Searching for a successor to Kow Kow's egg roll.

I've looked through the egg roll threads but still haven't found what I'm looking for. What's your choice for a good substitute for a Kow Kow style egg roll? North side preferably.

Octarine wrote:I've looked through the egg roll threads but still haven't found what I'm looking for. What's your choice for a good substitute for a Kow Kow style egg roll? North side preferably.

There will never be another egg roll exactly like Kow Kow's, but you can get close at Mee Mah on Peterson. It's owned by the same family, so the recipe and taste profile is similar. A word of warning, though. Do NOT order anything else on the menu. Disappointment would surely follow if you do.

Mee Mah
4032 W. Peterson
Chicago, Il 60646
773-539-2277

So just like Kow Kow

I'll be sure to try mee mah

stevez wrote:

Octarine wrote:I've looked through the egg roll threads but still haven't found what I'm looking for. What's your choice for a good substitute for a Kow Kow style egg roll? North side preferably.

There will never be another egg roll exactly like Kow Kow's, but you can get close at Mee Mah on Peterson. It's owned by the same family, so the recipe and taste profile is similar. A word of warning, though. Do NOT order anything else on the menu. Disappointment would surely follow if you do.

Mee Mah
4032 W. Peterson
Chicago, Il 60646
773-539-2277

That's a tough one. I have been to plenty of Chinese restaurants with decent food and poor egg roll renditions and will still return, but I don't know if I would go to a Chinese restaurant just for the egg rolls knowing that the rest of the food is a disappointment.

Eh, I'd do takeout, no big commitment.

I really really disliked everything at Kow Kow except for the eggrolls so it has a certain resonance to do the same.

Octarine wrote:Eh, I'd do takeout, no big commitment.

I really really disliked everything at Kow Kow except for the eggrolls so it has a certain resonance to do the same.

Note: The Mee Mah egg rolls are not battered like the later day Kow Kow ones were, but the taste is very similar.

stevez wrote:There will never be another egg roll exactly like Kow Kow's, but you can get close at Mee Mah on Peterson. It's owned by the same family, so the recipe and taste profile is similar.

Take-out MeeMah house egg rolls vs MeeMah Kow Kow style egg rolls. Steve, as always, was spot-on Kow Kow style, evocative but not on the button. Though MeeMah now seems to be lightly battering Kow Kow style egg rolls.

Both were ~fine, crispy, oversized, nicely filled, though slightly mushy interior and the thin runny house made sweet sauce was abysmal, mustard packets are not my cup of weak tea.

I got an order of each with a small white rice, ate one of each and a little of the rice and was surprisingly full. Ellen wanted nothing to do with either style, she is not an egg roll fan in general.

There is a dollar premium for the Kow Kow style, $6 for two large egg rolls. Which did I prefer, the Kow Kow by a hair as it was crispier. According to the all-knowing Louisa Chu another difference is the Kow Kow style uses napa instead of standard cabbage. Both have peanut butter as an ingredient.

click to enlarge



Kow Kow style on the right.

Egg Rolls, count me a Fan!

I thought Sun Shui in Arlington Heights was the uncontroversial answer to this question. I don't know about peanut butter, but fairly certain about napa cabbage IIRC. And their dipping sauces are up to snuff. Also like half those Mee Maw prices last I recall a few months ago.

I know jimswside (username RIP) did an exhaustive egg roll hunt all over IL but where does one go for quality egg rolls in the same general vicinity as Kow Kow? I'm in Park Ridge and getting to Sun Wah is a pain (though I am doing their Glenview pick up tonight - excited!) and I'm wondering what the consensus pick is for quality, peanut butter style egg rolls in the near NW suburbs. Even if they aren't battered like Kow Kow's, how about just the general quality/flavor of them? Is Mee Mah's the best option now? Or are there others if one can be a little forgiving on style points?

DClose wrote:I know jimswside (username RIP) did an exhaustive egg roll hunt all over IL but where does one go for quality egg rolls in the same general vicinity as Kow Kow? I'm in Park Ridge and getting to Sun Wah is a pain (though I am doing their Glenview pick up tonight - excited!) and I'm wondering what the consensus pick is for quality, peanut butter style egg rolls in the near NW suburbs. Even if they aren't battered like Kow Kow's, how about just the general quality/flavor of them? Is Mee Mah's the best option now? Or are there others if one can be a little forgiving on style points?

While I'm not a connoisseur of egg rolls - China Chef in Morton Grove puts out a very respectable product.
5920 Lincoln Ave.
Morton Grove, IL 60053
(847) 967-6050
https://www.chinachef.org/

DClose wrote:I know jimswside (username RIP) did an exhaustive egg roll hunt all over IL

Off topic, but I miss jimswide and his posts.