents, and the rest were largely Asian families who seemed to be looking for authentic cooking. Other places have similar issues to deal with, but I don't think I've ever seen a restaurant pull it off more flawlessly than Chef Ping. Grandma wants sesame chicken, "hold the oil" as one nearby customer requested? No problem at Chef Ping, where the request was accommodated without batting an eyelash. You want to jump right to the Chinese language menu and ask the waiter to help you choose something authentic? No problem there either, and - last night at least - he seemed excited to share descriptions of each dish and his passion about several of them with our table of gringos.

My favorite was #1 on the Chinese language menu, which was translated on the check as "Summer Salad". Wide noodle-like pieces of bean starch mixed with fluffy scrambled egg, shrimp, pork and crisp vegetables were mixed with a good dose of horseradish - enough to provide a slow burn, but no so much to overwhelm the delicate flavors in the dish. It was a giant plate of food, and at $15.95 it was easily enough for the five of us to share as a starter.

We also had honey walnut shrimp, szechuan eggplant, mu shu pork and pong pong chicken. Each was executed exceptionally well, and tasted great.

I wish Chef Ping were a little closer to home.

Kennyz wrote:You want to jump right to the Chinese language menu and ask the waiter to help you choose something authentic? No problem there either, and - last night at least - he seemed excited to share descriptions of each dish and his passion about several of them with our table of gringos.

Does anyone know if there is an English translation (or can someone provide it) for the Chinese language menu (see the last page)? I appreciate their willingness to guide me through the menu, but there are 38 items and as I get older, I can't even remember what someone told me two minutes ago.

Here is my poor attempt at translation: (Corrections are welcome)
1. 2 blankets
2. 5-spice beef
3. Cold platter eggplant
4. ‘something’ fish
5. Northern szchechuan bean sheets
6. 8 treasure vegetables
7. ‘something’ combination of 3 julienne
8. Stir-fried combination of 3 julienne
9. Shredded port with golden chive
10. Combination of 3 seafood stir-fried with golden chive
11. 8 treasure tofu casserole
12. Home style tofu
13. Crispy skinned large intestine
14. Pickled mustard green with large intestine
15. Sugar and vinegar beef (or pork)
16. “some kind” of pepper with shredded pork
17. Water cooked fish
18. “something” sea cucumber
19. Home style sea cucumber
20. Sea cucumber with black mushrooms
21. Sea cucumber with ‘something’
22. Sea cucumber with pork belly
23. Stir fried abalone
24. Sea cucumber with abalone
25. Shrimp with abalone
26. Black mushrooms with abalone
27. Salt-n-pepper prawns
28. Salt-n-pepper fish sticks
29. Salt-n-pepper smelts
30. Clams with black bean sauce
31. Stir-fried fish fillet
32. Taiwan style stir fried
33. Beef brisket and tofu casserole
34. Beef brisket and lettuce casserole
35. Lamb “something” with large intestine
36. Dried “something” (perhaps steamed?) chicken
37. Dried “something” (perhaps steamed?) shrimp
38. Dried “something” (perhaps steamed?) scallop

On the foreign language menu, there are Korean translations to the left of the Chinese characters, since Chef Ping is a Korean-Chinese restaurant. I can get a translation as well from my parents (I'm seeing them tomorrow), but from my poor Korean skills, I know that nos. 36-38 are Gan Pong Chicken, Shrimp, and Scallop, which is basically sweet and spicy fried protein.

About a month ago, my husband and I took my parents and my grandmother out to Chef Ping for dad's 64th birthday! At 5:30 pm on a Sunday, there was a wait and the restaurant was full of happy Koreans. I remember we ordered jjajang myun (black bean noodles), gan pong shrimp, and I think the 1st item on the translated menu, which in Korean is yang jang pee, which is mixed up julienned vegetables with jellyfish, cold marinated pork, egg, and krab in a vinegary mustard sauce. It was very good, even though I kind of wished the mustard sauce to be a bit more sinus-clearing. My vegetarian husband ordered the Mandarin bean curd and we all split some salt and pepper tofu, which was fantastic!

I'll post whatever translations and descriptions I can muster from the parents soon!

Thank you very much petite_gourmande and Sharona . . . looking forward to trying this place soon.

