An occasional fall feature where we look at a particular category of restaurant near a particular school, largely based on whim.
We’ve been waiting forever for the fall quarter at the University of Chicago to begin, just like we did when we were an undergrad. And much like during our college days, we totally missed it by a week and change! Oh well, it’s not like the quarter really gets pumping until…tomorrow or so. And even still, you will be able to fake it for a while. But eventually, you’ll start wondering about how to make Chinese food appear at your dorm/apartment door, without so much more than a quick, pained phone call. This, students (and heaven help us, faculty?), is where we come in: a guide to Hyde Park Chinese food, written expressly for you!
But don’t worry, we’re not just writing from fragile memory. Instead, take the word of MenuPages reviewers for it. They’ve never led you wrong before, have they? (Don’t answer that!) Why don’t we go through the seven possibilities in alphabetical order, with a representative review quote where applicable. Conveniently enough, we debut with the highest-ranked entrant for food:
• De Rice: “De Rice is by far the best Asian take out restaurant in Hyde Park, with fresher food than any of the various Thai places. The varied menu has more intense flavors than the south side competition, and pretty good fast food style sushi (nothing fancy.) This is not an authentic restaurant, although in terms of quality it can easily compete with most places in Chinatown, and it can’t match the more expensive chinese places on the north side, but it’s easily the best option for Hyde Park/Kenwood.”
We might as well stop right there! But we won’t.
• Far East Kitchen: people don’t really like FEK except maybe as a tiki-type bar; it’s possibly the least favorite in the neighborhood for actual food, as summarized by “UofChicago student”: (double colon!)
After you enter this restaurant, don’t expect to be seated by the waitress, as their written notice “Please Seat Yourself” promptly jumps into your eyes. Nevertheless, their price is the same as other restaurants in Hyde Park. One day, I wanted to have a dinner with enough meat, so I went there, read the menu, found a category named “Pork”, and ordered one dish in this category, priced at $7.95. When the dish was brought to me, I found it was in fact a vegetable dish, with just a few very very tiny bits of pork. I asked the waitress why, and complained that the menu was misleading. She pointed at the tiny bits, saying “you do get pork, don’t you? If you want more pork, we’ll charge you more money.” I then pointed at another dish, also under the category “pork”, and asked her how much pork there was in it. She said “The cook prepares the dish. How do I know how much pork you can get? If you pay us $20, surely you’ll get much pork.” I then said “You’re the waitress. Why can’t you describe the dishes for me?” She got excited, rudely took away all the food from my table, and asked me to “Go home!” Despite extreme anger, I put a dollar on the table in appreciation of the small glass of water the waitress had brought me, and left the restaurant right away.
An occasional fall feature where we look at a particular category of restaurant near a particular school, largely based on whim.
We’ve been waiting forever for the fall quarter at the University of Chicago to begin, just like we did when we were an undergrad. And much like during our college days, we totally missed it by a week and change! Oh well, it’s not like the quarter really gets pumping until…tomorrow or so. And even still, you will be able to fake it for a while. But eventually, you’ll start wondering about how to make Chinese food appear at your dorm/apartment door, without so much more than a quick, pained phone call. This, students (and heaven help us, faculty?), is where we come in: a guide to Hyde Park Chinese food, written expressly for you!
But don’t worry, we’re not just writing from fragile memory. Instead, take the word of MenuPages reviewers for it. They’ve never led you wrong before, have they? (Don’t answer that!) Why don’t we go through the seven possibilities in alphabetical order, with a representative review quote where applicable. Conveniently enough, we debut with the highest-ranked entrant for food:
• De Rice: “De Rice is by far the best Asian take out restaurant in Hyde Park, with fresher food than any of the various Thai places. The varied menu has more intense flavors than the south side competition, and pretty good fast food style sushi (nothing fancy.) This is not an authentic restaurant, although in terms of quality it can easily compete with most places in Chinatown, and it can’t match the more expensive chinese places on the north side, but it’s easily the best option for Hyde Park/Kenwood.”
We might as well stop right there! But we won’t.
• Far East Kitchen: people don’t really like FEK except maybe as a tiki-type bar; it’s possibly the least favorite in the neighborhood for actual food, as summarized by “UofChicago student”: (double colon!)
• Wok n’ Roll: “My husband and I have been going there for over 10 years now. They are still quite good but have started using smaller serving dishes and smaller shrimp which is a BIG disapointment. The staff isn’t nearly as friendly as the original staff was years ago who actually remembered the names and orders of their faithful customers. But all in all the vegies are fresh and the service is fast.”
So maybe W’n’R is second to De Rice? Possibly a better choice if you’re ordering from south of the Midway - otherwise, that’s an extra 1.5-mile round trip for the delivery guy! But basically, learn to love Thai food, or go to Chinatown.
[Photo: Jack Pierson, Untitled (Chinese Food), 1997, Editions Fawbush]
