Great Beijing - Lincolnwood

I can't recall the name of this place now but I've always wondered if this place was any good. Does anyone have any experience?

Subject line edit

Great Beijing
6717 N. Lincoln Ave.
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
847-673-5588

I think you're talking about Great Beijing.

For a period of time in the mid-to-late 90s, this was my family's go-to spot for Chinese. Their renditions of standard items was better than Kow-Kow down the road, in my opinion. They had a large Chinese clientele and a Chinese language menu. My father would often point at tables of Chinese people and asked for dishes that they had, (the servers discouraged this behavior, fearing that we would dislike it, send it back, etc. etc.).

They shut down for almost two years and remodeled a couple years ago. I think the management changed. I have only been back once and I wasn't very impressed.

I do believe they still have a large Chinese clientele, though. This place does bear some exploration.

Great Beijing
6717 N. Lincoln Ave.
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
847-673-5588

Best,
Michael

eatchicago wrote:I do believe they still have a large Chinese clientele, though. This place does bear some exploration.

Michael,

Great Beijing certainly deserves exploration, though every time I resolve to do so, as in this 2003 chowhound post, my resolves fades quicker than a New Years weight loss resolution. It might be I've typed Great Beijing as Suburban Chinese, which Kow Kow does better. Or it may be GB's Northern Chinese such as Chachiang Mein and sweet spicy chicken wings is out shown by Great Sea. No matter, as I once again resolve to explore Great Beijing, specifically the Northern Chinese offerings.

What brought this about was a decidedly delicious, if uneven, lunch, starting with a very good, if still not quite Great Sea, version of Korean Style Chicken wings. Previously GB used fresh chili paste (sambal olek) though they've switched to dried toasted peppers, which imparts a deeper flavor.

Korean Style Chicken Wings



Three Flavor Chachiang Mein with deliciously chewy house made noodles was a vast improvement over a recent Three Flavors Hot Soup, which did not employ house made noodles. The funk factor of the fermented black bean sauce seemed amped up as well.

Three Flavor Chachiang Mein



Next up was Korean style sweet and sour pork, which Mike ordered in Korean, Tang So Yuk. Not as sweet as standard American/Chinese versions with pickle, dried tofu and mushroom. The coating was thick/crisp, I'm betting they use a cornstarch slurry as opposed to dusting.

Tang So Yuk (Korean sweet and sour pork)



Small bowls of kimchee, white onion, daikon pickle and black bean sauce come gratis, though if not a regular you may have to request.



Steve suggested we order a PuPu Platter in honor of Trader Vic's reopening. Loads of fun, though slightly uneven, shrimp toast the clear winner of the group.

PuPu Platter



So once again I resolve to explore Great Beijing starting with cold plates of jelly fish and aromatic beef, Gan Pon Shrimp (same preparation as the Korean Style Wings) and multiple varieties of chachiang mein.

Enjoy,
Gary

So here's a nine-year bump in this topic.

Great Beijing in Lincolnwood has been around for almost thirty years. But this was our first time dining there. And we had no preconceived notions from this long-ago topic, which I had not seen beforehand.

The restaurant is fairly large, with a large parking lot. The dining room was mostly empty when we arrived around 4:45, but by the time we left around 6:00, it was filling up. And throughout that time, they were doing a big carryout business. (For those considering dining there this coming Monday, they said it would be very busy but if you're looking for a time when they're not slammed, try before noon or after 5 pm.)


We started with the pot stickers, fried. These featured beef filling instead of the usual pork. They were excellent, with the wrappers having a nice crispy outer layer. (Too often we find pot sticker wrappers to be too mushy and doughy, but these were perfect!)


We also had their egg rolls, which were terrific - delightfully crispy on the outside, with densely packed meat and shrimp among the fillings. These are among the best egg rolls you'll find anywhere in Chicagoland. Our server told us they usually make them on Saturdays, so that's the day to go to find them at their freshest.


Our first main course was what the menu describes as "Panda's Double Happiness: A beautiful and delicious combination of two distinctive dishes on the same plate: Canadian scallops sautéed with water chestnuts in tangy red sauce. Juicy shrimp sautéed with pea pods, green pepper, mushrooms and onions in dry sherry sauce." This was very good, a nice contrast between the spicy-hot scallops and the mild shrimp. Our server had asked whether spicy-hot was okay and we said yes. I'd put the hotness of the scallops at about a 5 on a scale of 1 (mild) to 10 (incendiary).


Our other main dish was orange beef. It was absolutely superb, the best version of this dish I've ever had, with amazingly tender thin-sliced beef with only the slightest breading. Since we had mentioned liking spicy-hot, our server said that this dish was not that hot, but they can make it hotter, and we said that would be great. The spice level we were served was moderately hot, maybe a 4, and that was just fine. It's not obvious from the photo (which was taken at an odd angle), but the portion size was ENORMOUS - roughly double what most Chinese restaurants would serve as an entrée.


