Choongman Chicken

-Grubbing in Chicago(land)

KFC in Glenview

Today's stop is west on Milwaukee near the Glenview/Niles border. I'm not sure what the building Choongman Chicken is in used to be but I'm guessing it replaced a failed chain. CM Chicken as it's called for short is also a chain. They're from Seoul, South Korea originally and they opened their first US locations out east. It's popular in states like Virginia and Maryland and slowly making it's way out west. The Chicago suburbs being their first Midwest stop. Judging from online reviews it's popular.

 Locals Favorite in Glenview

I visited CM Chicken with Da Hungry Hound not too long ago. It was on my radar since their opening almost a year ago but this isn't the type of spot you can dine solo. At least not for dinner. They do have chicken sandwiches for lunch and so the yelpers say they're great. Korean Fried Chicken has been big in the States for years now. There's lots of spots in Chicago where you can get some good KFC. So it's important to stand out in one way or another. Choongman Chicken has a couple signature items. The first of which is called Snow Chicken. I was very much intrigued by this dish made with your choice of fried bird (whole, wings, boneless) topped with a cold creamy sauce consisting of lots of thinly sliced onions. The cold sauce works surprisingly well with the piping hot chicken which is always fried to order. We tried this with the boneless tenders which I was also surprised by in that I would never order them but these were juicy chunks of tender chicken with no resistance whatsoever. They must brine it or something. Yeah it's a weird dish but it works well.

 Snow Chicken at Choongman Chicken

The other item reviewers vow to keep coming back for is their Tikku chicken which is fried and then grilled. We tried the whole bird (16 pieces) in the sticky garlic soy sauce. Some of the chicken parts such as the breast and the thigh are cut up and the backbone is also included hence the 16 pieces per order. Unfortunately you cant order a half a chicken. This was also really good. The sauce is dry and as the franchisee told us all of it is made back in South Korea and shipped to their US locations. I'm not as crazy about Korean Fried Chicken as others but who doesn't love some good fried bird? This is definitely a spot you go to with a group and get six packs to pair with your food. Open until midnight on the wkd and so we were told they get packed. Nice crowd for lunch actually including a group of four Korean auntie types pounding mugs of Miller Lite while chowing down on delicious KFC.

Tikku Chicken at Choongman Chicken

Choongman Chicken
9850 N Milwaukee Ave
Glenview, IL 60025
(224) 361-3334
Website