Jade Court

I read this review by Phil Vettel earlier this year and had been wanting to try this place. Here's a link to the review:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/c ... story.html

When a friend texted me yesterday and asked if I wanted Asian food for dinner, I remembered that this place was on my list.

There were four of us in total. We started with:
crispy shrimp rolls
spicy beef shank
pork dumplings and
bbq Berkshire pork "jowl" (more like a cheek)

All of the above were very good, and the cheek was excellent. Unfortunately, it was a daily special and I'm not sure that it is available very frequently.

For main courses we had a Peking duck, beef tenderloin & chives with xo sauce (actually served with snow peas), and braised king oyster mushrooms with Japanese tofu and baby greens (baby bok choy).

The duck was served in two courses. The first is skin (and a bit more meat than I like with my skin but I Could just eat the skin and move on) with either steamed buns or pancakes followed by a choice of either duck fried rice or stir fried with vegetables. The duck was as good as most any served in Chicago. The beef with XO was also very good. The mushroom course was good, but probably not something I would order again.

As an added plus, it's byob.

I'll be back soon to explore more of the menu. There are a number of dishes, mostly in the Haka part of the menu that require three day advance ordering, which is always difficult for me. I'm going to do my best and will report back. The pan fried bean curd wrapped with minced pork and the pork shank (which I don't believe is on the menu) were highly recommend as order ahead dishes.

As an added plus, it's a short walk from the Racine Blue line stop.

Jade Court
626 S. Racine
312-929-4828

I have only been to Jade Court once last year for the Hainanese chicken rice for Chinese New Years which is there specialty dish. This dish is seems simple but is very well prepared at Jade Court and tastes great.

Article from AbC 7 Hungry Hound on the Jade Court Singapore-style chicken
https://abc7chicago.com/food/singapore- ... e/1726118/

We too read the Vettel and have subsequently visited about half a dozen times. Really superior food! One member of our household lived in China, speaks Chinese, and cooks excellent Chinese food, so we feel picky - and Jade pleases us. Especially the unique hotpots! The lunch specials are also a steal.

Went last night and really enjoyed our dinner.

Started with steamed vegetable dumplings and the spicy cauliflower. Mains were Szechuan eggplant casserole (without the minced pork), Szechuan green beans (without the minced pork), and Kung Pao tofu. Lots of leftovers for two, but glad to have them! FYI, none of the dishes were spicy, will ask to turn it up next visit or ask for some heat to add.

Also love BYO! Especially since there was no heat, we loved the 2011 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux that I brought, not knowing we would end up here. No idea on stems, since I always bring my own Riedel O's to BYO's.

I made a return trip the same night as Al, as I saw his empty bottle of Chinon sitting a table or two away from mine. I had another very good meal which included a whole fried Walleye Pike. We tried to order a Peking Duck, but were told that they were sold out for the evening at 7:00. Still loved the beef in XO and the in season peapod leaves with garlic were excellent. I might suggest ordering ahead if this was important to making the decision to dine here. Their stems are serviceable and I would prefer them to Riedel O glasses, but I still choose to bring my own glasses.

Had lunch here this week and our group ordered a variety of dishes that ranged from ok to good. I didn't feel anything really popped, flavor-wise.

From the dim sum menu:
Steamed Spare Ribs
Pan Fried Chive Dumplings
Crispy Chicken Dumplings

From the regular menu:
Hainanese Style Chicken & Rice
Mapo Tofu with Minced Beef
Beef Tenderloin & Chives with X/O Sauce
Beef Brisket and Tendon Stew
Shrimp & Scrambled Egg Chow Fun

It was an impromptu lunch, so we didn't byo.

Beyond the middle-of-the-road preparations, what hampered the experience for me was some really low quality, disinterested service. I just hate when it's clear that your server would rather be anywhere other than waiting on your table, and you're made to feel like the staff, who can't even be bothered to bring water without being asked twice, is doing you a favor. Not once during our meal did our server come to the table to see if we needed anything.

We parked in the UIC Arena lot on Harrison because there are only about 4 spots in front of the place on Racine and the rest of the nearby area is either permit-only or no parking at all. If I return (unlikely, because nothing's really compelling me to do so), I'd opt for a cab or ride share.

=R=

Eater is reporting that the owner has died from a heart attack and that the Jade Court is closed indefinately:

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/7/17/206 ... date-intel

This is quite a loss for both the family and the Chicago restaurant scene. We'd go there periodically to get our Peking Duck fix. The best we've had outside Beijing.

It received a Bib Gourmand in 2019.