Chi Café

Chi Café

Chi Café is not the sort of place that many people reading this forum would probably walk into: it’s too slick, too corporate-looking, too…clean. Looking a little like an Asian HoJo’s, with lots of bright oranges and greens, and staffed by hip young people in matching uniforms, this three-month old place (much like Hi-Tea and other currently stand-alone but heavily standardized operations) seems destined for franchising. They’ve got a look, requisite quirks (glassed in kitchen, booth tables with pull-out drawers full of chopsticks, spoons, etc.), and napkins in kind of cool chartreuse pocket packs, stamped with their logo, contact info and a map to their location.

None of these comments is meant to damn this place, which is run by very good-natured folks and was very full when I stopped in last Sunday night (in fact, the whole Chinatown mall was surprisingly crowded).

There’s a lot of standard stuff: Crab Rangoon, Deep Fried Won Ton, etc.

Also some slightly off-center stuff: Beef Tripe with Satay Sauce (!) and Luncheon Meat and Egg Instant Noodle Soup (!!).

Plus about 200 other items.

For a simple study in textures, I enjoyed the relatively seasoning-free Jellyfish & Spicy Beef Hind Shank (the main “spice” seemed to be star anise, which was nice if unassertive).

Pan Fried Turnip Patties in XO Sauce was advertised in the front window, so I went with some of that, and it was kind of gloppy, not very flavorful, but inoffensive.

Our favorite as the Stirred Chinese Chives with Special Sauce, a dish of Hong Kong-like simplicity, prepared pleasingly though without much more subtlety than would be provided by the natural goodness of the ingredients.

Chi Café is similar to nearby Joy Yee – bright space, big menu, seemingly popular…and safe. Me, I guess I prefer my dining a little rougher.

Chi Café
2160 S. Archer
312.842.9993

Wow. Talking about 180 degree difference of opinion--of course I could have posted to the more complimentary write-up, but I'd rather go with controversy!

When I first saw this place, about a year ago, "the bright space, the big menu"..."[L]ooking a little like an Asian HoJo’s, with lots of bright oranges and greens, and staffed by hip young people in matching uniforms" seemed quite alluring. It was, if not exactly like the places I'd visited years ago on my honeymoon in Asia, it was at least like a few of the places I envied Tony Bourdain in his various Asian episodes. After all, what said authentic more than baked spaghetti with luncheon meat! Think Super H Mart with table service.

I was suppose to go one day here for lunch with a reporter, but instead there was an audible that day to hit the (then) newly opened Shanghai-ish outpost of Lao Sze Chuan. I put this one back in the food memory for some other time. Well, it's just not a lot of visits to Chinatown or restaurants generally these days, so it took until very recently for two visits to Chi Cafe. I like it!

Maybe I'm a sucker for a place that, after ordering, pulls out a draw from under your table where all your necessities lie, your napkins, soup spoons, chopsticks and Western silverware. While I am not quite a sucker for some of the oddities beloved in Hong Kong, I am a softie for things in XO sauce. As I differ with the Hat on decor, I also differ greatly on the turnip cake in XO sauce. At dim sum, this dish can so often be a greasy slab of turnip lead. These were quite opposite, airy and chewy, with just a hint of spice from the XO sauce.

I'm also a sucker for ordering things to see what they are, and with a 200+ item menu, there are and will be plenty of opportunities. I had to see what caged shrimp were. Answer: steamed shrimp, tons of minced garlic, some stir fried egg white and rice packed into a small ceramic container. I'm not sure the caging did anything to the dish. At breakfast, I had to have lai noodles to see what those were. Answer: very, (very) slippery round rice noodles. As I would grab some with my chopsticks, a few noodles would "run" up the sticks and fall to the table.

