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Hi,

Not wanting anyone to think nobody goes, I am updating this thread with a recent visit.

I was at Katy's on Saturday evening for some soul soothing stir fried onion pancakes and pork. I shared this with a friend who arrived a little later than I did. The plan was to begin with this favorite, then order some additional food. We did order additional food: another plate of stir fried onion pancakes and pork.

Stuffed to gills, we did not order another dish. I was so very satisfied.

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

Wish we would've ordered thirds—so I might have leftovers now!

It reheats amazingly well, too. Maybe even better than when it first comes out of the kitchen, if you do it on the stovetop and get the pancake crispier.

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Ed Fisher
my chicago food photos

RIP LTH.

One more data point. Ate lunch at Katy's on Monday: had the pork fried noodles which were superb. Noodles were toothsome and just the right bite. Absolutely lovely dish. Bought three things to take home: two cold (baked spongy gluten with veggies and spicy beef stomach) and one hot (dandan noodles/soup). (I could kick myself for deciding not to bring home a couple packages of dumplings. Foolish, foolish man. )

The baked gluten was very nice indeed: a touch heavy on the star anise and the only veggies we could find appeared to be seaweed (or possibly a variety of mushroom, we weren't sure), but altogether a very enjoyable summery dish. The gluten was indeed spongy and had absorbed plenty of flavor. The spicy beef stomach was definitely spicy (it ranks only one pepper on Katy's scale) and a generous portion of thin slices.

The dandan noodles, though, were perplexing. There was a flavor I couldn't identify and much less heat than I expected (it ranks two peppers but was less spicy than the beef stomach). But what thoroughly baffled me was the total and complete absence of Sichuan peppercorns. They are essential to this dish and I don't know what to make of their absence. There was nary a peppercorn to be found and absolutely zero of the numbing effect so characteristic of them. (FWIW, I was a little taken aback at the use of spinach, particularly since ya cai, the requisite pickled mustard tuber, is very easily found in Chinatown. The flavor was good but I can't really call it dandan noodles without the peppercorns (or frankly, the ya cai).

Still, the noodles remain excellent and, if it weren't such a long drive to an area we never visit, we'd definitely be back soon.

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Gypsy Boy

“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?” (Julia Child)

Don't go to the one in Naperville on Monday, like I tried too last week. it's closed on Monday's. Disappointed!
And as a completly unrelated side note, I had hand pulled noodles in Chinatown on Sunday at Mandarin Kitchen. They are only available in hot pot, but, the broth is numbingly delicious.

Pickled mustard greens are equally easy to find inside Katy's, showing up in pictures throguhout this thread, IIRC [edit: yes, in the very first picture in the first post]. I think their use of spinach in dan dan mein is a personal choice. They are from Beijing, so maybe it's a thing there. For what it's worth, spinach is a common enough, if not orthodox, ingredient commonly showing up in the Japanese and Korean spins on the dish, in my experience.

I've had the dish (my favorite Chinese food of any kind) at Katy's many times and know the broth to be well balanced with a noticeable szechuan peppercorn kick - though no actual flower buds floating around makes me think they either use powdered or strain them. I'm surprised to hear about a total absence of the ingredient. That's alarming. Maybe you got gringoed? I recently had it out with a server in Ann Arbor at Evergreen (great secret menu and everything at this basically Chinese-only establishment in a strip mall) before she'd let me order the szechuan tripe.

Westmont was as delicious as ever today. They are currently making the unctuous beef-with-cumin pot stickers that practically melt in your mouth like pelmeni as well. Great service, cash only. Still no pickles.

Planning to pop my Katy's cherry today and pick up some take-out from Westmont on my way home from work. The catch is that I have some other errands to run and probably won't get home to eat it for about 2 hours. With that in mind, any recommendations? I figure that the Szechuan Cold Noodles is a no brainer. Maybe the stir-fried onion pancake with pork?

My standard order is szechuan cold noodles and the pancake noodles, which reheat very well. Even better sometimes the next day after re-crisping. I find you can also recrisp the potstickers pretty decently. They pack their soups (dan dan, beef noodle soup) with the noodles separately so they don't get mushy.

Maybe my two favorites also, particularly the pancake noodles (onion pancake w/ pork), which I find impossible to stop eating. Note that twice I picked up some of their frozen dumplings and was a little less thrilled.

Thanks for the recommendations! Also, are they pretty fast if I order there or is it worth phoning ahead?

No need to call ahead.

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"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do."
-- P. J. O’Rourke"

What type of dumplings did you order? I believe some are hand made while others are machine made. The last time I had the fish ones and they were divine. I find that no matter what type of filling, they have been flavourful and I especially appreciate the dumpling skin texture.

I went to Katy's for the first time last week. My husband and I ordered potstickers(pork with green onion), dan dan noodles, pork steam buns, and onion pancake with pork. Everything was wonderful and we had a lot of left overs. We especially liked the noodles and the green onion pancakes. Working on what to order next time. Any suggestions?

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Christina~~

I've had a couple types - not so much the skin issue as the fillings themselves. I didn't find the fillings to be so flavorful, and if I recall correctly, one filled with leeks (or maybe fennel) just tasted off. Still love Katy's though!

