The Essentials: Ed's Potsticker House

Antonius · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 8:12 am

Delk:

I have to agree with Gary here that those veal chops FROM PAULINA look wonderful...

On our most recent visit we enjoyed Ed's onion cakes very much. A vegetable dish we've gotten a few times now, called something with the phrase "garden vegetables" in the name, which is a mixture of green bell pepper, eggplant and potato, is a nice accompaniment to various protein-based dishes.

No wonder I like that dish; it's pretty much the Chinese version of cianfotta or boumiano

Good luck with the treatments, Delk.

Antonius

G Wiv · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 8:22 am

Antonius wrote:

Delk:

I have to agree with Gary here that those veal chops FROM PAULINA look wonderful...

Seems as if, yet another, round of remedial reading comprehension is in the offing.
:oops:

Cathy2 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 12, 2005 1:02 am

One is good, two is better ...

Tonight, Mother and I stopped by Ed's Potsticker House for potsticker's, soup dumplings and pork filled pancakes. Ed's will be open on Christmas and New Year's Days much to the chagrin of Ran's daughter who wasn't happy to be open on Thanksgiving.

I learned they are acquiring a building on Ogden Avenue near the YMCA in LaGrange at the beginning of January with hopes to open in late January. While Ed's is named after the husband and run by the wife. They plan to name the new restaurant named after the wife, something like Ran's Northern Chinese, run by the husband Edmond. Therefore, you will never find Ed at Ed's or Ran at Ran's ... sorry, I couldn't resist it.

The menu at Ran's will also be Northern Chinese with food from Beijing and Shenyang. The menu will not precisely be what we experience at Ed's. Ran advised there will be Peking duck and more casseroles. She assured me we will enjoy the food especially since the Chef is "famous in China."

While going west is certainly good for their business, I told her to look to the northern suburbs for future expansions. While there are plenty of Chinese restaurants, none are on par to what I get at Chinatown or Ed's.

Already something to look forward to in 2006!

Regards,

kithat · **Posted:** Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:31 am

Cathy,

Big thanks for posting about their new location. This is super great for me for two reasons, and I haven't been to the Chicago one yet, but will soon...
I work in Oakbrook so this could be a lunch destination for my culinarily minded coworkers and I. Second, my parents living in neighboring Western Springs and like to order Asian, but the option for any Asian that is any better than "passing" are extremely limited. So, great on a couple fronts, and heck, maybe I won't worry about going to the Chicago one with the new one opening so soon! I'll try to keep an eye out for it and report on the chow soon!

JeffB · **Joined:** Tue May 25, 2004 11:51 am **Posts:** 3120

Well, it's interesting that Ed's is opening a place on Ogden in the Western 'burbs. I think it is clear where the Chinese customers are, and it's out there.

To the previous poster in OB, you need to look a bit harder on this board. LSC, Fabulous, Katy's, DiHo/Whole Grain, and China Kitchen are all there for you. Not one is Americanized strip-mall Chinese.

Mike G · **Posted:** Mon Dec 12, 2005 9:35 am

To JeffB's point, kithat, they're out there-- they're just not on the same restaurant rows as the famous and popular-with-gringos restaurants in the burbs (eg. Butterfield Road). Search for JeffB's list of names and you'll find not only those specific markets/restaurants but often other options clustered right around them-- for example, right by Diho Market in Westmont is a branch of Chinatown's Triple Crown restaurant as well.

Diho Market
655 Pasquinelli Drive
Westmont, IL 60559
630.323.1668

Triple Crown Seafood Restaurant
665 Pasquinelli Dr
Westmont, IL 60559
(630) 794-0088

kithat · **Posted:** Mon Dec 12, 2005 10:22 am

Thanks so much, you all. Given that I grew up in the western suburbs, I thought I knew it all and hadn't tried searcing the boards for Asian places. I definitely know Diho market, but only from experiences buying groceries long ago. I'll definitely follow up on your suggestions. I know that my discriminating stomach will be much more content!