Breakfast? After our first visit, the family was quite intrigued by the breakfast specials that included noodle soups (the lai came in with the choice of noodle), a carbo combo of rice noodles and congee or a few other things including the "Belgium waffle" my younger daughter wanted. I'll start with that, as that's no great shake for sure. All they did was pop toaster waffles in the toaster, although the gobs of whipped cream were not entirely unappreciated by the younger in our crowd. The rest of the stuff, the various noodles, crispy or soft, and the congees, hit the spot in a very, not have to eat for another 12 hours kinda way. Drinks come with the breakfast specials and all hit the spot too. The waffle eater is now a big Ovaltine fan. Coffee more than decent with its addition of condensed milk.

If this was not such a shlep, if it was not an infringement on my local habits, I'd get through the 200+ menu a bit sooner. You all should help. Don't be afraid of safety.

FWIW, they deliver to the Loop, do very serviceable XO and S&P preps, and have Chinese vegetables (chives, ong choy). Beats the Loop alternatives.

For convenience, I'll copy below my comments from the thread I started on Chi Cafe before I realized this thread already existed. Chi Cafe fills an important niche for us. It's like a Chinese version of a first rate diner. There are some basics they do very well and there's a broad menu with many interesting items. It's not fine dining or deeply adventuresome dining, it's just good food at a decent value, assuming you can find free parking as they do not validate. We go to Chinatown so often that each meal is not a special occasion meal and this fits the bill for comfort food. It is an order of magnitude better than Joy Yee's, which I have been suckered into on three occasions, each of which I have regretted (for the food, the bubble tea is fine). Also way better than St. Alp's Place under the Phoenix, which is of a vaguely similar sensibility. A reasonable comparison would be to a place like Seven Treasures, which has just never clicked with me, mostly b/c I don't like the wonton or shrimp dumpling noodle soups there.

I like this place in particular for the wontons. They're all shrimp (no pork), unlike most other places in Chicago that I've been to. And the shrimp generally tastes fresh. Beyond the wonton noodle soup, other dishes I've liked include a scrambled egg with shrimp and yellow chives (jiu huang), home style vegetables, and turnip patties with xo sauce. The fried rice is also pretty good. I see a lot of people eating congee so I'm guessing it's good but I like my congee at home. Decor aspires to trendiness, not bad really, and there is a good mix of the younger crowd and families there.

I stopped there for the Chinese New Year!

I do like the decor. It looks stylish. Kind of like Hai Yen up in Argyle. The fact that they have a drawer to get your cutlery out of is kinda cute and definitely makes them stand out among the restaurants in Chinatown.

But after all that said, I do not think I will go back. For me there are two problems that have nothing to do with the restaurant. They serve what seems to my under-educated eye, a lot of Cantonese food. I like my food a lot spicier. The second problem for me is that I am a vegetarian; so my choices were very limited in this place.

But what I did have was interesting. From their mislabeled Vegetarian selections (most dishes in this part had some kind of meat in them! ) I got Salt and Pepper Tofu as that had the only 'Chili' indicator on it. The only heat in the dish was sliced jalapenos. Moreover, it was a sauceless dish so eating it with rice was a slight problem. The flavor was good though after I added some chili-paste to it. This would have been better as an appetizer though. It looked like tossed deep-fried tofu cubes in salt, pepper, jalapenos and some garlic. The salt and garlic coating gave it a nice bite.

As I said, not for me. But they did seem to have dishes I don't see in most Chinese restaurants. Congee and breakfast items and such. So if you want to try Cantonese cooking served in a more Hai-Yen kinda place ...

BUMP!

Anyone been lately? Have a group I need to get fed in under 35 minutes and was thinking this place might do the trick.

Any suggestions?

Chi Cafe is closed for remodeling. At least it was when I was last by there, a couple of weeks ago. THey are supposed to be reopening in late May, I believe.

This always a safe bet for me and the girlfriend for a bowl of hot cheap soup.

We usually go for a spicy seafood soup, spicy vegetable soup, lemon grass porkchop soup, and an order of stir fry greenbeans.

Cheap quick and reliable. Never had a bad time here and always enjoyed the soups. As far as your normal fair goes, we have never tried it and dont really wish too.

They also do great delivery which is a huge plus when im at work in the loop and craving soup.