Sharona wrote:...I think the 1st item on the translated menu, which in Korean is yang jang pee, which is mixed up julienned vegetables with jellyfish, cold marinated pork, egg, and krab in a vinegary mustard sauce. It was very good, even though I kind of wished the mustard sauce to be a bit more sinus-clearing.

Huh, so the stuff I called "bean starch" upthread was actually jellyfish. I'm mildly embarrassed. Either way, that was a great dish. I do not remember it having krab, and that is something I would normally note right away.

Kennyz wrote:

Sharona wrote:...I think the 1st item on the translated menu, which in Korean is yang jang pee, which is mixed up julienned vegetables with jellyfish, cold marinated pork, egg, and krab in a vinegary mustard sauce. It was very good, even though I kind of wished the mustard sauce to be a bit more sinus-clearing.

Huh, so the stuff I called "bean starch" upthread was actually jellyfish. I'm mildly embarrassed. Either way, that was a great dish. I do not remember it having krab, and that is something I would normally note right away.

Of course, if I had not been told I was eating jellyfish, I never would have known that the "pad thai noodles" at Schwa were not some sort of noodle.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was both, actually. The name is something like "two layers of skin," and typically the third character would refer to that beanstarch-y, noodle-y thing with a vinegar sauce. The second layer could very well be jelly fish, methinks. For the last three, the character "geng" is something like stew, or soup...so dry-stewed?

15, I think, might be more familiar as "sweet and sour."
16. Beef, not pork. The first character may refer to Guizhou, so a Guizhou (chili) pepper version...
17. This is "boiled" fish, like you find at LSC, famously spicy. "Boiled" is the understatement of the year.

One of my Chinese teachers lamented once that the Chinese versions of menus are often more confusing/less descriptive than the English versions. Thus, even in China, many menus are full of pictures. So while the Chinese might say "Three Freshness" or "Two layers," it doesn't necessarily have one specific meaning, and Chinese speakers need to ask for descriptions as often as foreigners. So have at it, if the staff is willing!

BR wrote:

Kennyz wrote:

Sharona wrote:...I think the 1st item on the translated menu, which in Korean is yang jang pee, which is mixed up julienned vegetables with jellyfish, cold marinated pork, egg, and krab in a vinegary mustard sauce. It was very good, even though I kind of wished the mustard sauce to be a bit more sinus-clearing.

Huh, so the stuff I called "bean starch" upthread was actually jellyfish. I'm mildly embarrassed. Either way, that was a great dish. I do not remember it having krab, and that is something I would normally note right away.

Of course, if I had not been told I was eating jellyfish, I never would have known that the "pad thai noodles" at Schwa were not some sort of noodle.

Hi Kenny,
It was about a month ago, so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but in other versions of the dish I've had in the past, krab was used. And I thought it was jellyfish because my dad wanted that dish in particular, but I could be wrong as well. Looks like a recon mission is in store

I've been quite disappointed in the noodle platter the last several times we've stopped by for lunch. I remember the first time just after opening the sauce was dark, complex, and spicy. It never quite hit that high note again.

The last three times, twice there was was only one dry pepper in the dish, despite asking for extra spicy.* The other time the sauce seemed almost non-existent. All of were within about a six week period. This pains me because the noodle platter when on the mark is among my fantasy last meal dishes. Looks like it's back to Yu's for me.

* The joke among Yu's wait staff was that you got it the same way regardless. When busy, the kitchen made large batches serving 2 or 3 customers at a time and they wouldn't make a special batch for the person wanting it spicier.

Sharona wrote: the 1st item on the translated menu, which in Korean is yang jang pee, which is mixed up julienned vegetables with jellyfish, cold marinated pork, egg, and krab in a vinegary mustard sauce. It was very good, even though I kind of wished the mustard sauce to be a bit more sinus-clearing.

Though it was a busy night tonight, I was able to pull aside the ever-affable owner to help LTH make a little more progress on the translated menu.
The first item, at least currently, is chilled marinated beef and chilled shrimp and squid (the beef and squid julienned), rice noodles, and wasabi sauce, with julienned carrot, cucumber, and onion. I couldn't get all of the details from the boss before he had to attend to other matters, so I was left to do some guessing. He did say it was a northern Chinese dish with Korean influences and that the two blankets referred to the layer of noodles and layer of vegetables. My Cantonese dining companion insisted that what I thought was jellyfish was actually cellophane noodles.
I especially liked the sauce and the light and healthful feel of the dish, which was plenty for two people.
The owner added some clarification on PG's translation above:
4. The fish is marinated and then baked.
18. The "something" is green onion.
21. The "something" is pork tendon.
35. Lamb, no. Intestine, yes.