JeffB · **Joined:** Tue May 25, 2004 11:51 am **Posts:** 3120

As someone who did not grow up in the western 'burbs, but spends tons of time there visiting in-laws, I find myself looking for any excuse to get out and drive around. Many, possibly most, of the good Chinese and South Asian places out there are very recent additions. They are often tucked away in dreary strip malls (despite my description above) and don't often have intriguing names. Fabulous Noodles and Katy's don't even sound particulalry Asian, while China Kitchen doesn't sound too promising. But I'm telling you, the beef tendon stew and crab w/ velvety eggwhites on pea greens at the latter place are pretty damn good. There is perhaps an inverse law of deliciousness when it comes to these things: "Ed's" should fit right in, name-wise and foodwise.

TonyC might even like the west burb Chinese scene: lots of strip malls, freeways, and cute kids in cars. :wink:

Jay K · **Posted:** Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:58 pm

G Wiv wrote:

eatchicago wrote:

As an interesting aside, during a conversation with the somewhat grumpy, but loveable (wonder if she ever worked in a Jewish deli) manager of Phoenix Dumpling she asked, in a mostly rhetorical way, why Americans (yes I know there are many types of Americans, but she that's not what she meant) never eat the cabbage lining the steamer.

Since she posed the question I have made it a point to always eat the cabbage, which is quite tasty.

Enjoy,
Gary

No one in my family or extended family has ever "eaten the cabbage." Additionally, I have never seen any other Asian family eating the nappa lining a bamboo/metal dumpling steamer. What an odd question from Phoenix Dumpling's manager.

Cathy2 · **Posted:** Sat Jan 14, 2006 10:15 pm

Jay K wrote:

No one in my family or extended family has ever "eaten the cabbage." Additionally, I have never seen any other Asian family eating the nappa lining a bamboo/metal dumpling steamer. What an odd question from Phoenix Dumpling's manager.

Funny ever since this post I have made a point of eating the cabbage. Nobody has given me odd looks nor a look of mutual appreciation or anything else.

I had dim sum at Happy Chef where the substituted paper liners for cabbage. I kinda missed the cabbage.

FYI - Phoenix Dumpling is closed.

Regards,

Jay K · **Posted:** Tue Jan 17, 2006 8:58 pm

Cathy2 wrote:

FYI - Phoenix Dumpling is closed.

How sad.... sigh... Now I'm tempted to "eat the cabbage."

Cathy2 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 13, 2006 12:56 pm

Hi,

My parents went to Ed's Potsticker House yesterday, where I asked them to inquire about their new location in the western suburbs:

Mandarin Sun
9414 West Ogden Avenue
Brookfield, IL
Tel: 708/485-7199
708/485-6949

They are not yet open. They hope to open in 30 days or mid March.

Regards,

kithat · **Posted:** Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:20 pm

thanks Cathy for the info - that's a great location for my own selfish purposes . lots of dinner takout in route from Oakbrook back downtown.

TonyC · **Posted:** Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:55 pm

Cathy2 wrote:

FYI - Phoenix Dumpling is closed.

and so has the Shabu Shabu restaurant it replaced.

Amata · **Joined:** Thu May 27, 2004 6:47 am **Posts:** 942

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

It's hard for me to believe that it's been a little over two years since Antonius and I starting posting about food. We've had lots of great meals and made some dear friends through LTH, and before that, through Chowhound.

One of our first Chowhound posts (co-authored) was about our St. Patrick's Day dinner in 2004. I'll reprint it below. And I recommend Ed's to anyone looking for traditional Irish fare today...

-- Amata

Quote:

Lamb, potatoes, and bacon for St. Patrick’s Day – Ed’s Potsticker House
a-and-a@sbcglobal.net (Amata and Antonius)
March 18, 2004 at 09:40:26

For a St. Patrick’s Day dinner we headed to that Irish-American bastion, Bridgeport. But not for fish’n’chips or Irish pub grub. No, driven into a frenzy by G Wiv’s jpeg images we had to sample the delights at Ed’s Potsticker House. We didn’t get too adventurous, mostly ordering a subset of things already discussed and photographed, but wow! what a great meal!

