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I had lunch there yesterday and I thought it was as good as ever. Dare I say that I might even like their egg rolls better than Kow Kow. I saw no problems that would keep me from returning.

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Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

Say it, say it . . . I said as much upthread, so I'm in complete agreement

=R=

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I just wanna live until I gotta die. I know I ain't perfect but God knows I try. --Todd Snider

Twitter: ronniesuburban

I think they put just a tiny hint of curry in with the peanut butter when they make the egg rolls. That's what puts them over the top for me.

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Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

Someone on this thread asked what Jewish-Chinese food was. NPR's Talk of the Nation did an interview last 12/25 and you can find it if you search NPR and "A Fine Day for Chinese Food." I'd post the link but I don't think that it's allowed on the LTHForum.
An attempt is made to solve the age-old conundrum: Tomorrow will be the Chinese New Year for 4705. Later this year, the Jewish New Year will be 5769. So how did the Jews survive without Chinese food for 1064 years?
Best,
Grandpa Bob

Sure it it.........

"A Fine Day for Chinese Food."

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

My question is...HOW DO THEY DO IT?

How do they produce a lunch special of hot tea, chicken/celery soup, Kung Pao chicken & pork fried rice, in 15 minutes for five bucks? and...with at least 20 other choices for the same money?

I had my director of sales down from Wisconsin, we had to eat good & fast, & China Chef came to mind. From the time we sat down, we actually had the soup in 3 minutes and the food in ten. Steaming hot & very, very tasty. The director said it really hit the spot & stated the line above.

Like Stevez says, I think (no, I know) this is a better deal than Kow Kow.

Also ran into one of my best buddies with his mom, and they were enjoying lunch together. It's a family place to be, I guess!

Stopped in there today after seeing it mentioned in another thread. Was very good, thanks again LTH for sending me another good place to eat close to work. Had the Pansit Guisado. What a plate of food. The soup was very very good and in a nice sized cup, enough to really enjoy, not a micro cup like some places. I also added an egg roll which was good. Walked out of the place with tip 10.00.

Thanks again LTH

Here is a link for China Chef website, take a look at the"about us" page.
you will see how the restaurant looks like.

www.chinachef.org

5920 lincoln av
morton grove
60053

One of the side features of China Chef is that they have a number of Filipino and Filipino-influenced dishes. Currently, there are a number of Chinese-style dishes on a temporary paper insert in their menu featuring lechon. I had the good fortune the other night to order their lechon fried rice. It was excellent, with big hunks of flavorful roast pork and chunks of crisp fat. An excellent fried rice and probably only available for a limited time.

Best,
Michael

I thought of Chinese food back on the way driving from my mom's house on Xmas after cooking a nice dinner more of our ethnic persuasion rather than "Jewish American Chinese Food". I was dead tired and so stressed this Xmas...
the weather has been so bad and with last minute this or that going on I was too stressed to really enjoy anything. Everything seemed to go wrong for some reason and I was not really in the spirit. I did manage to cook a roast pork with bread dumplings, sauerkraut, baked sweet potatoes and some mixed fresh vegetables with broccoli and brussels sprouts. The pie I picked up at the last minute due to lack of cooking time turned out to be the dreaded sweet potato instead of pumpkin. Did not look at it closely enough. Anyway I digress. Driving back home in the car I began wishing for Chinese food instead of all the Xmas fol de rol that tends to happen. I would have gladly ordered Chinese takeout from a place like this.

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Toria

"I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
W. Shakespeare

So we ate at China Chef this evening for our first time there. It was pretty good - not as good as the places in Chinatown, but not bad.

We started with the pot stickers, which were freshly made and handmade (good) albeit slightly greasy on the outside (not so good). The vinegar sauce was thin and not as tasty as the sauce we've had most other places. We also had an egg roll, which was pretty good but unremarkable.

We had two main dishes. The Mongolian beef was very good, and the beef was very tender. The orange chicken was pretty good, although it was quite greasy. Portion sizes were generous. Both dishes were described as "hot" on the menu, but both were extremely mild. We weren't asked how hot we like food, and apparently the default is "not hot" even though the menu says hot. Next time we'll know to ask for it extra hot.

All in all, dinner was good, with pluses for portion size, reasonable prices, and freshness, but minuses for level of hotness and greasiness. We decided it's worth going back to China Chef, but we'll keep Koi in the rotation too (Koi has been very good, and makes hot dishes hot without having to be told to do so).

