New China Station

-Grubbing in Chicago  
Sichuan Food on the Northside

Usually the weekend of the Super Bowl I like to share a bunch of worthy recipes for the game (feel free to look up past posts). Though as years go on I've pretty much shared all of the stuff I'll be making this upcoming Sunday. That said I also plan on eating a little bit of takeout before the game on top of that which I cook. The plan is to order some Szechuan cuisine and the place I'm ordering it from recently shot onto my radar when it popped up in my twitter feed. If not for this informative tweet from the Fuckerberg on Food Team I would've had no idea about the "New" China Station.

Best Chinese option in Humboldt / Wicker Parks? 

When I learned that this place underwent a revamp it caught my eye as it's a quick 7 minute ride from my house. That and the fact they now seem to focus on Szechuan made it a place I decided to check out not too long after learning of the change. It's only been a couple weeks but I've already been in on three separate occasions and now have a new Chinese takeout option in the area. As it turns out the chef here used to man the kitchen at one of Tony Hu's Lao Sze Chuan spots. This is obvious in the dry pepper chili dishes which is offered not just in the traditional dark meat chicken option but also in the form of chicken nuggets and wing zings. Chef Hu's dry chili chicken is one of the first dishes that put me onto the wide world of Chinese cuisine outside that of which most Americans are used to. It's crunchy, it's spicy, it's garlickly, it's delicious.

Dry Chili Chicken

I've come friendly with one of the guys in the front of the house and they really take pride in their food. You can tell with the dry chili chicken which was spiced just right and stayed crispy through the car ride home. They cut holes into the plastic ware so everything doesn't steam up during transportation. It's bare bones inside with just three tables which are mostly used for people waiting to take orders out. The menu features other Sichuan favorites such as cumin lamb and yang zhao fried rice etc. I look forward to trying the spicy numb fish as well as the red curry which is listed right after the dry chili chicken as far as house specialties. As of now I haven't been able to get past the dry chili fish which might be better than the chicken. It's come perfectly fried and feeds two for $10.95.

Dry Chili Fish

On top of the Sichuan specialties there's also the typical Chinese-American specialties. Stuff like Mongolian Beef, Kung Pao Chicken, and Shrimp Lo Mein, and so forth. So far I've only had the lo mein but I liked what I ate. Fresh crunchy veggies with well fried noodles. I could take or leave the beef but I look forward to trying an orange chicken or something when the craving comes. If you live near the North and Western intersection this is a place you might want to check it out.

Beef Lo Mein

New China Station
2411 W North Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 252-1023