The long, cylindrical potstickers: echoing Ponzu’s recent comments in this regard, these are hands-down the best potstickers we’ve had.

Smoked pork with scallion pancakes: slightly different presentation from that seen on Gary’s web page – square pancakes folded diagonally to enclose two slices each of rolled, skin-on bacon. Excellent flavor, if a little heavy.

Lamb with cumin (and also sliced jalapenos, whole dried chiles, and sesame): absolutely sublime. (Is there anything out of the ordinary about the cumin they use? It seemed especially bright and delicious.)

Spinach stir-fried with garlic: perfectly done, and a refreshing accompaniment to the meatier dishes (presumably this is the amaranth variety known as 'Chinese spinach’, no? It has a very nice earthy aspect).

Potatoes with vinegar: shreds of potato cooked al dente with vinegar, szechuan peppercorns, garnished with a few sliced mushrooms and whole chiles fried black: addictive. In ways, especially given the ‘al dente’ texture, it seemed sort of like an Italian pasta dish but that’s just an attempt to find words to describe a hitherto unknown but delicious treatment of Mr. Spud.

Our waiter was great and took genuine pleasure in interacting with our 3½ year old. His English had some gaps and it helped that we had a list already written out (in English) of what we wanted. But after we finished this feast, he also took the initiative to talk about things we might especially like to try on subsequent visits. Bringing in a six-pack of Hofbräu was no problem.

Thanks to Gary and his camera, to Chowhound for another great restaurant recommendation, and special thanks to whichever hound first discovered Ed’s!

Amata and Antonius

Ed’s Potsticker House
3139 S. Halsted
312 326-6898

M-F 11-10
Sa, Su 10-10

Original post plus two responses at:
http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards ... 43654.html

Ann Fisher · **Posted:** Sun Mar 26, 2006 9:35 pm

Just adding a photo for those who may be intimidated by all this talk of cumin and hot peppers by the quart. This is today's fried rice with bok choy and Chinese sausage. Lots of Chinese sausage. Perfectly cooked, as you can see.

Edited to add that the GNR award is prominently posted in the front window.

Matt · **Posted:** Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:28 pm

Quote:

Edited to add that the GNR award is prominently posted in the front window.

I didn't see this mentioned above or elsewhere (so forgive me if it's been noted before), but the takeout menu for Ed's also references the GNR award on its cover. I believe it says something to the effect of (from memory, so don't hold me to this): "One of Chicagoland's great neighborhood restaurants -- the Chicago base [sic] culinary chat site" (no reference to "LTHForum" by name).

BrianD · **Joined:** Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:51 am **Posts:** 27

My wife and I tried Mandarin Sun last night in Brookfield.

Excellent.

We started out with a small order of shui-mei (4 pieces).
For the main course, we had Hunan Pork and Bamboo shoots with black mushrooms.

The Hunan Pork was a dish similar to that served at Ed's. The differences were no sausage, none of the small, very crunchy vegetable, and much less oily. The pork is smoked in house at this location, so it was much more tender than at Ed's.

The atmosphere and menu is more upscale. Ed was there, and explained the Halsted location was more family style, while this location was more special. The menu is about 4 pages, with American-Chinese dishes on the first two pages, and "Chef's Recommendations" on the last two.

I look forward to my next visit.

Cheers,
Brian

Marija · **Joined:** Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:03 pm **Posts:** 60

Stopped by the Mandarin Sun today for a carryout. Both the pork Hunan style and the mushroom casserole were great. Ed was there and was very excited about Ed's Potsticker House being featured on Check Please tomorrow!

Cathy2 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:29 pm

HI,

I went to Ed's Potsticker House with Josephine, her uncle Ed and a friend of mine. While ordering the usual favorites, we added two new ones to the repetoire of favored foods:

Chinese Squash:

Josephine and Ed had admired this squash while it went past them to someone else's table. The Chinese squash sure reminded us of cucumbers, which was very lightly cooked and sauced.