Incidentally, I think the sobriquet of "Jewish American suburban Chinese" is silly, because it applies to the demographics of a restaurant's location and has absolutely nothing to do with any particular style of food. If a restaurant's food is fresh, light, greasy, spicy, or whatever, those are characteristics of the food, not the clientele.

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"we must all understand that we're not all going to agree on everything, so let's just accept it -- hell, let's cherish it -- and move on." - ronnie_suburban

Was there for the first time Sunday night. I liked everything, but (through that magical process by which some food becomes better when you have the leftovers the next night), the Shrimp in Lobster Sauce the next night was twice as good as it had been at the restaurant.

HI,

I like the BBQ pork and wonton soup very much. It is just like my first Chinese food experiences in the 1960's. Very exotic in my small food world, though a good beginning.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

Had to go out to Skokie today, so we hit upon China Chef for a late lunch. We saw a line out the door but surprisingly it was folks waiting for take out, the dining areas were only sparsely filled. Still service was slow, it took a while to get anything going. Finally placed an order. Hot and sour soup was right on, we devoured it quickly. I'm a sucker for a good egg roll and these were tasty, crisp, not greasy, nicely filled. I had the squid in black bean and garlic, Mrs. Trpt her traditional Mongolian Beef. Both were huge and relatively well done. Spices were rich but not hot, a little on the sweet side. Squid was scored in a cross hatch, just how I like it, the pieces were huge and had just the right amount of chewiness. Not Chinatown but not bad.
We were the youngest people in the place; there were no couples of childbearing age. Just an observation. We'd go back if we're in the neighborhood, not really worth a trip, but a good choice if we're out that way.

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trpt2345

Sometime in the past two weeks China Chef has changed the recipe for their Orange Beef. Gone is the crispy coating. Instead the slices of beef are stir fried in sauce. The waiter informed it was due to ppl complaining the old style was "too dry". You can get it the crispy style on request. I feel the crunch is indispensable.

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I used to think the brain was the most important part of the body. Then I realized who was telling me that.

Good to know, I wonder what other menu items have been altered. You might want to ask and advise back.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

I stopped by for lunch a few weeks ago and ordered the Pancit Guisado (sp?) Same as it's always been. One of my favorite. Never saw it anywhere else. Art Fong recommended it years ago and it hasn't change one bit (or bite).
Regeards,
GP Bob

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"It was very nice the time I was there." - my Mother whenever she was asked her opinion of a restaurant

Has been at least a year since I've been there, but have been going for the past 10+ years when I'm back in the area.

My favorite shrimp fried rice around. Really like their mongolian beef. Their sole or dover sole (cant remember) is amazing.

BTW for those who grew up in the general area, did you ever go to Dragon Inn in I think Glenview (on Waukegan?) back in the day? We used to eat there regularly when I was a kid.

I can't speak to Dragon Inn when you were younger but I went there a couple years ago and it was horrendous, some of the worst "chinese" food I've ever had. The egg drop soup in particular was vile.

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I used to think the brain was the most important part of the body. Then I realized who was telling me that.

Made my first trip to China Chef last Friday. We got there about 11:30am for lunch. Was kind of empty, but by the time we left it was packed. I think there were only 1 or 2 spots left in the parking lot.

Got the lunch special. First was the soup. I don't know what kind of soup it was, but it was odd. Looked a little like egg drop but had a slight hot & sour taste. It was interesting, but I wouldn't say I actually liked it. But I noticed later they had sizzling rice soup. I'll have to try that next time as it's one of my favorites.

Next was the egg roll. Very good. But no way IMO it was better than Kow Kow. Slight disclaimer though, it's been about a year since I've been to Kow Kow, so it might have changed as some have mentioned. But now way it was better than vintage Kow Kow. The big downside was the sweet and sour sauce on the table was ice cold. At room temperature it would have been much better.

Finally the entree. Based on the recommendations I've read here I went with the Mongolian Beef. First let me say, Mongolian Beef seems to be served a hundred different ways in the Chicago area. This was vastly different than most. And it was unbelievably good. It was so good that I'll probably take the long ride and bring my wife there tomorrow. I would say it's my second favorite rendition I've had.

Unfortunately the place I used to get my favorite is now gone, a place at Waveland and Broaday called New Life. They got closed down by developers and eventually moved to around the 1400 block of Irving. It took them about a year to reopen and it was an awful spot with no parking. They didn't last long there. If anyone is familiar with the couple that ran the place and know where they might have reopened I'd appreciate a heads up.