Suburban Finds

-Grubbing in Chicagoland
Five of a Kind: Northern Suburb Finds

It’s been a minute since I posted any of my findings in the suburbs so I figured I would throw something together for this week’s post. We’ll focus in on the northern suburbs which has had some interesting spots open in the last year or so. Here’s’ five of them that I would highly recommend - 

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Lao Tian Dumpling House (Evanston)

The Chicagoland area continues to be a bit of a dumpling desert compared to East and West Coast cities but it’s gotten better in the last couple years. Take for example the suburb of Evanston which despite being the home of a Big Ten university was without a spot a true go-to dumpling spot. Dumpling shops near college campuses have become a very common these days. Lao Tian opened almost a year ago and I immediately wondered if there was any relation to QXY Dumplings. Reason being is the menus are very similar with the option to get your dumplings boiled, steamed, or fried. As far as I know there isn't a connection between the two though the quality of the product here in Evanston can match that in Chinatown. I’ve stopped in here a handful of times allowing me to try a bunch of different dumpling and they all hit the spot. I recommend going with the lamb and dill boiled or the pan fried with pork and cabbage. If you’re looking for a little more both the Sichuan Wontons and Zhong’s Dumplings are spiked with chili oil. The Zhong's Dumplings are a regional snack of Sichuan dressed with sweetened, spice-infused soy sauce, chili oil, garlic and sesame seeds.

Steamed Dumplings

Boiled Dumplings


Pan Fried Dumplings


Sichuan Wontons


Zhong's Dumplings
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Alan's Falafel (Skokie)

Here’s something I didn’t know until just recently - the largest and oldest Iraqi community in America is in Chicago, home to the largest Assyrian population in the United States. Honestly I never really thought about it but this makes sense as I know a few Assyrians myself and have also noticed a steady increase in Iraqi restaurants in the suburbs. Alan’s Falafel sits in a mini strip mall on Dempster and seems to stay packed with local Iraqi families. I recently visited and was greeted by two pristinely kept cones of meat - one beef and one chicken. When it comes to shawarma beef is more popular in Iraq and although I tend to prefer chicken I decided to try the beef shawarma samoon which consists of freshly sliced beef shawarma loaded into Iraqi Samoon which is a flatbread baked on-site. This sandwich is loaded with meat and ends up being a great deal too at just $10 each with a piece of piping hot Iraqi falafel included with the sandwich. I appreciated the fact they had bottles of sauce at each table too. Beef shawarma tends to be a bit dryer which this was but the sauce really fixes that. This was a really good sandwich at a super fair price-point. I can see why this place stays busy. 

Beef Shawarma Samoon Sandwich at Alan's Falafel
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Da Local Boy (Highwood)

Let’s go get some Mochiko Chicken on Da North Shore - except we’re not going to Oahu, we’re headed to Highwood where Da Local Boy was opened by a couple that moved here from Maui. There’s a handful of Hawaiian restaurants in Chicago but I can’t recall having Hawaiian fried chicken at any so I went with that on my initial visit and it hit the spot in a way Hawaiian food always does. I’m not a native but I’ve always found Hawaiian food to be extremely comforting. Mochiko Chicken is an iconic Hawaiian-style dish made with chunks of  fried chicken. It's known for its sweet, savory, and chewy texture. The dish's signature characteristics come from its key ingredient: mochiko, a Japanese sweet rice flour. A plate comes with a scoop of steaming white rice and mac salad. Da Local Boy was recently featured in a NYT dining article about where to eat in Chicago but if you follow me on Instagram you knew about this place before it was in any local or national publications. I put their North Shore neighbor and former Bears legend and Hawaii Native Olin Kreutz on - he loves it.

Mochiko Chicken at Da Local Boy
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P Dern Thai Kitchen (Niles)

The locally owned Park2Shop grocery chain took over Assi Plaza on Milwaukee avenue in Niles a while back and the food court had some turnover too. There’s a few new non-Korean spots now including a Pho place and an outlet of a Sichuan spot in Bridgeport. There's also P. Dern Thai Kitchen ran by a Thai lady who can flat out cook. After a few visits it’s become one of my favorite Thai spots in the Chicagoland area due to an extremely high hit rate. I haven’t even had a chance to get into any of the Northern Thai options which are on a secret menu but don’t sleep on her spicy basil dishes. Pad Kra Pao is a good dish to gauge the talent of a Thai kitchen and the version at P Dern is among the best in the Chicagoland area - loaded with holy basil and Thai Chiles. But if you’re a fan of crispy basil pork you need to try the version from here which is as good as it gets. Super crispy chunks of pork belly are tossed in a mouth watering sauce sweet and spicy sauce. You absolutely want to pay the up-charge for the fried egg sitting atop a mini mountain of jasmine rice. They don't skimp on the heat here so long as you can convince them you want it “Thai people hot” which I very much appreciate. 

Crispy Basil Pork Belly at P Dern Thai Kitchen
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Tandoor Curry Hotspot (Riverwoods)

Every now and then I learn of a new to me food spot that shoots to the top of my ‘to try’ list and Tandoor Curry Hotspot out in Riverwoods was a recent stop that attracted my attention in that way. I had kept hearing good things from reliable food friends about this Northern Indian restaurant in a very random suburb. When I finally got the chance to check it out I came away just as impressed as everybody else. I would say the Chicken 65 is my favorite rendition of that dish to date. It’s a very well seasoned dry spiced version made up of popcorn chicken sized pieces that are fried to a perfect crisp. The same can be said for the Gobi Manchurian which features little morsels of wok fried cauliflower bits tossed in a sticky chile sauce with some real deal heat. Dal Makhani is the dish I use to gauge a Northern Indian kitchen such as this and it was outstanding. Both the garlic naan and the basmati rice were very nicely done. The lamb chapli kebab was great as far as flavor but more like a meatball than a patty so I would probably list those as a one and done. I haven’t had a chance to try any of the “Ugly Delicious” portion of the menu but it features Northern Indian street food favorites like Samosa Chaat. The food seems to be really consistent from dish to dish so I might try an entirely new set of dishes next time with the exception of the Chicken 65 which will be a must on each visit. 

Chicken 65


Gobi Manchurian


Chapli Kebab


Dal Makhani
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See ya next time @chibbqking