Lamb and Turnip Squash:

Josephine felt we needed a casserole, then speculatively ordered the lamb and turnip squash. Simply wonderful lamb with turnips cooked to just beyond al dente, which meant they were soft yet still had some fight left. It's always good to bring fresh eyes to a menu to find something you overlooked.

While we know Ran, who owns with her husband Ed, this restaurant, I had never met Ed before. If Mandarin Sun were in operation, then it would be almost impossible to see them together. Fortunately on this occasion, we met Ran and her husband Ed:

The original working name for Mandarin Sun was Ran. When I heard it, I joked, "How curious! Ran manages Ed's Potsticker and Ed manage's Ran Restaurant. Will there ever be the day when Ed manages Ed and Ran manages Ran?" Or something to that effect, which caused Ran to reconsider the name and Mandarin Sun was born. I was just being witty with no intention to change their mind!

Regards,

Josephine · **Posted:** Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:03 pm

I'd like to underscore Cathy2's enthusiasm for the lamb and turnip casserole. With the first chill of fall in the air last week, it just felt like root vegetable time to me, and we were in luck. What a combination lamb and turnips make! Especially crucial to the dish was the presence of soy sauce flavors, which provided a kind of bridge between the lamb and turnips that was quite unexpected and delicious. The soy umami tamed the lamb's gaminess and the sharp turnip flavor, helping them to a balance as rare and harmonious as a true meeting of minds.

trixie-pea · **Posted:** Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:10 pm

I love that Chinese squash too. In other restaurants, like LaoSzeChuan, it's called Chinese okra--but it tastes a lot more like cucumber than okra.

Cathy2 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 05, 2006 10:02 pm

trixie-pea wrote:

I love that Chinese squash too. In other restaurants, like LaoSzeChuan, it's called Chinese okra--but it tastes a lot more like cucumber than okra.

Thanks Trixie-Pea for the wording used by other restaurants to describe the same vegetable. It's a nice vegetable to add to a Chinese meal, even though calling it okra seems like mistake!

Again, thanks!

Regards,

G Wiv · **Posted:** Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:50 am

LTH,

Had a terrific lunch Sunday at Ed's, no Northern Style Pancakes that Evil Ronnie turned me on to, but few dishes that were new, at least to me.

I've had Ed's smoked pork w/scallion pancakes any number of times, but never the layered treat of "Beef and Onion Packed Cake". Touch of Ed's good quality house chili oil took the dish over the top.

Beef and Onion Packed Cake

Also had a delicious variation on an old favorite, Lamb with Cumin, Saturday it was served on the bone.

Bone on Lamb w/cumin

Pork Belly, Tofu, Quail Egg (still slightly runny yoke) in brown sauce was study in silky unctuousness. Rich pork belly, still runny quail egg yoke, oh man.

Pork Belly w/tofu and Quail egg in brown sauce

Sea Cucumber and tendon.

We also had a very unphotogenic, but tasty, Cold Shanghai style tofu w/mushroom, walnuts.

And a delicious, and complexly decorated, lightly sweet and sour fish.

Ed's House of Potsticker was, is and remains one of the true Chicago gems.

Ran and Ed (owners, Ed's Potsticker House)

Enjoy,
Gary

peterc · **Posted:** Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:10 pm

Sunday evening, my parents took my roommate and me to Ed's to celebrate my birthday. Oddly, the eggplant with garlic sauce was not as overwhelmingly good as usual -- its exterior was not so crispy, and the sauce was slightly off-kilter. However, the potstickers and pancakes (beef and pork), soup dumplings, hot-and-sour potato, and lamb with cumin were all as good as they typically are (that is to say, excellent).

I am fortunate to live in such close proximity to Ed's -- I probably eat here twice a month, and it has never disappointed me. Try ordering the Twice-Cooked Fish (my roommate turned me on to this), which I can't find on the menu. Even with 800+ numbered items, there are still some that go unlisted!

