Actually, there's hardly a GNR-level place whose leftovers travel and reheat better than Katy's. We always order 2-3 meals' worth when we go.

Everything was very good but no pickles today.

Mike G wrote:Actually, there's hardly a GNR-level place whose leftovers travel and reheat better than Katy's. We always order 2-3 meals' worth when we go.

I thought you did that everywhere you go.

Evil Ronnie wrote:Everything was very good but no pickles today.

Has anyone had the pickles recently from the Westmont spot? I was at the Naperville location a few months ago and Mr. Red Shirt said that they're weren't gonna have them at Westmont anymore. I don't think Naperville ever had it.

As of last Tuesday, there were no pickles in Naperville.

Last weekend at the Naperville outpost I asked for something new, and they gave me Spicy Shrimp, which turned out to closely resemble Sunda's Devil's Basket. The shrimp were made somewhat between the dry chili and three chili preparations, and they were large, crispy (so crispy that I ate the shells and all), and incredibly spicy with all the dried chilies. Some differences:

1. Many shrimp; I didn't count them (I was too busy eating so don't quote me), but there had to have been more than 15 large shrimp,
2. A dollar less than Sunda,
but unfortunately
3. Did not come in a decorative cast iron pot

Since I was completely underwhelmed by Sunda the last time I was there, and since the Devil's Pot was the only thing I really liked, I'm quite happy that I've found a replacement. If you're there, try em out!

Blown Z wrote:Has anyone had the pickles recently from the Westmont spot?

No pickles last week, though Katy's Westmont was as good as ever. Dan Dan Noodle, Shredded pork with pancake, Dumplings, Szechuan noodle soup, all as good, if not better, than versions I've had in the past. What made lunch noteworthy, postworthy, was the service, interactive, attentive and anticipatory.

Much as I love Katy's waitress service has always been minimal, I tend to think of it as mostly self serve, but our order was taken at the table, extra bowls, napkins, chopsticks, spoons, chili oil and vinegar for the dumplings came without asking. She, the same woman who is usually there, even warmed and plated our smoked duck from the fridge.

The uptick in interactive service does not affect my love one way or the other, offer noodles like Katy's and I will happily go into the kitchen and pick the order up myself, but it was a pleasant surprise not to have to 'beg' extra bowls for sharing.

Katy's, count me a fan!

Note:
- Our waitress may have simply been in a good mood that day, there is no guarantee this level of service is a day to day occurrence.
- Mr. Red Shirt was wearing a Grey Shirt.

I was finally around Westmont and got to stop here for lunch today. I got the stir fry noodles w/ dried chili, and they were great. I finished my lunch went to the car, got out, went back and ordered takeout. Wife was happy.

Jeff

gonna try to get into Katy's today for lunch,

besides the typical items I like (dumplings, pot stickers, noodles, etc.). Has anyone recently tried any of the items on the House Special Snack area of the menu? specifically the:

northern style smoked chicken
marinated duck wing
hong sue meatball

jimswside wrote:gonna try to get into Katy's today for lunch,

besides the typical items I like (dumplings, pot stickers, noodles, etc.). Has anyone recently tried any of the items on the House Special Snack area of the menu? specifically the:

northern style smoked chicken
marinated duck wing
hong sue meatball

yes, yes, and yes. Enjoyed them all. I really miss having Katy's as a lunch option. I live in a food desert.

Flip

jimswside wrote:gonna try to get into Katy's today for lunch,

besides the typical items I like (dumplings, pot stickers, noodles, etc.). Has anyone recently tried any of the items on the House Special Snack area of the menu? specifically the:

northern style smoked chicken
marinated duck wing
hong sue meatball

Those are all items that they keep in the fridge where you get you can of pop. I've tried all three. They are good, but keep in mind they are cold.

passed on the cold items, but thanks for the feedback, maybe some other time.

I have stayed away from the Katy's Westmont location too long. Their cash only policy, small dining area, and them being located in an area that there is no real good plan "b" places to eat that will get me back from lunch in time(I know of Lao Szechaun and Fabulous Noodles very well, but these locations require a dead head from work, no time to spare for a quick detour first).

Brilliant lunch.

Pot stickers were some of the best I have had, stir fried noodles with dry chili were awesome, also had a small chicken in garlic sauce wwhich was pretty good. I was with my wife and daughter so fried rice was a must for the youngster. Really nice pork fried rice, simple yet good.

Place was pretty much full by 12:30 ish.

