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When I was growing up in Bethesda, Maryland, my family used to get Chinese carryout from a restaurant called Smiling Buddha, and our order was always the same. Sweet-and-sour chicken, beef with broccoli, shrimp in lobster sauce, moo goo gai pan, and enough egg rolls so that we could all have seconds. I occasionally find myself nostalgic for this kind of Cantonese-American cooking, but it counts as just one among the many stripes of Chinese I’ve learned to love in Chicago. I’m pretty well-obsessed with the Sichuan restaurants that have populated the city with their hot and numbing flavors. I’ve discovered that a proper dim sum spread can take place at my own dining room table. I’ve eaten fried chicken from every Taiwanese snack shop, and I’ve fallen hard for the cooking of Xi’an, with its universe of noodles, stuffed flatbreads, and hearty beef and lamb dishes redolent of cumin. I’m on a search for the best dan dan noodles in the city, and I’ve gotten my list down to about five contenders. I can eat pretty healthfully by ordering from the city’s vegetarian Chinese options, and I’ve learned to say “yes” to soy gluten. But there are still those times that nothing satisfies like General Tso’s chicken, shrimp lo mein, and other old faves. When we order from these places, my wife and I have just one rule: We each get two egg rolls. Here are the best Chinese restaurants in Chicago, for whatever mood you might be in.
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This Lincoln Park restaurant serves handmade dim sum all day every day, and it’s a godsend for the many of us who live between Chinatown and Uptown. Steamed barbecue pork buns and chive dumplings are headliners, but there are some nice surprises, too, like a baked creamy egg yolk bun that hits my sweet tooth just right. There’s a full, mostly Cantonese menu beyond the dim sum list and I’ve had great luck exploring it. Yang Chow fried rice is an exemplar of form, and the Causeway Bay-style shrimp brings the crunch with shell-on or -off shrimp blanketed in a flurry of fried garlic, green onion, coconut and other bits you’ll want to enliven the rice.
Lao Sze Chuan
One of Chicago’s favorite Sichuan restaurants has expanded its footprint to locations throughout the metro area (and nationwide), so just about everyone has access to its smashed cucumber salad, dry chile chicken, and xiao long bao, or soup dumplings. The menu is so vast I usually try something new each time, though the Lalala Spicy Dry Pot is always fun to order (and say).
Chef’s Special Cocktail Bar
Opened as a paean to old-timey Chinese-American restaurants with attached tiki bars, this retro spot fills an important niche: The food is familiar but a little tweaked. If you’re hungry for vegan or gluten-free options, look no further — and don’t sleep on the kung pao tofu. I enjoy the unique, thick, and slippery dan dan noodles, which are over the top in every possible way. Egg rolls, which can be such a throwaway elsewhere, are the best I’ve ever had. When we order, we both need two.
MCCB
This Sichuan spot opened in 2017 in Chinatown Square to good reviews and better word of mouth, helping to revitalize the mall. Leave the signature hot pots and grilled items for a visit and order in the incredible Chengdu dumplings, the cumin short ribs, and the house special dry chili chicken. I’ve always been intrigued by the various-flavored — mango! peach! — versions of honey shrimp, but never pulled the trigger. On the other hand, you’re gonna have to trust me on the Pig Oil Green Onion Cold Noodles. Yes, it’s lard, and the noodles are inhalable.
Chef Xiong - Taste of Szechuan
My last order from this restaurant was so good I’ll have trouble adjusting it in any way. Yibin Flaming noodles are a bit like dan dan with their hot-and-tingly ground pork sauce, but deepened with the flavors of toasted oil and black vinegar. Schlurp. Chongqing Popcorn Chicken arrived portioned for a party and as crisp as any I’ve tried. And catch this: Simple stir-fried cabbage with a few chilies and Sichuan peppercorns was the star of the show.
Min’s Noodle House
The menu at this fascinating Bridgeport spot offers a mix of Sichuan and Taiwanese noodles with a special detour to the West, and Uyghur-style tomato noodles. Chongqing noodles headline, and they can be ordered spicy or mild, and the toasted bing breads split and stuffed with pork belly, cilantro, and serrano peppers are hard to resist. We like to choose a few items from the small-plate section of the menu, titled Szechwan Tapas. Smashed cukes, spicy cold chicken, and shredded potato are good.