G Wiv · **Posted:** Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:19 pm

G Wiv wrote:

Had a terrific lunch Sunday at Ed's

LTH,

A dish I neglected to mention, Three Treasures, potato, green pepper, eggplant, was a hit with Hammond's daughter Abby, when she lived in China it was one of her favorites.

Three Treasures, potato, green pepper, eggplant

Often it's the simple things in life that make one the happiest.

Enjoy,
Gary

Susan · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:29 am

I'm posting on this old thread because I didn't want to start a new one. I just have to tell you all that if you haven't been to Ed's in a while, the LTH influence has extended further than the sign in the window.

The menu now has a full page of color photos of "Chef Favorites" and at least half of them have been mentioned on this thread alone! Granted, it had been a while since I had seen the big menu (not the tri-fold take-out menus stuck on the table), but I do not recall the previous menu having made mention of any of these dishes as being "favorites" of any kind. I can only surmise that LTH-inspired visitors have requested the dishes so often that they (by default) became chef favorites!

I was there last Wednesday for a late lunch with my less adventurous parents and extremely adventurous husband, and everyone left exceedingly happy.

From the "favorites" menu we had:

potstickers

soup dumplings

steamed pork dumplings

pork & scallion cake

lamb with cumin

We also had the pork and green bean noodles. If you haven't tried these, you are missing out! The noodles were perfect, as if they had just been pulled in the kitchen, and perfectly flavored by the pork and fresh, stir fried beans. The dish was not at all spicy, so I will order then again when we bring our kids. And, I will bring my mom back for this dish and all of the above the next time she visits.

Ed was kind enough to whip up some "shrimp with pea pods in white sauce" (even though we didn't see it on the big menu) because that's the way my dad likes his Chinese food. I tasted that dish and it was good, if a bit bland for me. My adorable dad proclaimed it "delicious, definitely as good as the Pea Pods Shrimp at the Great Wall" (as in the restaurant in Rapid City, South Dakota, a high compliment from him).

Another nice thing that Ed did: I asked for two extra fortune cookies, to take home to the kids, and he came out with a small bag, probably 10-12 cookies inside. Needless to say, our 4-year-old was thrilled that his dessert that night was not one but THREE fortune cookies.

Mike G · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:51 am

Thanks, Susan, that's good to know and glad Ed's worked for the whole family!

Cathy2 · **Posted:** Mon May 28, 2007 4:22 pm

HI,

I went to Ed's Potsticker House for a late breakfast on Saturday. Arrived to learn I missed Gary and few other guys several evenings ago. Great minds think alike even though a few days have passed.

I tried a new item for me: Fried Fish with Cornbread

These were small butter fish the size of my palm. They were scored and deep fat fried for crunchy goodness. I ate the entire fish from head, body, fins and tail until it was merely a memory. My friend Helen commented it could have been crispier. She had picked the meat off the bones leaving a delicate carcass. While for some tastes it could have been crisper, I guess, it was crisp enough to eat everything easily.

The cornbread was panfried rather than baked.

Regards,

Santander · **Posted:** Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:19 am

[does a little smoked pork and scallion pancake jig]

Man, is that some good cooking. I think it qualifies as a sandwich; I might try a variation at home with regular bacon, scallions, and hoisin on frozen naan until I figure out the recipe for the batter for the Northern Chinese Pancakes of Delight.

I had it with the crispy garlic eggplant, which Ed was happy to explain. For those wondering upthread (many moons ago at this point), this signature eggplant earlier portrayed as glazed, fish fragranced, or candied is now called simply Garlic Eggplant, on the Chinese menu (but not on the chef's favorites). I like it even better than Lao Sze Chuan's.

Easy parking, friendly service, good little booth, frequently refilled tea, the only thing that was slow was the check but that's because I was being polite (I saw other people charge up towards the kitchen to retrieve theirs).

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The Essentials: Ed's Potsticker House

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