The new TTOWA

(Mods, I'm starting a new thread, as this is for all intents and purposes a new restaurant -- see below.)

I was one of the people who mourned the passing of Morton Grove's TTOWA. I love dumplings in all shapes and forms, and these were excellent, handmade and cheap. The combination plate was an enormous amount of food for something like $7. The panchan was limited and some of the prepared dishes were so so, but it was all about the dumplings for me.

So it was with great excitement that I read here of TTOWA's rebirth in Arlington Heights. It wasn't long before I'd found a reason to be in Arlington Heights (the reason: I wanted to eat at TTOWA) and off we went. Alas, my heart sank as I entered "TTOWA Korean Bistro" to be greeted by slinky waitresses, dark wood paneling, and a sushi bar. It's like the plain, sweet girl you used to spend all your days with had grown up to become a stripper. With dark wood paneling. Or something.

And really great dumplings. The dumplings (served in individual steamers) are, if anything, more plump and lovingly prepared than at the old spot. There are fewer varieties (sadly, the kimchi mandu are no more) and the prices are, as expected, higher. But these are outstanding dumplings and I would be happy to make a meal of them.

The menu is small and mostly devoted to fusion dishes, which I have yet to try. Gone are the mandu jungol, kimchi fried rice, bibim naengmyeon, etc.

The sundubu jigae was excellent, with high quality seafood, although to my taste the broth was somewhat lacking in heat. This is an issue I had with many of the dishes -- in an attempt to appeal to a mostly non-Korean clientele, the spice level has clearly been dialed down. For those who would like their dishes authentically hot, I suggest explicitly requesting this when you order.

The old TTOWA also made duk in house, and happily so does the new one. Both dukboki and duk mandu guk were as tasty as ever.

Panchan -- never a strong suit -- were decent, although leaning toward the non-spicy and more familiar. Kimchi was surprisingly pungent, one of the best in recent memory. The dandelion green geotjeori is fortunately still around, and honestly that's really all I need.

The lunch menu has mandu/dukboki/maki combos for $9. (This is quite a lot of food.) There is also a LivingSocial deal that expires today, as posted in the other TTOWA thread.

The two TTOWAs could not be more different. The former incarnation was a mom-and-pop place catering mostly to Korean families; it was cheap and unpretentious and the food (especially the dumplings) was great. This new version clearly aspires to something more. The food is artfully presented, the ingredients are of a higher quality, and the prices have risen to match. I'd love to have the old hole in the wall back and will now have to find other outlets for my jungol fever, but it's good to see the chef being allowed to stretch his formidable skills. The old TTOWA was a destination for me; it's too early to tell whether this one will become one, but I'll happily return whenever I'm in the neighborhood.


161 W Wing St
Arlington Heights, IL 60005
(847) 749-4493

I still can't figure out how to say the name.

I'm hoping the fried chicken is still on the menu.

I actually found their panchan to be better than most suburban Korean places I've been to in recent years: there's some novelty in things like the dandelion (love that stuff -- bitter greens with sweet and spicy seasoning), and they were always generous with refills.

I bought the coupon last night, so I'll shortly have a report on the new place.

JoelF wrote:I'm hoping the fried chicken is still on the menu.

It is not.

Pie Lady, your question will be answered by the following instructional film:

cilantro wrote:Pie Lady, your question will be answered by the following instructional film:

LOL... the voice over on this video is very porno-esque to me... I think he was trying to channel Barry White... I got the shivers (not the good kind) when he said "Delicious" and "Fresh"...

CrazyC wrote:

cilantro wrote:Pie Lady, your question will be answered by the following instructional film:

LOL... the voice over on this video is very porno-esque to me... I think he was trying to channel Barry White... I got the shivers (not the good kind) when he said "Delicious" and "Fresh"...

Creepy! But it answered my question. Thanks!

It's sad when a good mom 'n pop place tries to go upscale, with over-produced materials. Did mom 'n pop pass along management to the young'uns?

Nope, same owner, same chef.

