Sun Wah BBQ

-Grubbing in Chicago
Where the locals eat.

It's time for one of them epic posts, you know the ones that after reading your starving thinking about how good I eat this city and it's top food stops up, wouldn't you agree? Let's get at it. If you saw the Chicago episode of the recently new show on Food network called Meat & Potatoes then you saw today's place which is one of my favorite stops in the city. In fact I was at Sun Wah BBQ the day they were filming the segment on it for food network. Except this wasn't my first time like it was the hosts and his crew, this was an uncountable visit. Those of us that have been going to Sun Wah for a while now remember when it was back in its little spot around the corner on Argyle right off the train line. With its booming success and popularity they have since moved into a bigger building around the corner on Broadway. They now have more room for both the kitchen/butcher area as well as people dining.


a city wide favorite along Broadway in Uptown

Sun Wah is one of the best family owned and run restaurants in the city with the entire fam being involved in one way or another and always making sure service is smooth, the food is good and your dining experience enjoyable. It's impossible to pass by when you get a view of the Chinese bbq from outside, it attracts me in every time.


Chinese bbq in the window

It was possible to keep on pushing this post back since there are so many good options to eat at Sun Wah. The menu has 200+ Cantonese and Hong Kong style dishes and noodles and wontons are made in house. I could go there ten more times and keep getting different items off their menu and always be satisfied. I do have a few things that I order on different occasions or if I feel like feastin', then all in one order. Two things that remain a constant in every visit I make to Sun Wah are the hot pepper soy sauce (ask for it at the table or when picking up an order to go) Its just soy sauce infused with sliced super hot peppers and is not for the faint of spice. The stuff is legitimately spicy and will have you sweating if you use too much. I love a little mixed in with almost anything I'm eating from there.


pepper infused soy sauce

The other constant is an order of bbq pork fried rice. As you'll see as you read on the bbq pork at Sun Wah is stellar and they always do up a perfect batch of fried rice. I would recommend getting to Sun Wah with a group so you can try a few different things off the menu. However if you go solo they have stuff for you too at a really great price. Even if I'm solo and picking up just for myself I get a fried rice to have in the fridge for the next day. Some of the best fried rice in the city. I know it doesn't take much to make a good fried rice but so many places screw it up, not Sun Wah.


Sun Wah's bbq pork fried rice

Then there's the beef chow fun. While this dish might not the most adventurous eat on the menu, it's without a doubt one of my favorites. I'm a sucker for a good beef chow fun and Sun Wah's is the best in Chicago. In order for a chow fun to be superb it need a few things and Sun Wah achieves all three with theirs. The noodles are cooked up perfectly in an extra hot wok and the veggies are always fresh. So check and check. Lastly is the beef, so many places have awful beef in their beef dishes and in alot of cases you might wonder if it even is that. At Sun Wah they got it figured out and the beef is always tender with little fat and never chewy. I give them a ton of credit for this because at too many places it isn't like this at all. I eat it up every time.


Beef chow fun

Even though I did say that Sun Wah is great for a group, its just as good for a solo diner. They have the best lunch plates in the city and this is for both price and taste. They take their famous Chinese bbq which has options like roast duck, bbq pork, roast pork, soy sauce chicken, and ribs and you choose your choice and then a huge pile of meat goes atop a heaping mound of white rice and it comes with Chinese broccoli and half of a hard boiled egg. These individual lunch plates could feed two in some cases and cost less than $6. They will also let you do a combo if your having trouble choosing your meats. I'm a big fan of the soy sauce chicken. They are marinated boneless chicken thighs that are sliced up after cooking and can be highly addicting.


Soy sauce chicken individual lunch plate

The house bbq is the biggest draw for people into Sun Wah. Some of the items not pictured on here that I love include the salt baked chicken, bbq duck and bbq spare ribs with honey. But the main draw for me is the house pork. Sun Wah is thee Chinese place for all things pig and their Hong Kong style roast pork is from the high heavens. It doesn't matter which way you order it, by the pound, in a lunch plate or in your soup, it will all be good and a big part of that is the pig. I can assure you we will be taking a 2nd look at Sun Wah here on this site in the future. Stay tuned.


