We may not do our own reviews at MenuPages, but our legions of users have it covered. Here are two of the best from the past week:
This review for Hong Huah came in on April 18th from Anonymous (one of our most prolific contributors). We, too, like restaurants where the chef’s family is afoot:
I have been going here since the first week they opened. John is a wonderful host and I have watched his family grow.. But what keeps me coming back is the food. Its my benchmark where ever I go. I think I have had almost every dish on the menu. The pot stickers— homemade are the best you are going to get in chicago. The day after chinese New Year they had just run out and he insisted on going in the back to make a new batch against my protests. The quality is great and the food is always consistent. Consistently good. Some favorites,
Mu shu chicken, mu shu anything, the “skins” are as thin as parchment and fresh crunchy tasty filling, Shrimp with lobster sauce, Willow Beef, Salt and Pepper shrimp, ah the list goes on and on. Trust me if you appreciate high quality authenic schzewan chinese, this is the place. What you do not get is the kind of chinese that is all starchy thick flavorless sauces. If its a special night order the steamed fish. Portions are good and the price is right. The beer is also good and cold. They have a wide delivery range, as far as Oak Park. And they are fast to deliver.
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“Proportionality,” formerly belonging to the disciplines of mathematics and international relations, is now property of food writing. Bravo!
I do not claim to be an expert in the culinary arts, but I am in a business that demands a great deal of travel and, by sheer force of necessity, I have been fortunate enough to sample a wide gamut of American food, from Huate cuisine to street food and almost everything in between. Again, I am not an expert, but I do know what I like and I really liked Riccardo Trattoria. I have also noticed (and this is the case with almost any food that claims a disticnt ethnic origin) that there is clear difference between Italian restaurants and “Italian” restaurants. In my travels I have noticed some annoyingly recurring themes in restaurants that claim to be Italian. At Riccardo’s there was no option to “add chicken” to a pasta dish for an extra $3. No one hovered over me in an attempt to ladle obscene amounts of parmesan cheese on my plate. I was never - not once - offered a side salad with a neet dollop of ranch dressing. Instead, Riccardo Trattoria’s menu offered delightful proportionality and balance. You can actually have courses - remember those!? Some people may think my above comparisons unfair, as Riccardo Trattoria is not trying to be one of those Italian restaurants in quotes and the “Italian” restaurants certainly do not aspire to be Riccardo’s. But for those of you who either live in or travel to Chicago, Riccardo’s is a oasis in a desert of mediocrity and it can now count itself amongst the best Italian restaurants in Chicago.
Some highlights from the menu:
My dining companions and I greatly enjoyed the Pizzaccia with Proscuitto, Mozarella (unctuous, but not to the point of overpowering the flavor of the proscuitto)
I cannot stress this enough, the orecchiette with wild boar sausage was amazing. In my opinion, this was the evenings best offering. The interplay between the rapini and sausage was right on.
One of my guests swore by the peppered tuna and our waiter, a dapper young Milanese man, suggested a good wine.
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“Proportionality,” formerly belonging to the disciplines of mathematics and international relations, is now property of food writing. Bravo!
