Glad this thread was updated. It reminded me to heartily recommend yet another fine SW Burban Chinese, China Kitchen in Westmont (I think) on Cass near 63rd in Falcon Plaza. I mentioned it previously as possibly Taiwanese. Now that I have tried it, I believe the menu is more Hong Kong style, based solely on its overlap with other HK-type places. The place clearly caters mostly to recent immigrants based on the other diners on my visit.

Tremendously good pea greens with crab meat and egg whites, very much like something I had a Lai Wah Heen in Toronto.

Equally good crispy pan-fried noodles with beef stew and Chinese broccoli. (They must have a very hot wok.)

Pretty good S&P squid.

All in all, well worth looking out for. Lithuanian cafe next door, and basically accross the street from Westbrook, the super ethnic market.

Ahh, the wonders of Westmont

We went out to the Morton Arboretum today, for kid-related winter activities, and one of the things I discovered was that it's located in Lisle, thus updating its entry on my mental map which previously had it located "out there somewhere."

So when the time came to come up with somewhere to eat, I named the only restaurant I know in Lisle: Fabulous Noodles. That left two other problems-- finding it and knowing what to order. Finding it was solved by a shopping and dining guide to Lisle. What to order was solved by telling Helen we were friends of Dickson's and wanted what he eats.

How was it? Note the following verbatim quotes from King's Thursday/Ms. Mike G, the latter especially cold-blooded:

"This is the best Chinese food I've had in Chicago."

"Tell me the name of the noodle dish again, in case something happens to you."

(It's Yu Noodles Singapore Style. In case something happens to me.) Another reason to be thankful for LTHForum, which ensures that I know somewhere great to eat near almost everywhere in this (extended) town.

Flip wrote:As a known fan of Fabulous Noodles I won't bore you with details, but I have never had a bad experience.

have you (or anyone else on this board) had the beef noodle (soup)?

the taiwanese proprietor + her friend (one of whom was "Helen") was enjoying her shi jin vegetables after she gaves "thanks". she absolutely reminded me of my mother and this is an extremly BAD thing for a restaurant. the cook, as i verified, is Cantonese and, had to be taught how to stew the beef for the noodle. no need to get into the other 2 dishes as i've already forgotten what i had.

perhaps i just need to go there and order what everyone else had. but so far, overpriced pan-Chinese food. EOM.

perhaps i just need to go there and order what everyone else had

Perhaps.

must note: 'yu' is incorrectly transliterated in case anyone ends up another Taiwanese-Cantonese restaurant...

"oily" noodles = "you" noodles

[edited for clarification] i retract above. tho the content is correct, the context may not be. i should've taken the fact that Fabulous Noodles is Taiwanese into consideration. 'yu' would be the closest transliteration of 'oil' in Taiwanese...[/edit]

the chilled red bean soup was the best part of our meal:

just like my old man's version. boiled to perfection, not over sweatened.

my "perhaps" needs no "[ i ]" nor "[ /i ]". watching my bud force feeding herself the beef noodle soup was too sickening. nice people tho.

Tony,

I am not exactly sure what you are saying in its entirety, but I can try to clarify a couple of things.

Helen is the owner - I am not sure if there is more than one Helen, though, but I do know the owner, and her name is Helen. I do not know where Helen is from, but when Sunny and her husband were partners, I had some discussions with them. They told me the recipes were Sunny's, and that they were from Hong Kong. The menu, in its entirety, seems a lot more Cantonese than Taiwanese to me, but I never claim to be an expert because there are so many that know more than me.

Yes, I have tried the beef stew. It was okay, not terribly memorable. When I have a taste for beef stew I go to Old Peking, which is definitely Taiwanese. Old Peking used to offer pretty much standard Sino-American fare with one or two Taiwanese specialties hidden on the menu, an excellent beef stew being one. I had heard from others that they had an excellent hidden menu, but I was pretty happy with the beef stew, so I did not try to crack the code.

Then, over the last year or so, they added a section of Taiwanese Specialties to the menu, and the place suddenly got a lot more enjoyable. Not as subtle and richly flavorful as Fab Noodles for me, but a good place to get a pork chop with soup noodles and bitter greens. Or beef stew.

Just some ideas & info. Sorry Fab Noodles was not enjoyable for you.

Old Peking Restaurant
1563 N. Naper Blvd.
Naperville, IL 60563-1501
630-420-1388

^^ thanks for that tip...

i think i went to Fabulous Noodles with such tremendous expectation that it was bound to fail. the bar was raised even further after being greeted by the 2 Taiwanese ladies as well as seeing 2 families of Taiwanese diners. Finding the "Taiwanese" stir fry noodles on the menu as well as the vegetarian chicken and the stewed seaweed got me so excited i almost wet my pants.

i went through the same emotional roller coaster the first time at International Mall in Westmont. and no, i have not gone back to Intl Mall in ~ 2 years.