I had a meeting in Wheaton this afternoon that didn't end until about 5:30. Not wanting to deal with rush hour traffic back into the city (BTW, 290 is pretty much the 8th level of hell right now...avoid at all costs) I decided to make my first trip to Katy's in Westmont for dinner.

I had an order of pot stickers and the stir fried dry chili noodles. I thought the pot stickers were just ok. They had a much lighter outer layer than similar dumplings elsewhere, which was good, but I found them unremarkable otherwise (they benefited from the addition of lots of vinegar and chili oil). On the other hand, I really enjoyed the noodles. Perfectly toothsome is how I would describe them. Good pork and chicken mixed in with the noodles, but the presence of krab was a bit disappointing.

I'm not sure I'd make a special trip, but if I'm in the area I would go back.

jimswside wrote:I have stayed away from the Katy's Westmont location too long.
....
stir fried noodles with dry chili were awesome.

Westmont is a long way away.. but I was in the area a few weeks ago, and stopped in, and tried (for the first time) the Stir Fried Noodles with Dry Chilli. It *is* a completely awesome dish. Ive since managed to find excuses to be in the general area a couple more times, and have ordered it a couple more times - both with great success. Also tried the Cold Szechuan Noodles and liked it a fair bit. Also the dan-dan-noodles.. terrific (but meant much more for cold weather than now.. would love to try it again in winter).

My problem now is the age-old-one for LTHers... its just too far away! Does anyone know of a Chinese restaurant with a dish similar to (and comparable to, in terms of quality, heat etc) the Stir Fried Noodles with Dry Chilli at Katy's? Iam in the near-north burbs.. anywhere in the North Burbs, or the northside.. even a Chinatown option for a similar dish would be great... anyone? anyone?

c8w

c8w wrote:My problem now is the age-old-one for LTHers... its just too far away! Does anyone know of a Chinese restaurant with a dish similar to (and comparable to, in terms of quality, heat etc) the Stir Fried Noodles with Dry Chilli at Katy's?

I'm with you c8w, one can dream, and while they're at it how about an apple fritter of comparable deliciousness to Old Fashioned Donuts on the north side.

c8w, I too have the same problem. It's elusive. You will bang your head with frustration. I have been looking for noodles in the city and Chinatown for years. The closest and I have come is Mandarin Kitchen in Chinatown, Shanghai noodles. But, sadly, no comparison. That is why you see a sign in Katy's that says, "no retail or wholesale noodles". For some reason, Chinatown restaurants think spaghetti or vermicelli noodles are fine, when even using udon noodles would be an improvement.

For my tastes, the closest thing in Chicago that I've had to Katy's noodles are the ones at Ed's Potsticker House.

In this thread, I echoed the praise for the "stir-fried noodles with pork and string beans" as a decent substitute for a trip to Katy's. The noodles do have that "just pulled" toothiness that sets Katy's apart.

Ed's Potsticker House
3139 S Halsted St
312-326-6898
potstickerhouse.com

Best,
Michael

Westmont Picklemeter for 6/13/2010 (Present / Unavailable): Unavailable

Everything else was present and peak. Those rubbery bean curd cold noodles are a breakfast of champions.

Shopping / Cooking question: is there a successful microwave method for heating the handmade frozen dumplings? I have a steamer setup or could boil them like pelmeni, but was wondering if anyone's had luck with other approaches.

Santander wrote:Shopping / Cooking question: is there a successful microwave method for heating the handmade frozen dumplings? I have a steamer setup or could boil them like pelmeni, but was wondering if anyone's had luck with other approaches.

Steamer for me, always, unless you're going for the pot sticker prep in which case a covered skillet is the way to go (fry in a bit of peanut oil, then when they've achieved the desired level of brown on the bottom, add some water, cover and let steam). It never even occurred to me to try the microwave. Let me know if that works. Somehow I'm envisioning "rubbery wrapper syndrome".

I agree with Stevez. I put some oil (just enough to coat the bottom) in a wok, let it get hot then carefully add the dumplings, let them get a little brown, add 1/4 c water slowly and put the lid on to steam. You'd be surprised how fast they cook this way. I take the lid off once the water is absorbed and turn them so they are crisp on both sides. I do this with all forms of dumpligs. My aiyi in Shanghai showed me how to prepare them this way.

nicinchic's method is the one that I am familiar with, though utilizing broth as opposed to water.

here's a useless "me too!" post in which I say that I've had them both steamed and prepared potsticker style and I much prefer the potsticker preparation. Also I've never nuked them but I can't imagine they'd be any good that way unless you were able to add some liquid to approximate a steaming method. Googling it just now I found a post that recommended wrapping frozen uncooked dumplings in wet paper towels before putting them in the microwave. (FYI it's here in the comments section.

