Noodle Rice Roll - Sauganash

LTH,

Of the three restaurants in four years at this single storefront across from Sauganash Whole Foods Noodle Rice Roll has made the best first impression. Comfortable bright space, reasonable prices and friendly interactive owners. Thai husband and Chinese wife field a fairly large menu of Thai and Chinese standards along with Japanese maki and "mega roll."

Thai curries on special $8.95 includes a generous mount of steamed rice, cucumber salad and pot sticker, I opted for green w/chicken. Cucumber salad skewed a shade sweet and, while the curry was tasty and verging on spicy, no Thai eggplant only bamboo shoot and green pepper. I missed the bitter bite balance with the rich coconut based curry. Pot sticker was terrific, crisp light wrapper, ground chicken center shooting pinpoints of bright clean flavor. House chili oil a winner, reminded me of Sun Wah table oil.

Admittedly NRR seems one of a hundred pan Asian catering to American tastes, what gives hope is they seem willing to go off menu Thai and Chinese and the fact the wife is from Southern China, Hainan to be exact, my first off menu request is going to be Hainan chicken and rice.



Enjoy,
Gary

Noodle Rice Roll
6031 N Cicero
Chicago, IL 60646
773-685-1902

LTH,

Since my first post I've had lunch with a friend and dinner with my wife and neighbors. Solid renditions of AmeriThai and Suburban Chinese and a deft hand with anything fried. Chive dumplings particularly tasty, perfectly pan fried tender crisp, forgo banal dipping sauce for house chili oil

Chive Dumplings



Egg Roll perfectly fried tightly packed with a decent ratio of shrimp/pork to veg. Same caveat as chive dumpling, forgo forgettable sweet dipping sauce for house chili oil.

Egg Roll



Pad Woon Sen, a favorite of my bride, mild flavored mix of veg, shrimp and slightly toothsome cellophane noodle. Neither shrimp or veg were overcooked, which puts it step above many.

Pad Woon Sen



Keeping in the deft hand with fried items theme I had General Tso's Chicken, tender chicken, mild flavor, though I asked for spicy, and light on sauce, as per my request. Somewhat one dimensional, certainly not as complex as the version I made from Dunlop's "Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook" but for $5.95 with generous dollop of table chili oil I was satisfied. (Aside from the inclusion of the dreaded baby corn)

General Tso Chicken



Of the four of us I was the only one who scrunched his nose at the maki, more so for bland dry rice than grocery store ingredients.

Maki



Mild white meat teriyaki chicken hit neighbor Elaine's sweet spot, a health conscious diner with an aversion to aggressive flavors, and her man Dan, whose palate ranges farther, enjoyed his tempura udon.

Tempura Udon



OK, yeah, you got me, we, actually me, ordered Crab Rangoon. I figured in for a penny of fried in for a pound. Perfectly fried dough, sense a theme, bursting with rich volcanically hot cream cheese. No much else going on, though hot bubbly cream cheese encased in well fried dough has a certain charm. Immodestly the best crab rangoon I've had were those I made myself

Crab Rangoon



I'm happy to have Noodle Rice Roll in the neighborhood, the owner is enthusiastic and friendly, place is spotless and price is hyper reasonable, plus they deliver. I hope business picks and they are able to stick around for a while.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote: the owner is enthusiastic and friendly

More than enthusiastic. We've been there a bunch, love the flavors. He always says tell him a Thai or Chinese dish and he'll make it. No matter that it's not on the menu. Last time I was there I had him whip up a side dish of chinese greens with oyster sauce.

I kinda thought that strip was Forest Glen not Saug?

kenji wrote:I kinda thought that strip was Forest Glen not Saug?

Forest Glen doesn't begin until the stoplight at Forest Glen Ave, just before the Edens overpass.

We went again last night. There's specials taped to the wall on the left as you walk in.

Brought a pinot grigio with us.

We ordered all classic thai dishes except for the chive dumplings. Chicken satay, musamon curry, squid pad prik, and a tom ka khai soup.

The flavors and quality of the thai dishes are reminiscent of thai eateries on Lawrence and Kedzie in the 1980's-90's.

Great meal at a great price. Service was perfect too.