Duck Duck Goat
Stephanie Izard’s West Loop empire of “goat” restaurants includes this brash, elegant entry where duck fried rice is the star of the show and all of the dishes show off the chef's personality and perspective. I enjoy the appetizers, which include jiaozi — pot stickers filled with beef short rib and bone marrow — and the duck and goat spring rolls. The various combo options permit us to try a little of everything. Also, this is the move when out-of-town guests want to try one of the celebrity chef’s restaurants and you can’t face the West Loop.
Bombay Chopsticks
This restaurant specializes in the kind of Chinese food popular in India, which is appealingly sweet and spicy. Specialties of the genre include fried vegetable fritters in a hot-and-sour Manchurian sauce, chile-garlic thin noodles, burned garlic fried rice, and deep-fried baby corn in a ginger-garlic sauce. Paneer is offered as a vegetarian substitute in many preparations, as is tofu. But try the paneer.
Xi’an Cuisine
Now with three locations in the metro area, this restaurant offers a canny mix of big snacks and full dishes, much (but not all) of it on the spicier side of the spectrum. Try the flatbreads filled with cumin lamb or beef, the colorful and ultra-snarfable biang biang noodles with braised beef, and the crispy roast duck. I often order the vegetarian Liang Pi noodles from the Xi’an section of the menu, which are chewy, spicy, and vinegary. They come in three varieties — some plain, some vegetable green, and some inky with black rice flour. Get the combo.
New China 2
This centrally located spot is our top choice when we’re hangry. The prices are low, the portions generous, and the delivery comes so fast that the cartons are often steamy and nearly too hot to handle when we open them. Think of it as your go-to for Chinese food stand-bys like lo mein, orange chicken, and egg foo yong.
House of Hunan
At this Chicago classic, the egg rolls have a bit of peanut butter mixed into the filling, the mixed vegetables feature coins of crisp water chestnut, and the cashew chicken brings the kind of comfort that generations of takeout orderers have long craved. Don’t forget to pay your respects to General Tso — he rules here.
Friendship Restaurant
This gently upscale Logan Square restaurant has devised recipes its fans can’t get enough of. Its spicy peanut chicken takes kung pao one step further with a bit of peanut butter folded into the sauce, and the Sidewalk Noodles arrive in a savory sauce with plump garlic shrimp. The lunchtime bento box, with protein, greens, and a treat, offers a nice reward for those working from home.
Hello Jasmine
Here’s the scenario: You’re on a self-imposed “butt in seat” at your home office desk, trying to push through a project that you can finish mid-afternoon if you concentrate. So you need a reward that functions as both lunch and a sugar-and-caffeine laden treat. Yes to Taiwanese street food. Get a bento with, say, crispy popcorn chicken or braised pork with a soy sauce egg, grilled tofu, Chinese sausage, and pickled mustard greens. The “grilled chicken” here is more like oven-baked fried chicken in a sweet sauce then cut in strips. This is all secondary to the roasted oolong latte bubble tea or peach-mango smoothie. You get a sip for each sentence you write.
Chengdu Impression
The team behind the Wicker Park and Lincoln Park branches of the Chinatown restaurant Dongpo Impression has brought some of the city’s best Sichuan food to parts of the city starving for it. Everyone loves the dan dan noodles and the dry chile shrimp. Cumin beef or lamb comes in a kicky toss of jalapeños and onion. If you really want a taste of Sichuan, try the Heart-Breaking Rice Jelly, a treat of rice jelly strips in a spicy sauce; as the story goes, its heat might bring you to tears. This Chicago Chinese restaurant is always and forever my fallback when nothing else looks good.
MingHin Cuisine
This Chinatown classic has made the smart decision to clone itself in various locations throughout the city and suburbs; now everyone in town can experience its fine Cantonese cooking. The vast menu encompasses dim sum (try the honey short ribs), barbecue (duck, chicken, and pork), and even live seafood, like Dungeness crab. While I prefer to save that for an actual visit, I’ve found the mixture of dim sum and Cantonese classics winning. I particularly like that an order of beef with broccoli comes with either “American broccoli” or “Chinese broccoli” (gai lan). I know folks love the orange chicken: gotta try it.