It's been a while since I've been to the Katy's in Westmont. The cash only and small dining area, plus my love for the pastor at Taco Grill always seem to have me skipping over Katy's. Todays lunch really scratched the itch for Chinese food. With the warm weather I mixed it up from the usual Beef Noodle Soup and went with the stir fried onion pancake. It seemed a little more dry than usual, but still quite delicious. Potsticker would really good, some of the best I've ever had. Mr. Red Shirt was rocking out the navy blue polo today.

Stir Fried Onion Pancake with Pork

Potstickers

As a recent member of this forum, I have been happily discovering quality near west suburban food thanks to people here and the LTHForum.

Yesterday I went to Katy's Dumplings in Westmont and had Stir Fried Pork Noodles. I wanted to keep it simple, first time there, and not being an experienced Chinese diner as some are.

OMG!!! It is what everyone says - the noodles are incredible. I got it to go and one order will make two nice dinners. I canot wait for the next one. I do not have the language or backgroung to describe why it is great -- but to quote an old colleague of mine, I know quality when I see it, in this case taste it. The noodles are so....serious.....delicious.

Can't wait to go back for many of the other things on their menu.

HI,

After a program by Dorie Greenspan in Naperville, dinner was at Katy's new location.

My order was the same as a typical Westmont visit: pot stickers, slivered pancakes with pork and dan-dan noodles. The food was no different than what I have expected at their Westmont location. On the plus side, I could get ice in a glass that was never available in Westmont.

As the last customer of the day, I was there after 9 pm. The staff was waiting in a van for me to leave. Once I was out, the door was locked and the last employee scooted into the van. Before I was at my car, they were already gone. I wouldn't be surprised if they were on their way to Chinatown.

I had a similar experience several years ago at Lao Sze Chuan's location in the Arlington Heights area. I didn't linger in either situation.

Regards,

Stopped at Katy's Westmont on Friday for an early autumnal lunch of Dan Dan Noodles. Strangely, Mr. Red Shirt was there (usually in N'ville) these days, a young lady was running the cash register, but the older lady (Mrs. Red Shirt?) was there serving, and the normal cook was in back. Not sure why they had such a crew.

After experimenting a bit with the Naperville location, I now pretty much only do Westmont, simpler menu, cozier, and I think the food is a little better. That was not true with the Dan Dan - the whole thing was over peppered (black or white, not chile) and seemed much less complex as a result. Still good, just not as good as usual.

Multiple recent meals that included cold noodles, pot stickers, spicy beef noodles and pancakes with pork were all excellent, so this is definitely not a downhill alert, just an update.

Place was full by the time I left, around 1130 or so.

Hey, I'm coming out of lurker mode to express my major disappointment with tonight's stir-fried noodles with dry chili at the Westmont shop. There was a lot of heat, thanks to the generous portion of red chilis. But heat is all there was. It was almost all greasy noodles and dry chili, with the other usual ingredients playing bit parts at best. Some green scallion slices, yes, but only few pieces of shrimp, a few pieces of that faux-looking crab and some tiny scraps of stir-fried beef. I kept moving the noodles around looking for those delicious chunky spirals of calamari before realizing they were totally missing. Let me repeat that: THE CALAMARI CHUNKS WERE NOT THERE. AT ALL. About midway through the dish I realized the can of Coke was the best part of the meal. How harsh is that?

As soon as I hit send on this message I am going to race to my mother's house and start a desperate search for the key to her medicine chest where I hope to find sweet release with her Zoloft stash. Pray for me please.

Interesting...we were there on the 19th, and the Dan Dan noodles were ridiculously over-peppered then, too. The overload of Szechuan peppercorn left our tongues tingling and not much else...it quickly devolved to the point where we couldn't even taste what we were eating because our tongues were too numb. I thought it was a one-off; I hope it's not going to be a new style of doing things, because it was really kind of terrible. Beef noodle soup and pot stickers were as delicious as ever, though.

GardenofEaten, retzer and dicksond,

Got pickles?

Evil Ronnie wrote:GardenofEaten, retzer and dicksond,

Got pickles?

I've been there several times in the recent past. No pickles are available. I asked Mr. Red Shirt about this and as close as I could understand, they have decided to no longer make the pickles. They seemed to have a reason fro the pickle stoppage, but I wasn't able to understand exactly what he was trying to tell me.