Me and a few friends had been talking about exploring Chicago’s Chinatown for some time. We finally agreed on a time and five of us piled into a two-door Solara and hit the road. My friend Voe speaks fluent Vietnamese and Mandarin and had been to Chinatown before. As we arrived a downpour began. We circled the area looking for the best place to explore until Voe found IT.
IT was a inconspicuous spot on the corner of Argyle St and Broadway – it was everything a hole in the wall should be. Cramped, noisy and full of strange and delightful smells. We waited for 20 minutes in the door jam because there was no where else to stand we wanted to escape the pouring rain. When we were seated, Voe immediately began to order. He was having a conversation with the waitress and using exaggerated hand gestures. I was a little frightened. Then the food started coming like an assembly line. Sugar cane and coconut milk right from the husk. Cold mango bubble tea. Vietnamese crapes and barbecued pork that we wrapped in lettuce with mint and cilantro. Almond chicken and shrimp spring rolls with Thai basil. Tempura shrimp and egg rolls. Then came the hot pot; a boiling pot of pho broth set on a butane element in the middle of the table. We each got our choice of noodles in a bowl, and two plates of ingredients. The first was a veggie plate that contained raw broccoli, carrots, baby corn, chestnuts, bamboo shoots and more. The second was a meat plate with mussels, scallops, squid, beef, chicken and a few things I had never seen before. You just dropped them in and took out what you wanted to eat. It was a lot of fun and a big mess. We couldn’t figure out the whole chopstick thing. We had them bring us a ladle and forks.
We took our time and ate slowly, just enjoying being away from Navy base and all the craziness of school . In all it took us more than two hours to eat and by that time the rain had stopped. We went out for a stroll in the local shops. We tried dried squid and shrimp and ate candy ginger. It began to rain again so I bought us all cheep little umbrellas from a street vendor. Then it stopped raining and the sun came out. Figures right?
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