If it helps sweeten the deal, I can also confirm that while you're eating, the narrator of that video quietly comes up behind you and gives you a gentle back rub. Awww yeah, baby.

cilantro wrote:If it helps sweeten the deal, I can also confirm that while you're eating, the narrator of that video quietly comes up behind you and gives you a gentle back rub. Awww yeah, baby.

Well, shit, in that case I'll be there this weekend!

Pie Lady wrote:

cilantro wrote:If it helps sweeten the deal, I can also confirm that while you're eating, the narrator of that video quietly comes up behind you and gives you a gentle back rub. Awww yeah, baby.

Well, shit, in that case I'll be there this weekend!

Can we make it an LTH event?

FYI, the old TTOWA was run by mom and pop. The new TTOWA is the son (Terry). His parents are still in the kitchen, but this is his baby. Terry's passion and enthusiasm are contagious! He is very much seen front of the house, going from table to table, bringing out freebies. We've eaten there about 10 times, and each time it was delicious. While it is very different than the Morton Grove, it still was great! And any of the menu items you liked from the Morton Grove menu? They will recreate it for you. (oh and the pork belly was wonderful)

Pie Lady wrote:

CrazyC wrote:

cilantro wrote:Pie Lady, your question will be answered by the following instructional film:

LOL... the voice over on this video is very porno-esque to me... I think he was trying to channel Barry White... I got the shivers (not the good kind) when he said "Delicious" and "Fresh"...

Creepy! But it answered my question. Thanks!

Actually, no, it did not answer your question. In Korean, there is no "TH" sound. I'm trying to remember what the hangul spelling (Korean writing) of Ttowa was. It was either 토와 or 또와. If it was the former, it's a hard "t" sound. If it's the latter, it's the "dd" sound from something like dduk.

"Dowa" is how the owners pronounce it, I think. But the voice-over is much sexier. Since I started saying it with the "th" it's been hard to keep all the fine ladies away.

My Korean isn't the greatest either, but I believe it is ddowa, with the d sounding kind of like how Homer Simpson says d'oh! It means "come again!" If it is dowa, with the single d sound, it means hot.

We bought the LivingSocial coupon a couple weeks ago, and went tonight.
Unfortunately, none of the kimbap or other wraps were available, since their sushi chef was down the street at the Taste of Arlington Heights festival going on (they were selling pork belly sliders too).

I have to say, I miss the selection of dumplings and the fried chicken, but I will certainly be going back!
The menu is a small one compared to most Korean places, but they are making it look more accessible to a western audience, without dumbing it down.

We had the shrimp mandu, a pork neck and potato soup, and braised short ribs with porridge. I think that last word was a marketing mistake: if they'd called it "korean risotto" they'd haave a line out the door.

Everything was delicious, especially the short ribs. The "porridge" had pine nuts, a couple chestnuts, lots of great flavors under a deep-flavored pile of short rib pieces. I think it was actually short rib and not the fake boneless ones, since it had the texture of short rib, and a bit of connective tissue.

The soup was also fantastic, with a lot of black pepper, crunchy mung bean sprouts -- a very generous serving.

Panchan was a little slim: a beef-veg pancake (nice, I'd have eaten a dozen if given), broccoli with a spicy bean paste, trad kimchee and cucumbers with cabbage (which could have used some chile). I asked about the dandelion, and our server said the selection varies every day.

As the OP said, it's not the old place, but I definitely enjoyed it.

PSA from she who apparently doesn't check business hours before driving out to Arlington Heights: the new Ttowa is closed on Sundays.

D'oh, I should have included the hours in my original post. Sorry.

Mon-Thu 11:30 am - 9:30 pm
Fri-Sat 11:30 am - 10:30 pm

This is according to Yelp. Confusingly, their Facebook page claims they are open until 10, every day.

