La Mom Kitchen

Sunburst of new Chinese along S Halsted, La Mom Kitchen my most recent visit. Szechuan, Shanghai, a section called Guilin rice noodles and a courtesy call of American/Chinese in a comfortable setting with plenty of street parking.

I barely scratched the surface, fish filet rice noodle soup, clean, delicate, delicious, cucumber/minced garlic to which I added black vinegar and chili oil plus tasty potstickers. Looking forward to a return visit.





La Mom Kitchen, count me a fan!

La Mom Kitchen
3312 S Halsted St
Chicago, IL 60608
773-565-4431
http://www.lamomkitchen.com/

I am planning to go tomorrow. I swear this place used to be on Wentworth in Chinatown actual. My list of things to try (not in one go) includes:

sweet wheat gluten
two pepper beef noodle
grilled pork ribs
cabbage with pork stir fry
red cooked pork
sweet and sour ribs

I am more interested in actual Shanghainese food, but those pork ribs look great. I will post my impressions soon.

botd wrote:I swear this place used to be on Wentworth in Chinatown actual.

According to the delightful Mike Sula of the Chicago Reader You Are Correct Sir.
Lao Shanghai closed in fall 2016, but about eight months later La Mom Kitchen opened its doors on Wentworth, offering a curious combination of Sichuan and Shanghainese dishes, Tawainese shaved ice, and boba tea. I failed to notice it at the time, and it seems many others did too, because it closed after less than a year in operation.

Then in late June, it reappeared in Bridgeport on a strip of Halsted that's become a showcase for regional variety
https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/l ... d=72100738

Hi,

I was there last week. Loved the braised pork belly and dumplings, but a shaved noodle soup was under seasoned.

Regards,
Cathy2

The menu looks very authentic Chinese besides the 'La Mom Burrito' as a lunch special item

L14 La Mom Burrito
10 inches flour tortilla filled with steak, chicken with lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, served with rice

http://www.lamomkitchen.com/menu/lunch-special/

Cathy2 wrote:I was there last week. Loved the braised pork belly and dumplings, but a shaved noodle soup was under seasoned.

According to Fuchsia Dunlop that may have been the point.

https://www.ft.com/content/640c13d2-de6 ... 5a370481bc
The right way to order a Chinese meal: it’s all in the balance
Look kindly on broths and simple greens, says Fuchsia Dunlop – and don’t order more than one sweet-and-sour dish

Because of this, many Chinese dishes are plain and understated. In Mandarin, the word for such dishes is qingdan, a combination of two characters meaning “clear, quiet, pure or honest” and “light, weak, pale”. Qingdan is usually translated into English as “bland” or “insipid”, which sounds boring: who would order an “insipid” dish?

Short review: I will be back!

We got tang cu sweet and sour ribs, a Shanghainese specialty. Note that this has nothing to do with the orange sweet and sour pork of American Chinese or the North Eastern part of China, instead being quite dark with black vinegar and soy sauce. What was delivered was a very good version, perfectly deep fried as it is traditionally done, even if I prefer straight braised texture.

We also tried the two pepper beef noodles. This is a spicy bowl of thinly sliced beef and bean sprouts over noodles and a thick layer of chili oil. Better than the similar bowl at Min's Noodle House up the street, but the oil slick was a bit overwhelming. I took the too oily broth home, chilled it and scraped the oil off because the broth is quite tasty.

Lastly, we got the spicy cabbage stir fry which, be warned, comes with some unadvertised pork belly, but I knew that going in. This is a spicy sweet soy sauce and was a complete winner in my book, but I love cabbage. It uses green cabbage compared to the napa on show in the dry pot cabbage at JMC which is a very close cousin. I prefer green cabbage and it's a much better deal at La Mom so point to La Mom.

Finally, La Mom continues the Bridgeport Chinese tradition of offering a 10% cash discount.

Five of us made a trip here for dinner last night and ordered the following (menu item number to the right for easier identification):

Peking duck 077
Sweet and sour pork ribs 131
La Moms hong sue pork 132
Sauteed cabbage 107
Sliced beef in stone pot 069
Schoolyard noodles 001
Fried fish with chili pepper 071
Kung pao chicken 113
Cauliflower dry pot 043

Nothing was bad, with the exception of the Kung pao chicken, as the chicken tasted a bit "off". Most of the dishes were not as aggressively seasoned as I would have liked.

The only dishes that I would reorder were the Hong Sue pork, sauteed cabbage, sweet and sour ribs and fried fish. I think it might have been the best version of dry chili fish I've had in some time.