I regret not following up with the boss on the mysterious jellyfish-vs.-noodle issue. I'll have to leave that to some other intrepid reporter.
FWIW, the percentage of customers who are Asian seems to have risen steadily to the point that it is now very high.

I actually was at Chef Ping as well this week, while we were back in Chicago visiting family. My father helped me a bit with the translation in the menu. They are very basic menu names to the dishes, I put descriptions where I could. There are some dishes, though, that my father couldn't figure out what the Korean meant, and the Chinese characters didn't help as well.
1. Yang Jang Pee: TominSkokie did a great job explaining the dish. Sometimes it is made with jellyfish, but I"m unsure about what is used at Chef Ping (we didn't order it this time)
2. Oh Hyang Jang Yook: Pigs' feet, sliced, served with spiced salt
3. Ga Jee Moo Chim: Cold marinated eggplant dish
4. Hoon Jae Saeng Sun: Smoked Fish
5. Mook Moo Chim: Cold marinated acorn jelly (a popular Korean dish)
6. Pal Bo Chae: Mixed seafood dish with oyster sauce
7. Yoo San Sul: Pork and seafood in a mild sauce (my father's favorite dish. Sunday, I believe there was slivers of ginger in the dish, something I never have really seen before)
8. Sam Sun Bokk Eun: 3 different kinds of seafood stir fried (Sam Sun means 3 kinds of seafood, usually means scallops, shrimp, squid--you'll see this in many other dishes below)
9. Dwae Jee Go Gee Boo Choo Bokk Eun: Pork and Chinese chive stir fry
10. Sam Sun Boo Choo Bokk Eun: 3 kinds of seafood and Chinese chive stir fry
11. Ba Jyun Ddoh Boo Puh: Dad and I have no idea what that means
12. Hom Suh Tah Il Doo Boo: Tofu Homestyle (read first 4 words quickly and you get "homestyle"--haha)
13. & 14. Unknown to my father
15. Tang Soo Yook: Korean style sweet and sour pork--get it, you won't be disappointed, it's nothing like the radioactive orange stuff you're used to seeing.
16. So Go Gee Go Choo Bokk Eun: Spicy beef stir fry
17. Sa Chun See Saeng Sun Jun Gol: Fish Stew
18. Hae Sam Tang: Sea cucumber stew
19. Hom Suh Tah Il Hae Sam: Homestyle sea cucumber
20. Hae Sam Buh Suht Bokk Eun: Sea cucumber mushroom stirfry
21. Hae Sam Seem Pool Bokk Eun: We think this is simple sea cucumber stirfry
22. Hae Sam Joo Suh: Sea cucumber juice (!)
23. Jun Bok Bokk Eun: Abalone stir fry
24. Hae Sam Jun Bok Bokk Eun: Sea cucumber abalone stir fry
25. Sae Woo Jun Bok: Shrimp and abalone
26. Jun Bok Buh Suht Bokk Eun: Abalone mushroom stir fry
27. So Geum Hoo Choo Twee Geem Sae Woo: Salt and pepper fried shrimp
28. So Geum Hoo Choo Saeng Sun: Salt and pepper fish
29. So Geum Hoo Choo smelt: Salt and pepper smelt
30. (is a phonetic english translation) Black bean sauce with clams (Manila)
31. Wine sauce fish stir fry
32. Doo Boo Ya Chae Bokk Eun: Tofu and vegetable stir fry
33., 34., & 35. Unknown Chinese characters
36. Gan Poong Gi: Fried Saucy Chicken Wings (same thing as Gan Pong Chicken Wings under Fowl in regular menu)
37. Gan Poong Sae Woo: Fried Saucy Shrimp (same thing as Gan Pong Shrimp under Seafood in regular menu)
38. Gan Poong Ga Yah Ba See: Fried Saucy Scallops (same things as Gan Pong Scallop under Seafood in regular menu)

I hope that helps, sorry about the things we couldn't translate together. Also, a couple of famous Korean-Chinese dishes on the regular noodles menu are:
Noodle in the Black Bean Sauce, aka Ja Jang Myun
Seafood Peking Noodle, aka Sam Sun Ja Jang Myun
Ping's Noodle Soup, aka Cham Pong
Seafood Noodle Soup, aka Sam Sun Cham Pong
Ping's Noodle Platter, aka La Ja Myun, which was a newish discovery for my family. It has the spicy flavors one is used to in Cham Pong, only not in a broth. This was really delicious!
These are all made with homemade noodles, which have a really great texture to them!