(By the way, the old Ttowa was also closed Sundays. )

I'm confused about the part where he says "right here in Arlington Heights." Arlington Heights isn't "here"--it's "there."

cilantro wrote:Mon-Thu 11:30 am - 9:30 pm
Fri-Sat 11:30 am - 10:30 pm

This is according to Yelp.

Their phone recording confirms these hours. That's OK--after a bowl of salt ramen, some salmon roe over rice, tuna maki, two orders of black bean short ribs and a matcha parfait from the Mitsuwa foodcourt and then five tacos from Los Compadres, I forgot all about Ttowa.

This is an excellent dish of braised short ribs, served over risotto. Any of dozens of restaurants around Chicagoland might set such a plate before you, and you'd have no inkling that what you were eating was supposed to be a Korean dish called kalbi jjim.

That's my one complaint about Ttowa, in its new incarnation in downtown Arlington Heights. I never visited the former Morton Grove version, but from what I can tell, this one is very different.

The menu is small. The presentations are lovely. Prices are higher than at most casual Korean spots. And the few banchan items that come with your meal may be the main indication that you're eating Korean fare. There are a handful of mandoo, available steamed, boiled or pan-fried, a seafood pancake, a few soups and noodle dishes and a handful of entrees, plus a brief list of maki sushi.


Traditional mandoo, steamed.


"Flash tuna," with snow crab, spicy tuna, avocado and a crown of fried carrots.



Dak kalbi, billed as "spicy fire grilled chicken," was not especially spicy and also lacked the characteristic tang of Korean seasoning. It was a perfectly good chicken dish, just not notably Korean.

It's a little puzzling as to whom the proprietors believe there audience to be. Second-generation Korean-Americans on date nights? Americans afraid of authentic Korean food?

Ttowa
(847) 749-4493
161 W. Wing St.
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

I was there for lunch today. And I love this place! I had the kimchi soup, which is divine. spicy and flavor filled. . . the dumplings are still great. the mom and dad are still the owners, and still the cooks. now the son is running the head of house, and i think really well. i used to frequent the morton grove restaurant, and i think the food is still really good.

For those who fancy this place, I noticed that Restaurant.com currently has a gift-certificate for them. It's $10 for a $25 certificate, unless you have a promotion (which I did -- so only $6).

Or, if you'd rather go with someone who already bought the certificate -- in my excitement, I failed to read the fine print, and for TTOWA, the minimum purchase is $50. (I usually only buy these if the minimum purchase is a bit lower -- generally $35.) I don't know that I could eat $50 worth of food, so I thought I'd find out if anyone is interested in sharing this with me. It's dinner only/dine-in only, no Saturdays. Valid on Sushi Menu only. (Bummer -- I was really interested in the dumplings.)

So if you like the sushi at TTOWA and would like to help me use this certificate, let me know.

And I hope I never forget to read the fine print again!

What a wonderful experience...

This is a lovely restaurant with no wood paneling or slinky servers. The staff is very helpful and incredibly generous. The food is outstanding and remarkably reasonable.

I went to Seoul Supermarket for Korean Mirin, Soy and Sesame. I'm off to get a kiwi and some top blade and make some bulgogi. Kimchee, here I come. I wish I could make their mandoo.

Tim

My wife and I had our inaugural visit to the AH location this past Saturday. It was an early dinner prior to our ushering gig at the nearby Metropolis.

As an appetizer - we split an order of wang mandoo. As noted upthread - the buns appeared to be a bit larger that at the old MG location. They were just as tasty.

My wife was adventurous and ordered Jeon Bok Juk. Didn't offer to share any with me. I guess it was good as her bowl was empty by the time we left.

Now it gets interesting. I ordered Hae Mul Kik Soo. Basically, a seafood noodle mish mash soup. A few minutes after I placed my order, our waitress returned to confirm if I really wanted to order this dish. According to her - very few non-asians order this dish. I told her to bring it on. Glad I did. It was amazing. Suprisingly - ate/slurped the entire bowl without dripping on my shirt.

Coincidentally, the show we ushered - There's a Girl In My Soup.

