Taste of Asia: Chinatown hodgepodge w/ at least 1 great dish

There are a lot of Chinatown restaurants like this: brightly lit places with smiling staff and a broad spectrum of authentic dishes representing every region in China, dozens of Ameri-Chinese classics, plus a couple of Japanese and Korean things thrown in for good measure. These places may be trying too hard to please everyone that might walk in, and I usually choose to go elsewhere for that reason.

I'm glad I forewent that usual practice this time, because I had a fantastic and unique dish as a result. Called "Taiwanese Special Luodi Peanut" on the menu, this spicy, crunchy plate of food had ultra-crispy little shreds of golden-fried swordfish, chopped dried hot peppers that had been toasted completely black, bright-green diced long beans, and crispy deep-fried carrot slices that were very thin, probably prepped with a vegetable peeler. Plenty of the namesake roasted peanuts too.

Very greasy shrimp in garlic sauce was not a winner, but wonton soup was quite good, with flavorful broth and a pronounced sesame oil note in the filling.

The staff at Taste of Asia could not have been friendlier to my wife and me with our baby, who enjoyed a giant bowl of plain congee for her dinner. As with many of these types of places, it probably takes a few visits for them to trust that when you ask what's good, you mean it. My question yielded the typical suggestion of whatever expensive surfy-turfy thing was on the menu, so I instead just pointed to the above-mentioned dish at random and said I'd have that. The server said "Only Chinese people like that" and tried to get me to have something else instead, but she eventually smiled and gave in.


Taste of Asia
2230 S. Wentworth
312.842.7888

Kennyz wrote:There are a lot of Chinatown restaurants like this: brightly lit places with smiling staff and a broad spectrum of authentic dishes representing every region in China, dozens of Ameri-Chinese classics, plus a couple of Japanese and Korean things thrown in for good measure. These places may be trying too hard to please everyone that might walk in, and I usually choose to go elsewhere for that reason.

I'm glad I forewent that usual practice this time, because I had a fantastic and unique dish as a result. Called "Taiwanese Special Luodi Peanut" on the menu, this spicy, crunchy plate of food had ultra-crispy little shreds of golden-fried swordfish, chopped dried hot peppers that had been toasted completely black, bright-green diced long beans, and crispy deep-fried carrot slices that were very thin, probably prepped with a vegetable peeler.

Very greasy shrimp in garlic sauce was not a winner, but wonton soup was quite good, with flavorful broth and a pronounced sesame oil note in the filling.

The staff at Taste of Asia could not have been friendlier to my wife and me with our baby, who enjoyed a giant bowl of plain congee for her dinner. As with many of these types of places, it probably takes a few visits for them to trust that when you ask what's good, you mean it. My question yielded the typical suggestion of whatever expensive surfy-turfy option was on the menu, so I instead just pointed to the above-mentioned dish at random and said I'd have that. The server said "Only Chinese people like that" and tried to get me to have something else instead, but she eventually smiled and gave in.


Taste of Asia
2230 S. Wentworth
312.842.7888

Good review. I think the need for places to be all things to all people including the majority of clients who think General Tso's chicken is real Chinese food makes these places have to conform. However with good notes like yours we can find 3-4 good things on the menu. I've also noticed that you MUST dialog with owners and waiters and explain to them explicitly that you are looking for authentic food. I've gotten some good food from otherwise mediocre places with that strategy. We need to discover dishes that "only Chinese people like" at these places. The food is there, but they make assumptions that you want "surf and turf" or whatever.