This was a wonderful dinner, by far the best Chinese food we've had in the northern suburbs in years. Every dish was very good, and OMG that orange beef. Some will probably diss our choice of dishes, but we prefer more conventional dishes rather than the undesirable cuts like maw and chicken feet that are sought out by a few LTHers. À chacun son goût! If you enjoy dishes similar to the ones we chose, you'll find terrific representations at Great Beijing. It's our new go-to place for Chinese!

Wow, never been there but passed it a zillion times when going to the original Lou's or heading into the city.

Maybe this can replace Kow Kow!

J

jnm123 wrote:Maybe this can replace Kow Kow!

J

Not even close, although careful ordering can yield a reasonably good meal. Personally, I can't stomach their egg rolls, although I'm pretty picky when it comes to those. All I can say is they are not even in the same league as Kow Kow's. You'd do better going to China Chef, if you're looking for something that has a similar flavor profile to Kow Kow/Pekin House. The ones at GB are quite vegital, lacking any peanut butter flavor or very much meat and are nothing out of the ordinary...similar to the type of egg rolls you might find at a quick service Chinese food court booth.

I have had good luck ordering their twice cooked pork (I order it extra spicy). Although featuring thin strips of pork loin instead of the more traditional pork belly, the dish has some pretty good flavor. Also, for a novel approach to egg foo young, GB is a real contender. Their version is served with a comparatively thin brown gravy (compared to the usual thick corn starch version) and includes brunoise cut peas and carrots as a topping. Also good are some Ameri-Chinese stalwarts such as General Tso's chicken, etc.

stevez wrote:You'd do better going to China Chef, if you're looking for something that has a similar flavor profile to Kow Kow/Pekin House.

We've had the egg rolls at China Chef, where we had been going regularly. We thought the ones at Great Beijing were WAY better. Different strokes. (The pot stickers are way better at GB too.)

The one dish that China Chef has been knocking out of the ballpark lately is Mongolian beef. We'll try that next time we go to Great Beijing, so we can make a comparison. (The tenderness of the Mongolian beef at CC is comparable to that of the orange beef at GB, so we're hopeful.)

I remember Sula writing about this place, almost a decade ago, as one of the better places in town, not for Chinese but for the Korean comfort-food delicacy cha chiang mian (described and pictured in Gary's post upthread) . . .

at ChicagoReader.com, Mike Sula wrote:But my favorite version of cha chiang mian comes from the large, modern Great Beijing (6717 N. Lincoln, Lincolnwood, 847-673-5588), which has the most extensive Chinese-Korean menu of the places I surveyed, and where the noodles in the Three Flavor Chachiang Mein are extra chewy.

Omnivorous: Black Noodles and Other Delights

And from a more general review:

at ChicagoReader.com, Mike Sula wrote:The large, modern Great Beijing has the most extensive menu among the handful of places in the area that specialize in a very particular hybrid of Chinese and Korean cuisines. The made-to-order noodles in the Three Flavor Chachiang Mein are extra chewy, and the spicy, saucy gampongi chcken wings are fried extra hard to stand help them stand up to their spicy sweet sauce. A large menu of Chinese-American classics are also on hand--including pu pu platters--but I'd skip those.

This place is near my office and I've never been very impressed by their offerings (I greatly prefer China Chef) but perhaps I'll have to give it another shot soon.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:I remember Sula writing about this place, almost a decade ago, as one of the better places in town, not for Chinese but for the Korean comfort-food delicacy cha chiang mian

FWIW, I don't see the Korean dishes on the current Great Beijing menu, or know whether they might still be available as non-menu requests.

nsxtasy wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:I remember Sula writing about this place, almost a decade ago, as one of the better places in town, not for Chinese but for the Korean comfort-food delicacy cha chiang mian

FWIW, I don't see the Korean dishes on the current Great Beijing menu, or know whether they might still be available as non-menu requests.

Three Flavor ChaChiang Mein (HN-5) is the first item in the Homemade Noodles category of the menu you linked to.

Aha! Thanks.

FYI, there's definitely a Korean centric menu w all of the typical items you see on them.

WhyBeeSea wrote:FYI, there's definitely a Korean centric menu w all of the typical items you see on them.

Are you referring to their regular menu (the in-person one is basically the same as the one on their website), or is there a separate optional menu featuring Korean specialties?

nsxtasy wrote:

WhyBeeSea wrote:FYI, there's definitely a Korean centric menu w all of the typical items you see on them.

Are you referring to their regular menu (the in-person one is basically the same as the one on their website), or is there a separate optional menu featuring Korean specialties?

There's a separate menu w a couple pages of the Korean specialities. I only recall bc that was the only menu I was given last week when I grabbed a quick din.