We were also there over the weekend (Friday). We started with the Fire Chicken Buns. These were the folded-steamed-bun format, similar to how Sun Wah does duck and pork buns, and very tasty with a pickled cucumber and spicy chicken. Sun Wah's buns are fluffier, these are chewier -- I'm not sure if that's how they are designed or not, being Korean vs SW's Chinese versions, but I'd definitely order them again.

We had the Bo Ssam for two. This was preceded by a nice cup of beef, cabbage and bean thread vermicelli soup, with good spicing, rich broth.

The Bo Ssam had wonderful squares of meaty pork belly, lettuce, a minty leaf whose name I've forgotten but I know I've seen in Asian grocers, lots of sliced garlic and bell peppers. Condiments included a bean powder, a chile bean sauce (probably gochugang or one of its siblings), and a shrimp paste. I could have used a little more of the condiments. A bowl of rice was provided on the side.

Panchan had some of the usual: bean sprouts, kimchee; and some of the more rare: pickled cucumber, and a fried eggplant in a sweet-spicy sauce. The eggplant was the hit of the night: I could have eaten a whole platter of that as a meal.

They're doing interesting things there: using (somewhat) western ingredients such as pine nuts and chestnuts as garnishes on some of the mains, asparagus in the bul gogi, etc. It feels like they're aiming a little upscale for Korean fare, and they've got a good chance at drawing in the mainstream American audience, with a little more marketing.

JoelF wrote:Panchan had some of the usual: bean sprouts, kimchee; and some of the more rare: pickled cucumber, and a fried eggplant in a sweet-spicy sauce. The eggplant was the hit of the night: I could have eaten a whole platter of that as a meal.

Oh man - I completely forgot to mention the panchan. Ditto what Joel said about the fried eggplant. Highly addictive stuff.

Also forgot to mention the nice discussion we had with the son of the owners. Nice guy. Also, the bathrooms at the AH location are much nicer than the MG location.

My husband, 9.5 month old, and I are visiting my family this weekend and my parents took us out to Ttowa for dinner tonight. There was a question upthread as to who the targeted clientele would be. I have to say that my old school, 60-something Korean immigrant parents really enjoy this place and are regular customers.

We had the yetnal mandoo, chicken buns, and ddukbokki as appetizers. My parents got kalguksoo (knife cut noodles in broth), I got the dak galbi (spicy chicken), and the kitchen accommodated my vegetarian husband with their version of mapo tofu.

My daughter, who has just began eating food in non-purée form, ate the insides of 4 mandoo. I'm pretty sure she was super excited by the new flavors and textures. I think she would have eaten a couple more had I not stopped her.

The banchan tonight had the usual suspects, with the exception of dandelion green kimchi. Holy moly is that some fantastic stuff. A bit funky, yet still crisp, kissed with the very beginnings of fermentation, this kimchi was a great bite. I'm a fan of Ttowa and the owner and staff couldn't be any friendlier.

Sharona wrote:There was a question upthread as to who the targeted clientele would be. I have to say that my old school, 60-something Korean immigrant parents really enjoy this place and are regular customers.

My initial assessment was very positive, but with a few reservations. Since then, I've been back many times; the menu has undergone several revisions and the last iteration I've seen is much more overtly Korean. (Though I suspect that off-menu requests would have been honored even at the beginning.) At least at the beginning, the owner told me there weren't many Koreans in the area and they were making most of their money from weekend sushi traffic; I hope the situation has improved.

What I never had any complaints about was the quality of the food. The bo ssam really is fantastic. (That was sesame leaf (perilla), JoelF.) The only problem with it is that it's a lot of food -- it's hard for two people to eat that and mandoo, but on the other hand, it should be a crime to come here and not get mandoo. Anyway, there's a segment of Dolinsky eating it that you can watch if you want to see what it looks like or just enjoy watching Dolinsky eat.

Now that I know the dandelion greens are back, it's definitely time for another visit. That was a huge favorite at the old location.

I'll edit the thread title to reflect my new bullishness about this place.