BBQ Pork from Sun Wah

Sun Wah BBQ
5039 N Broadway
Chicago, Illinois 60640
(773) 769-1254
Website

Tierra Caliente

-Eating like a Mayan King in the Windy City

Its already time for another holiday special. So get the tequila and Tecate ready because were celebrating Cinco de Mayo at S'C'&C. I am a man who loves me some Mexican food. Its tough to pick and choose one single cuisine as your favorite but it is and always has been Mexican for me. Since I am from Chicago it isn't something that is very foreign to me. I've been enjoying the food and culture since I was a youngin. I am very confident in my belief that Chicago is as good of a city as any in the US and probably the best when it comes to good Mexican food stops. I know some of you already sayng "no way, its LA dude" and some are saying "Houston has the best" and others from NYC are claiming they "have the best" like they do everything in New York. I wouldn't put NYC in the top 20 cities for Mexican cuisine in the country. But the truth is Chicago has the highest Mexican population east of LA and Mexicans living in Chicago come from all 31 Mexican states so all different type of its cuisine can be found here. I waited to bring this spot to you over the holiday because it is one of the Chi's best taquerias in a city with 5,000+ of them.


a locals favorite at Ashland and Blackhawk

Chicago has so many Mexican restaurants and grocery stores with taquerias inside that 1000s can go unnoticed to people not living near them and they stay under the radar just like Tierra Caliente was up until this past year. But there is good reason this grocery store with a taqueria inside has grown an army of followers from the city to the suburbs, from the gringos to the vatos and anyone who's ever paid a visit to one of the cities great lunch stops. The grocery store is your typical neighborhood Mexican grocery store and has produce and a meat counter to go with the other essentials for grocery goods for its Mexican based clientele. When you enter and go to the back and look to the right you'll see some tables a counter and a little kitchen that slang's out tacos (that's what you get here) and some really good specials on the weekend such as menudo. I haven't had the pleasure of trying any of the soup but the star of the show here are the tacos al pastor.


The main attraction at Tierra Caliente

I have always loved the Mexican gyro taco and have been on the hunt for places that actually use a cone, cut the meat off of it and cook near perfect al pastor. I have found my place like so many others already have. The tacos al pastor at Tierra Caliente are seasoned full of flavor and when you get them on a good day they are the best $2 can get you that I know of around here. Since the cone needs time to go around and get crispy charred pieces of pork if you catch them on an on day, these are as good of a taco as you can get in a city with unlimited supply of them.


taco al pastor from Tierra Caliente

The counter is pretty much always packed at lunchtime and until recently it was with mostly Mexicans who know where the best bang for your buck on tacos in the city is at. The guys working the taqueria are good men and stuff the tacos with about as much meat as you can get in a tortilla. Even though there isn't much space this place puts out some great dishes like birria de chiva (goat) which is rich and full of amazing flavor. They cook the goat up in this huge pot for hours on end and take the stew meat and make amazing tacos and gorditas that just cant be matched with that I have found elsewhere. The birria here has made my love for long braised goat meat as big as it ever was. I've never been a big fan of goats. That's why I like to eat them.


birria de chiva taco

-Got Beef? tacos de carne asada

The steak tacos sometimes are an afterthought over at Tierra when the al pastor spit is sitting there in front of you rolling around tempting you with its hourglass figure and the aroma from the birria de chiva floods the air. But this is a place that does up wonderful tacos and the tacos de carne asada are very good options here too. The steak is very good when the place is packed because its being thrown on the grill and then chopped up and stuffed in tortillas within minutes of being cooked. So if its really packed and you can smell steak in the air then its a good time to get some steak tacos. If its real slow inside then you get al pastor tacos.


Steak taco from Tierra Caliente

Rating Scale 5/5

steak: 4 (when fresh off the grill)
cilantro/onions: 4
tortilla: 4
salsa: 5

Score: 17/20
________________________________

It doesn't end there my friends as far as top notch taco selections. Tierra does up different types of taco campechanos which according to the good people at LTH refers to something from the "Campeche city or state, bridge to the Yucatan" These tacos are basically combos of two different meat selections available and can be on special over the weekends and other various days. They do have a taco campechano on the menu board which consists of the al pastor and carne asada both featured above. These favorites of mine are like Mexican cuisines ode to the almighty Chicago combo. I love them. What's not to like about beef and pork? Not a damn thing! The same answer goes for what's not to like about Tierra Caliente? Not a damn thing! Happy Cinco De Mayo.