Wasn't an issue as all I wanted was a bowl of jjampong

Thanks all for this info. I was recently lamenting the loss of all the old-school spots along this stretch of Lincoln where city meets burbs. I'd hoped this place was what it appears to be - an appropriately fancy-ish Ameri-Chinese with some "authentic" flourishes and Mandarin-Korean. And it's getting old enough to stand in as a neighborhood standard. I'm in.

We went back last night and tried a few dishes we missed on our previous visit.

Sizzling rice soup:

Sesame chicken (this was really good):

Mongolian beef (this was good, but we had a split decision, with one of us preferring China Chef's and the other preferring Great Beijing's):

Moo shu shrimp (the least favorite of these dishes, perhaps would work better with meat than shrimp):

I tried it last week for lunch searching for a substitute for my family's (now gone) go-to- Young's in Glenview. GB was...ok. pleasant staff, relatively clean, food was passable.
But still not doing it for me.

Great Beijing is in my regular rotation, somewhat for convenience, somewhat for quality of ingredients, somewhat for taste. Allow me to explain, they are within ten minutes of my house, the quality of ingredients is a full tier above most Suburban style Chinese, and I like the fact they offer Northern Chinese type dishes such as I and others have outlined in this thread.

I'm also a fan of Great Beijing's lunch specials which include a good, made even better by the addition of table-side vinegar, hot and sour soup, spring roll or crab rangoon and entree for under $10, such as Kung Pao Chicken ($7.50) or today's Chicken Lo Mein w/fried rice for $8.25.

The only slight negative is they do not deliver, but that does not seem to hurt business as they are busy as an overweight ballerina at a three-ring circus sans elephants.



Great Beijing, Count me a Fan!

Great Beijing
6717 N Lincoln Ave
Lincolnwood, Illinois 60712
847-673-5588
http://www.greatbeijingmenu.com

Great Beijing has a website (click here).

We went back to Great Beijing again tonight for dinner, and loved it all over again. Same great pot stickers, same great egg rolls, didn't bother photographing them. The orange beef was, once again, the best I've ever had, simply awesome... and this time the photo came out better than the earlier one posted above:

We got one dish we had not previously had, the sizzling shrimp. It was very good, and fairly spicy (per our request), even though, as you can see in the photos, it wasn't full of dried chilis the way the orange beef was:


WE LOVE GREAT BEIJING!

Ordered take out Kung Pao Chicken and Twice Cooked Pork on my way back to Wisconsin Friday.
Excellent middle of the road versions.
No gloppy corn starch sauce, nicely cut and wokked meat, vegetables with a little heat.
Interesting assortment of pickled daikon, Kimchi and raw onion go withs, I suppose alluding to a Korean bias?
Fairly easy to get to, in an area I frequent or pass close to.
A close study of the menu and it’s Korean components is next.-Richard

Delicious, zero on the Instagram scale.




Great Beijing, Cha Chiang Mein, count me a fan

How similar is the Cha Chiang Mein to Korean jjajangmyun? I'm pretty certain the Chinese dish led to the Korean one, but what does it taste like?

JoelF wrote:How similar is the Cha Chiang Mein to Korean jjajangmyun? I'm pretty certain the Chinese dish led to the Korean one, but what does it taste like?

Same dish, Great Beijing spells it different. Hard to pinpoint exact taste. Earthy, rich highlights of pork with hints of vegetable in the one I ordered, dominated by Korean black-bean paste/chunjang, bland, with chewy noodles. I use a healthy dose of table-side vinegar and a few shakes of hot pepper powder to perk it up. (cha chiang mian, ja jang myun, jajangmyeon, jjajangmyun)

Yeah its the Korean-Chinese version of the dish that they serve here.

I generally prefer jjampong to chajangmyeoun so I typically get that here. But the great Beijing version of jjampong isn't all that great. Need to change my ordering habits here and get chajangmyeoun instead.

You already know about the popularity of dumplings and duck in Beijing, but when I visited a few years ago, it seemed to me that the most popular lunch dish in town was zha jiang mian. My understanding is that it's a northern Chinese dish in origin, which the Chinese brought to Korea.

I had it a couple of times in Beijing -- at least one if not both are pictured in this thread.

BR wrote:had it a couple of times in Beijing -- at least one if not both are pictured in this thread.

Some serious dumpling porn going on in that thread!

WhyBeeSea wrote:I generally prefer jjampong to chajangmyeoun so I typically get that here. But the great Beijing version of jjampong isn't all that great.

I like the Great Beijing version of jjampong, but to each his own.
Peking Mandarin on Lawrence does a tasty Jjampong. Plus I just posted about KyoDong Noodle, a new(ish) food vendor at H-Mart Niles, offering Jjampong, jajangmyeon etc. ---> Link

Peking Mandarin
3459 W. Lawrence Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625

Yeah I just find the broth pretty bland but not bad by any means.l. Noodles are the star of the dish. Definitely prefer it to most of the ramen options around town and a huge bargain at 10 bucks for a giant bowl