On Sunday, with our family of 7, we ordered two plates of Ping's Noodle Platter, Gan Pong Chicken, Gan Pong Shrimp, #7 (Yoo San Sul) and #15 Tang Soo Yook. That was more than enough food for all of us!

Happy ordering!

Wow, thanks for taking the time to post this very helpful info, Sharona!

Just want to add one small detail. The boss told be that #4 is not smoked fish as we would think of it, e.g., fish crack at Calumet Fisheries. I believe the name has something to do with the way the fish is baked.
Also, in some of the first dozen or so dishes, the meat or seafood is julienned.

TomInSkokie wrote:Wow, thanks for taking the time to post this very helpful info, Sharona!

Just want to add one small detail. The boss told be that #4 is not smoked fish as we would think of it, e.g., fish crack at Calumet Fisheries. I believe the name has something to do with the way the fish is baked.
Also, in some of the first dozen or so dishes, the meat or seafood is julienned.

Thanks for the clarification, Tom! My father gave me very rough descriptions of the menu items, and we tend to order our favorites when we go, so we don't really venture far off the menu.

We went for a family dinner the weekend before Christmas. It was packed as usual when we arrived around 7pm, but cleared out by the time we left around 8:30. I have to say that it was not as good as it was last year. There were three dishes that all tasted the same, with the only difference being the mix of vegetables and protein. The spicy seafood noodles were pretty bland and didn't have a hint of heat. I'm sorry I can't elaborate much on the dishes since I didn't do any of the ordering.

A few times a year, I participate in card tournaments held at the Holiday Inn a mile or so west of Chef Ping. I used to dread the mealtime breaks, but since this thread helped me find Chef Ping I look forward to those breaks with great anticipation. Even more so now that I have help from the translated menus generously provided above. The food is homey and wonderful, and the staff could not be more genuinely smiley and interactive with their customers, whether those customers be the Chinese and Korean families that make up at least half the dining room, or the chow mein seeking seniors a year or two removed from their Fort Lauderdale retirement homes.

The number 9, Dwae Jee Go Gee Boo Choo Bokk Eun: (Pork and Chinese chive stir fry) I had last night was spectacular. Just an ultra-simple stir fry with well-handled ingredients - the plentiful chives were crisp and pungent, the lean pork slices were tender and slightly charred, and the light, corn-starch-free broth that served as a sauce was perfect. The dish was finished with just the right amount of toasty sesame seed oil. I could eat this every day and be a happy man.

I didn't like number 7, Yoo San Sul: (Pork and seafood in a mild sauce) quite as much. It was pretty bland and the thick, mucilaginous sauce wasn't my thing. The server told me that it's his personal favorite dish and that many of the staff share his sentiment. I suspect it's a very authentic rendition of something I just don"t care for all that much.

I look forward to my next event in Rolling Meadows so that I can work through more of the terrific food on Chef Ping's menu.

Sharona wrote:11. Ba Jyun Ddoh Boo Puh: Dad and I have no idea what that means
...
13. & 14. Unknown to my father
...
33., 34., & 35. Unknown Chinese characters

11. Eight Treasures Tofu Casserole

13. Crispy intestines (usually pork)

14. Intestines with preserved sour vegetables

33. Braised beef brisket and tofu casserole (aka claypot)
34. Braised beef brisket and onion casserole (aka claypot)
35. Intestines and onion

Also #4 (Smoked fish) is a Shanghai style dish. Smoked, then seasoned with sugar and soy, served cold.

Another great meal at Chef Ping on Sunday night. Took my father there for an early father's day dinner. The meat eaters in our group (mom, dad, aunt, and me) ordered:
#6 pal bo chae--a really great seafood and pork dish in a slightly spicy brown sauce. After all the goodies were eaten, I kept spooning leftover sauce over my rice.
#15 tang soo yook--the pork is expertly fried and somehow it seems to still stay crispy even with the sweet and sour sauce poured over it. My aunt pointed out that at Chef ping they cut the pork into a strip as opposed to chunks at other restaurants. The pieces seem to be more tender this way.
#37 gan pong sae woo--the shrimp weren't as crispy as I've recalled it being in the past. But the shrimp didn't get lost in the breading and was still tasty. A mild quibble in an overall great dinner.
Ping's Noodle Platter--still one of my favorite dishes at the restaurant. A must-order every time.