Was there recently for the first time in months. Still great by any measure. The head waitress's delightful sister (a PhD chemist for a major pharma and fluent English speaker) noted that the fish dumplings are Katy's pride and joy. They in fact kick ass and are on a different plane than the other more rustic dumplings, which I also love. Noodles better than ever, but I do agree with suggestions above that the dan dan mien broth has been gringoed down. I suspect a symptom of 'Mitigan success. Then again, there's Szechuan pepper-heavy chili oil right there on the table. Live it up numbness lovers. Believe me, there can be too much of a good thing, no matter how much you think you know and love those prickly ash buds, as several LTH maggi can attest (post is somewhere relating a meal centered on primo buds hand delivered to me from Chengdu; he-men cried uncle). So I can respect that.

PS, the chemist related that Mr. Red Shirt definitely knows about the LTH effect and thanks the gentle readers of this board for the fortune of "discovery" beyond the Northern China ex-pat niche. I mention it only because the vermillion one once was misunderstood to be a gruff character with no time for Western dabblers.

Quick question: Does anybody know which region of China Katy's is from? I'm currently in Hong Kong and would love to visit the homeland from which originates this magical broth!

He's from Beijing.

Does anyone know if the people working at Katy's are all part of a family? There is an older guy at the back who cooks nowadays (he speaks good English). Then there is the waitress and Mr. Red Shirt. Are they all related?

Banner quote!!!

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We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.

The lady that works the front is the wife of Mr. Red Shirt and the older man that cooks, has been there for a while. I am thinking at least a year. I walked in one time and he took my order for the beef noodle soup. He also rang it up, cooked it and brought it out to me. Must have been short that day. Westmont food has never disappointed my taste buds!!!

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Always finish your drink, there are sober kids in India......

I am officially addicted to the beef noodle soup.
I've had a cold all week and it's got just a littke kick to wake me up and a wonderful broth that motivates me to drag my ass out of bed.
That and an order of pork and scallion pot stickers and I can spend the day on the couch with a box of kleenex almost happy.

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The cake is a lie

If its the same older gent that I'm thinking of, he's been there for a number of years. After going there for a few years and only ordering with the owners wife, he came over and has been taking most of the orders ever since.

I'm here today for lunch, 3 of the waitstaff had no idea about the potstickers w/cumin. Guess I missed the window.

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I did absolutely nothing and it was everything I thought it could be.

New hours for 2013, dont know if already noted but they also have some new Items...


Whats the difference between Juicy Steamed Dumplings and Xiao Long Bao?

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Smokin' Chokin' and Chowing

The Juicy Steamed Buns is Katy's version of XLB. In Chinese it reads Chao Lao Er (Katy's Chinese name) Xiao Long Bao.

The Juicy Steam Dumplings (in Chinese) reads Chao Lao Er Yuan Long Zheng Jiao... Meaning Katy's Garden Basket Steam Dumplings (these dumplings have a thinner skin, not the thinner XLB wrappers.)

Jiao is what we know as dumplings, potsticker, etc.
Bao is buns (like BBQ buns), with the exception of XLB which is called a bun, but really is a dumpling of sorts...

Wow! No longer closed on Wednesdays? Fine with me. Closed on Mondays is much easier to remember.

Thanks, for the info.

=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

This is my first post at LTH Forum (is there an introductions topic somewhere?). Please forgive the digressions below.

I was recommended here by a participant at CooksTalk Classic, which has its origins in a forum operated by the publishers of Fine Cooking magazine.

Anyway, I looked around for a while and found that I concurred with the reviews of the few places I've eaten at previously. I found a few places near the hotel I stay at regularly and decided to try Katy's. I looked at the menu and read most of this topic. In the end, I told my waitress (who spoke perfect English) that I was an adventurous eater, liked spicy food, and understood that the noodles were made in-house. She recommended the fried (stir-fried) noodles with chili peppers. The dish included chicken, maybe some pork, shrimp, imitation crab meat and a scattering of vegetables in addition to the noodles.

The noodles. Oh, the noodles. They were toothy and chewy and perfect. I've never had anything quite like them.

The dish wasn't particularly spicy unless I chewed the chilis which were hot but not incendiary. The additions were mostly good but I did get one bite of something unpleasantly fishy. Nonetheless, I ate well more than I should have. I will be back for the food. (Edited after resizing pic)



I asked the one other couple in the place for recommendations when I came in but it was only their second time and they said something about moo shu pork. I ended up chatting with them for 20-30 minutes on the way out, though. Kimberly and Brad were very, very friendly and clearly knowledgeable about food. They suggested about a dozen other places that I might try, many of them mentioned elsewhere here. They were fans, for example, of Naf Naf.

Overall, a great first experience driven from LTH Forum! Thanks.

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Without coffee, chocolate and beer, in that order, life as we know it would not be possible.

Welcome to LTH and thanks, for the write-up.

If you find yourself in the area often, definitely check out Chinese Kitchen, also in Westmont.

=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

Katy's new soups with pickled mustard greens are a very enjoyable addition to the menu that will probably be most appreciated by regulars looking to break out of a rut. I suspect that for occasional visitors such as myself, they will not quite displace the old favorites, but they are very tasty in their own right and a good recommendation if you are visiting with someone spice averse. Of course, those noodles would make almost anything taste good.

Yes, yes, but how are the xiao long bao, you may ask? Surprisingly good. Their major weakness is that the skin is very thick, which will likely be a deal-breaker to aficionados. But they are extremely flavorful, with a moderate amount of soup. (For dipping, you use the regular table black vinegar unadorned with ginger; this turns out to not be a problem, as the filling is very gingery already.)

It seems like whenever a new place around here begins to offer xiao long bao, someone immediately proclaims them the best in town. (Given our low baseline, it's actually possible that these claims are correct in every instance.) So are these the best in town? I have no idea, but I'd happily eat them again.