The restaurant is very attractive and comfortable. Service was adequate.

When I phoned in to make a reservation, I asked if it would be ok to byob and was told that it would be. When we arrived, one employee informed me that it was no longer byob. They allowed us to drink what we had brought. I wouldn't return if I had to drink off of their list.

deesher wrote:Five of us made a trip here for dinner last night and ordered the following (menu item number to the right for easier identification):

Peking duck 077
Sweet and sour pork ribs 131
La Moms hong sue pork 132
Sauteed cabbage 107
Sliced beef in stone pot 069
Schoolyard noodles 001
Fried fish with chili pepper 071
Kung pao chicken 113
Cauliflower dry pot 043

Nothing was bad, with the exception of the Kung pao chicken, as the chicken tasted a bit "off". Most of the dishes were not as aggressively seasoned as I would have liked.

The only dishes that I would reorder were the Hong Sue pork, sauteed cabbage, sweet and sour ribs and fried fish. I think it might have been the best version of dry chili fish I've had in some time.

The restaurant is very attractive and comfortable. Service was adequate.

When I phoned in to make a reservation, I asked if it would be ok to byob and was told that it would be. When we arrived, one employee informed me that it was no longer byob. They allowed us to drink what we had brought. I wouldn't return if I had to drink off of their list.

That's too bad about the beef stone pot, that was on my list to try. However, if they do fried fish well then maybe I should try their salted egg yolk fish.

Also I echo that not everything here is a slam dunk. The big plate chicken was disappointing (Northern Taste's is better, but still not hitting the highs this dish should have). However, the Sichuan cold dishes are executed very well with distinctive dressings, the wheat gluten nails the flavors but will not appeal to everyone and the jin cheng grilled pork ribs are spicy and toothsome if that is your thing.

I do think they are trying to do much. Now they are doing hot pot along with crabs and peking duck and burritos.

botd wrote:Also I echo that not everything here is a slam dunk. The big plate chicken was disappointing (Northern Taste's is better, but still not hitting the highs this dish should have).

Is this the Xinjiang region "Big Plate Chicken" or something else? I was searching the other night for where to find Xinjiang food in the Chicago area.

marothisu wrote:

botd wrote:Also I echo that not everything here is a slam dunk. The big plate chicken was disappointing (Northern Taste's is better, but still not hitting the highs this dish should have).

Is this the Xinjiang region "Big Plate Chicken" or something else? I was searching the other night for where to find Xinjiang food in the Chicago area.

Yes, though da pan ji is pretty ubiquitous in northern China. One of the greatest things I have eaten in my life was big plate chicken in Xian.

botd wrote:

marothisu wrote:

botd wrote:Also I echo that not everything here is a slam dunk. The big plate chicken was disappointing (Northern Taste's is better, but still not hitting the highs this dish should have).

Is this the Xinjiang region "Big Plate Chicken" or something else? I was searching the other night for where to find Xinjiang food in the Chicago area.

Yes, though da pan ji is pretty ubiquitous in northern China. One of the greatest things I have eaten in my life was big plate chicken in Xian.

Whats the name of this on the Northern Taste menu?

botd wrote:

marothisu wrote:

botd wrote:Also I echo that not everything here is a slam dunk. The big plate chicken was disappointing (Northern Taste's is better, but still not hitting the highs this dish should have).

Is this the Xinjiang region "Big Plate Chicken" or something else? I was searching the other night for where to find Xinjiang food in the Chicago area.

Yes, though da pan ji is pretty ubiquitous in northern China. One of the greatest things I have eaten in my life was big plate chicken in Xian.

I had no idea - should have probably asked my wife. The first time I ever had it was homemade from my wife's friend from Xinjiang then had it at a Xinjiang restaurant in Shanghai a few years ago. There's a new Xinjiang restaurant that opened in Manhattan recently which has a great version of it. I should have asked my wife if non-Xinjiang places ever serve it Thanks for the tip!

Not to stray from this restaurant, but I was just wondering this. At the Xinjiang restaurant in Shanghai, I had some "yogurt beer" which was awesome. We can't find it anywhere in the US - have you seen it around anywhere at all ? (https://www.yoycart.com/Product/543152991822/)

Sichuan and Shanghainese restaurant La Mom Kitchen has permanently closed its Chicago location at 3312 S. Halsted Street

https://chicago.eater.com/2022/8/8/2329 ... -fall-2022