Every single one, from the intersection on W 24th PL and S Wentworth Ave to the big strip near the square. Why? I figured since I eat out a lot I may as well jot down what I liked, and maybe help others who want a second opinion before they visit. Plus Chinatown’s filled with a ton of places and I’ve always wanted to go on a crawl and try everything. So yeah, consider this part eight.

Okay, I made a mistake. I initially wanted to go to Happy Cafe but mistook this place for that one and assumed they changed the name or sign. Tasty Place is a separate restaurant from Happy Cafe. Tomorrow is when I’ll go there.

Anyways, Tasty Place Cafe is a smaller joint that’s both a bakery and counter service. There are a few tables and seats to dine in with though.

Walking inside I was immediately met with a bunch of Chinese uncles and aunties having discussions and just in general hanging out. I came around 2:00PM on a Tuesday so a bit of a weird time, but the inside was packed with locals. I was lucky enough to grab the last available table they had.

The decor is pretty standard like Huafeng, just plain walls, although the wallpaper and floor they use looks a bit nicer. Unfortunately a little dirty though with napkins on the floor, and it was a bit cluttered with boxes stacked in the back, but the mess wasn’t so much that a quick sweep couldn’t fix. The tables were fine and no flies or bugs crawling around.

You mainly order from the counter which had a display of some baked goods to the side along with screens overhead showing their specialties. It’s AI, again. Not as egregious as the ones at Central East Asia but still noticeable.

The lady at the counter could probably tell I was confused because she made an extra effort to walk through the ordering process and handed me a physical menu. I appreciated that. Though I love the local vibe it does make me feel like I stand out lol.

I was surprised by how cheap the prices were. Most entrees were just $10 for the ‘small’ (we’ll get into that later) and $17-18 for large. I thought, man, that’s a killer deal, but the portions aren’t probably too big so I decided to ask for two recommendations.

The lady was very nice and told me the curry beef and the salt hot pepper fish over rice were her favorites, so I went with that. Very pleasant service. She was fun and looked like she actually wanted to be there.

It took only about 6-7 minutes for my food to come out. Good lord. I don’t know if the photos can do them justice, but the plates were massive. I thought she gave me the large but she just laughed and said, yeah, that’s the small. I could feed a small family with just the curry alone. And that’s $10???

They also came with a soup, too. Two soups since I ordered two dishes. By this point I was starting to realize the folly of my ignorance, but pushed on regardless and did my best to finish everything.

Man. Man. That curry was delicious. It was savory, hardy, wasn’t too thick and not too thin. It wasn’t gloopy or left a bad film in your mouth. It was genuinely perfect. Flavorful with a bit of spice (maybe some onion/garlic powder?) with equally tender meat and vegetables to go along with it. It felt like a Chinese mother’s homemade meal meant for her child. That dish was made with genuine love and tender care. It may be the best curry I’ve ever eaten, granted I haven’t had many.

And it’s not like the flavors are super complex or anything like you’d see in Michelin restaurants. It’s just, I don’t know, the kind of meal you’d crave. It’s the meal 10 year old me would be waiting all day for to have after school, or what working adult me would demolish after a long hard day at the job. It’s a comfort meal and does exactly what it sets out to do.

The salt hot pepper fish was amazing too. Crunchy outside but soft and tender inside, cooked hot, with sprinkles of a really addicting powder on top which I’m assuming is a mix of msg, salt and pepper, and likely a chili spice and some onion/garlic. The green onion and peppers it came with were great too, really elevated it to the next level.

The only thing, the only negative I have to say about the meal, is the soup. It’s not bad by any means, but it came out cold and the vegetables inside were cooked perhaps too much because they practically disintegrated in my mouth. Other than that? Wow.

I didn’t even have the stomach room to get any of the baked goods for takeout. I left there wobbling with a goofy grin on my face, and a thoroughly stuffed stomach.

I would absolutely, most definitely come back. I’m excited to try their other dishes and see how they compare to what I had. The pork chop and black bean dishes look particularly good.

Total was $22.40 including tax and before tip. For two massive dishes, and a total cost like that? I just can’t see anywhere else beating that value.

My score out of 10.

Food: 9.5

Service: 8.5

Atmosphere: 5.5 (needs a quick sweep, and better pictures)

Value: 10

Averaged total: 8.5

Next up, for real this time, is Happy Cafe.

Link to the spreadsheet with my current rankings: Slacker’s Leaderboard

Got the Wiseguy largely based on recs from this subreddit. This is the most aggressively mediocre sandwich I've ever had, especially because it's like 75% stale, chewy, flavorless bread.

Is this what passes for good in this town or what's going on?

Have $200 credit to spend! Where do you recommend for one person to go to treat themselves or maybe two places to split it up?

I know it's not haute cuisine but I love this thing and make it a weekly part of my food intake when it's around.

I can expense some meals this week through work and am looking to get the most out of it (and perhaps freeze some of it). I’ve gotten Pasta Bowl (I know, but the portions are gigantic) and Sultan’s so far. What are your favorite spots?

I recently went to Medici on 57th for two meals.

One during breakfast and one for dinner.

I'm from out of town and read praise for this restaurant.