Monkey King Jianbing
A favorite street food of northern China, jianbing consists of a crêpe with a fried egg smashed on its exterior, then stuffed with raw cabbage shreds, head lettuce, a crispy fried cracker and whatever fillings float your boat, such as shrimp, minced pork, surimi, or hot dogs. Think of a big, filling, and gloriously messy burrito. And have no fear about smelling it on your hands for the rest of the day! The little packet tucked inside your bag isn’t a wet nap but rather a pair of neatly folded plastic gloves. Smart monkey king.
Phoenix Restaurant
This old Chinatown favorite has everything you’d expect on a time-tested Cantonese menu, but there’s one dish I need to bring to your attention: barbecue pork belly. Cut into cubes, this wonder features tender meat, crunchy skin, and a bit of slick fat uniting the two. You can get some veggies and fried rice and call it a day, but if you’ve got a crowd, the Mongolian beef is a good bet.
Royal Highness Zhu
Hot pot can be a tough choice for delivery, but this Lincoln Park spot — a branch of Bridgeport’s A Place by Damao — has cracked the code. Chengdu hot pot is a single-serving creation that offers a selection of meat, mushrooms, glass noodles, and more, all ready to travel. The Chengdu sausage fried rice is a wonder, and the spicy crinkle-cut fries are a necessary add-on to any order.
3 Sauces Hainam Chicken Rice
Sometimes you don’t want a lot of choices, and for those times, 3 Sauces does the trick. Here, the house specialty is Hainanese chicken rice, tender slices of chicken that have been poached with aromatics and are served with a large portion of rice cooked in the flavorful broth. With cucumbers, soup, and sauces, it’s a complete meal. If you want to switch it up, there’s a version with panko-breaded chicken and a couple of fun croissant sandwiches for kicks.
Yummy Yummy Asian Cuisine
This perennial Lakeview favorite serves easygoing dishes influenced by different Asian cuisines, and it watches out for vegetarians. Seitan, tofu, and soy gluten can sub in most of the dishes on the menu, which includes a wide range of items, like chop suey and pad thai. I know it doesn’t sound appetizing, but the kung pao soy gluten kind of rocked my world — perfectly seasoned, not at all greasy, filled with crisp veggies and so, so many fresh tasting roasted peanuts. And the gluten? An ideal absorption vehicle for the sauce.
JIAO by Qing Xiang Yuan Dumplings
People wait an hour or more to get into Chinatown’s QXY dumpling house, but this offshoot in the Loop offers the same quality in an abbreviated menu. It’s a fine spot to order from when you have a big, hungry crew because you can share platters of the dumplings, including pork and cabbage, lamb and coriander, and chicken and mushroom. There are even truffle dumplings with beef, if you’re feeling fancy.
Furama
This grand old Uptown dim sum parlor has one of those menus as long as a book. Just know you won’t go wrong ordering shumai, barbecue pork buns, and red bean buns. Throw in some salt-and-pepper calamari and Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce, and you’re off to a strong start.
Noodlebird
This casual post-pandemic recasting of Fat Rice recreates many of the Macanese-inspired stir frys and pastries of its predecessor but leans more into hearty portions of noodles and fried rice. A recent order of Spicy Smoky Chicken Fried Rice arrived with a little cup of puffed rice to mix in for last minute crunch enhancement, and with all the bits of fresh corn and jalapeño in the jumble, it was a fantastic mix of flavors and textures. A black sesame mochi cake stuffed with ground peanuts was the kind of two-bite dessert that left me hankering for a third.
Shang Noodle
Elevated renditions of old favorites are the calling cards at this restaurant, which now counts three outlets. Take a hint from the name and go right to the noodle section of the menu, where Hong Kong beef chow fun, lobster noodle soup, and a memorable house chow mein await. A dozen handmade dumplings bob about in the warming wonton soup.
Northern Taste
Here’s one of the boisterous restaurants that has turned Bridgeport into an extension of Chinatown. Don’t sleep on the boiled cabbage-and-pork dumplings and the spicy orange chicken. Of special note is yu xiang eggplant in a tangy bean sauce.