My vegetarian husband ordered his standbys:
Mandarin Bean Curd--a great version with fresh baby bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, and thick pieces of bamboo shoots.
We all shared in an appetizer of salt and pepper tofu, which I could eat a big plate singlehandedly as a meal with a tall glass of Asian lager.

The wait can be long, but at 5:30, we were able to walk right in. But by 6:30 when we left, the whole waiting area was packed. The kitchen was running on all cylinders, with our food coming out as soon as it was made, so not everything came out at the same time. But that's okay, since we were sharing everything Asian style. Also, if you have a party of 6 or more, you can make a reservation. If they only opened an outpost in central Illinois!

I hit Chef Ping today on Jury Duty lunch break. Darned good.
For lunch specials, they're a little pricier than your average cheap strip-mall Chinese ($6.95-$8.50), but hey, they've got to pay the rent on an entire ex-Baker's Square, and it's much better than cheap strip-mall Chinese.

The Ping's Noodle Platter was outstanding: modestly spicy (although I asked for it very spicy), with perfectly cooked noodles, and perfectly cooked shrimp, scallops and squid. Hot and Sour soup was above average, but not top-tier (nice smoky flavor, rich broth... but something missing that it didn't nudge it into the stratosphere). Service was friendly and frequent, considering they were packed to the gills for lunch (I took a seat at the bar).

They do have a website, surprised I didn't see it upthread:
http://www.chefping.com

I'll be back soon -- it's really not much further than Asian Bistro, and a tough call between them.

A year and a half later, I'm back there for dinner (nobody else has posted on this gem since???).

Hot and sour soup was unremarkable, a bit below average, I'd say: The scoops were distinctly not well distributed: Mine was full of tofu and bamboo shoot, SueF's was full of pork and mushrooms. Not hot enough, not sour enough, not a rich enough broth.

But our mains were terrific: Chef Ping's Wings were sort of a hot wing version of LSC's Tony's 3 Chili Chicken (but not as spicy): Light crisp breading, vinegar tartness and a little sweetness, lots of dried chiles and diced bell pepper. Definitely a keeper.

I had the Szechwan (sic) Eggplant, which, unlike every other so-called crispy eggplant I've ever had, was actually crispy. Sweet, sour, garlic and chile flavors, pillow-soft eggplant with a crisp shell.

We hadn't intended on deep-fried delights for our entire dinner, it just worked out that way.
And before you ask why no noodles... Katy's on Saturday, y'all.

Chef Ping is a given whenever our family convenes in the northern suburbs. Over Thanksgiving weekend, our entire 10 person clan, complete with brother in law, husband, and now our 15 month old daughter enjoyed carry out from here.

We ordered our usual favorites: jjajangmyun, Ping's chicken wings, Ping's noodle platter, and tangsuyook. But of special note were the orders of yellow leek with seafood and summer salad.

The yellow leeks are finely shredded and are delicate in flavor and my sister kept going on about how much she loved the squid. The seafood, which included shrimp, scallop, and squid, was cooked beautifully and was very tender. I kept spooning the flavorful seafood brothy sauce over my rice even after all the seafood was picked over and gone.

The summer salad, which is known as yang jan pee in Korean, is a mixture of cold julienned vegetables and protein (cucumber, cold beef, shrimp, scrambled egg) and cold bean translucent noodle sheets. Packed separately from the cold components of the salad is a warm stirfried mixture of other vegetables and pork. You mix it all together with a sinus-clearing thin mustard sauce. The whole thing is a symphony of chewy and crunchy textures, hot and cold temperatures, and mild and ass-kicking spicy flavors. I love this dish, and it is one of my dad's favorites as well.

My 15 month old tried almost everything, except for the spicy summer salad. She kept asking for more "looloos" (noodles). Her face was brown and sticky from the jjajangmyun she kept slurping down. I am a proud mama.

I'm going to have to go back & try some of these other dishes listed as I was very underwhelmed the 3 times I've been (quite awhile ago).