We don't really have places like this in the twin cities outside of maybe Cossetas Italian shop bakery and cafeteria. Maybe caffeto coffee house near lyndale Ave in Minneapolis. The vibe in Medici is rebel Catholic esoteric spiritualist.

I adore it.

Breakfast was pretty solid. Eggs were scrambled. Decent nothing special.

Toast cinnamon apple was fantastic. Sausage was good. Potatoes were scallion styled. Not a fan without hot sauce. But we'll made

The coffee was absolutely fantastic. Best coffee I've had in the city.

Now come dinner my partner and I ordered the chili fries and a pan dish pizza. "Garbage pizza" Their supreme. A medium

The chili fries were solid but not much spice very normal and well put together. Not mind blowing but better then I expected.

the pizza arrived surprisingly quick. This should have been a concern as I've heard "deep dish" should take up to 45 or so.

Once I bit into it it seemed ok. But soon I realized. The dough on the bottom was very undercooked. The crust tasted like nothing.

The sauce was incredibly bland/plain. There was far too much cheese on this pizza. It felt like the cheese was compensating for the lack of sauce.

I worked as a pizza cook for two pizza shops for about 6 years. I know when pizza is bad and when it's good.

I made thin, tavern and regular styles of pizza.

The sauce desperately needed seasoning. It tasted straight out of a can. The dough while maybe home made just needed more time to cook.

Maybe their pizza just isn't what they're known for let me know but I am sadly disappointed with Medici on 57ths pizza.

Their breakfast and coffee is recommended if you want something better then standard dinner fare that won't break the bank. Best drip coffee I've had in ages.

Please reccomend me a better pizza place if I want to try deep dish. I consider ricobenes as I loved their sauce and it's seasoning on their famous sandwhich.

.

As a kid in the 90s, my immigrant parents rarely ordered in or got takeout. The one cuisine they would get was American Chinese. There were local spots in West Ridge/West Rogers Park that would have this dish called pressed duck. I’ve had a craving for it all week. But those restaurants don’t exist anymore. I can’t find it. Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Someone tell me there’s a restaurant somewhere that still serves it.

...was for a smothering work conference right downtown. Besides the conference food I got to eat:

- work group outing to Weber grill. I had the three fillet "flight." Not great, not bad. It was nice to try a variety. The single shrimp was rubbery and overcooked. The gorgonzola sauce was very good. The third was forgettable I guess. If I had to do over again I may not have joined this outing. The walk was lovely.

- Chicago style hot dog from The Northman. Price was worth the convenience given the conference location and my limited free time. Tasty! Sour! A lot going on. How nice to try it on its home turf.

- work group outing Saigon Sisters on Lake: goi cuon fresh spring rolls, papaya salad and one jackfruit 'bao mi.' this was my choice for lunch and lots of reviews assured me this was worth the short pilgrimage. It was pretty good. Perhaps I am spoiled for authentic Vietnamese food. The goi cuon had no herby flavors and the lettuce was just big honkin pieces of romaine. The papaya salad came out without any spice at all and little, if any fish sauce, and I'm accustomed to the almost Laotian approach to the dish. Still pretty good! When the server asked how I liked it, I said "I thought it would be spicy" and he brought out a little dish of chopped fresh chiles, which was nice, but I thought it was funny he went on to say "we usually only make it spicy if you ask for it" and admittedly I do not look like a person who eats spicy food, but even with the entire saucer of chilies it was about half as spicy as I was expecting the dish to be, because it's papaya salad in a Vietnamese restaurant. The bao banh mi was perfectly fine, the pickled topping was very nice. I also had one very good glass of French white wine which I regretted ordering because the owner(?) who was overcaffeinated and clearly expecting a bigger rush than they had was crawling into the laps of everyone eating and doing some very strange one sided small talk, and he asked me several questions about wine, which I did mistake as something to answer at first before recognizing they were just setups for other things he wanted to tell me. It was fascinating... It was as if he was performing Classy Moment/Owner Is Talking To You for the benefit of the tables around him, but never for the table he was talking to. In such a small quiet space there was no illusion. One other thing I really liked was that I was served cool, but not ice-cold water. Just a personal preference. It's a very small restaurant and I went when they were about 1/3 full on a Saturday afternoon. Given that it was late summer I was surprised at how few fresh herbs there were in anything we ate. Just straight up cilantro and mint and thai basil, honey where are you??? Not at saigon sisters. I found a pinch of basil in my salad

- I also had a linganisa musubi at the French market metra station Filipino food counter because it was something I'd never had before. They gave me a small container of sour, mildly spicy clear vinegar to go with it and I think that was my favorite thing I ate even if just for the space station food court vibe combined with a completely novel food experience

Thank you Chicago

Can you recommend takeout (ideally family-style) within 10 minutes of walking from Ogilvie? I need to order ahead, pick it up, then travel with it on the Metra.

Naf Naf has been a staple but I’m looking for variety.

Thanks! If there’s a non-family style takeout place that is not to be missed please give them a shoutout!

I’m a huge breakfast guy and have been trying to track down unique homemade breakfast food in the Edison Park Park Ridge area. Any recommendations?

Just curious if anyone knows the specific date they're opening. The paper covering the windows is down and it looks mostly setup inside, so I'm assuming it'll be very soon.

Where can i get an authentic one!