Tierra Calientes tribute to the combo

Tierra Caliente
1402 N Ashland Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
773-772-9804

Conte Di Savoia

-Lunch under $7 so you don't gotta eat at Subway

I've noticed quite a few new Subway's opening up around the city...WTF?!?!? to go with this they still have those corny commercials on the air what seems like all the time. Well lets just say if your going to Subway in this city you need to move to Rockford or something. Your taking up parking spots, contributing to traffic jams and eating garbage all while living in a city rich in food. So today we head off to the Taylor street area to stop in at an old time locals favorite. Its been since 1948 that Conte Di Savoia has been supplying the residents of Little Italy with European groceries, with an emphasis on Italian, as well as soup, sandwiches, picnic baskets and everything else that comes with a family owned grocery store that's been doing it up right for over 60 years.


a Little Italy staple

"For Italian families with a little more cash to spend, the large import stores on the Near West Side provided a supplement or sometimes an alternative to the neighborhood store. Terese DeFalco remembered Fiore's Grocery at Loomis and Taylor but also, "there were the big grocery stores on Halsted and Taylor that we used to go to for our weekly shopping. That would be for the olive oil, the olives and bacalà and dry garlic. They'd sell it in bulk....Whereas your grocery stores didn't." "Taylor and Halsted, well that was the capital. That's where everybody used to go," according to Louis Panico. Bountiful sidewalk displays tempted shoppers. At Conte Si Savoia, on Halsted Street, "Outside would be the wicker baskets with all the snails in them and the codfish, which is the bacalà, the dried codfish. Clams and mussels were just...it was unbelievable and all the olive oils." From the stores website.


Pic from website

Time has changed and with it so has Conte Di Savoia. Not in a bad way but in a way to accommodate its neighbors and customers. It was in 1948 they began doing more than just groceries and started making homemade soups, salads, pasta specials and sandwiches made with fresh sliced deli meats. The goal has remained the same in that they strive to provide the best quality products with great service at an even better price. Its a popular lunchtime stop with students and workers of all types. It makes sense when you try some of their offerings. The original location is at 1428 w. Taylor Street and they have since opened a spot a few blocks down at 2227 w. Taylor. One of their better deals is a Italian sub for $2.99 available after 3p. Its an appetizing sandwich and the price makes it even better not that it wouldn't still be good at it's regular price.


Conte Di Savoia's Italian Sub

The 2227 w. Taylor location will usually have a pasta special or two to go with their soups and salads. I try and get over there every now and then and pick up their lasagna special whenever I'm feeling like a meaty Italian dish. I think its something like $6.95 and it comes with a few pieces of bread and you can add a soup for a little extra. I've never been in there when the place was empty and the service is always great. Whats a damn shame is there's a Subway on Taylor street and some people, I don't know who, eat there. Do yourself a favor next time your in the hood and stop in for a nice light refreshing lunch.


Conte Di Savoia's lasagna with meat sauce

Conte Di Savoia
1438 W Taylor St
Chicago, IL 60607-4623
(312) 666-3471
2 locations
Website

Lunch & Groceries from El Mercado

-Lunch under $6 so you don't gotta eat at Subway

Oh my God! guess what? The Subway $5 for any footlong promotion is back...and so are the annoying commercials that come with it. Don't waste your time and be sucked in and settle for debris when you can get way better for the same price with a little bit of knowing where to go. At the corner of Southport and Grace is El Mercado food Mart, a little corner grocery store specializing in South American goods. Its great that the little corner shop has withstood the redevelopment of the Lakeview neighborhood and the 4 or 5 Subways that are scattered about it.


Lakeviews best kept secret

I imagine that this is what alot of local grocery stores are like in neighborhoods around towns and cities in Argentina. They have a fully stocked meat case tended by a real butcher with great cuts of beef and homemade sausage. If you need any type South American ingredients you will likely find them here. One of the most popular items is the homemade chimichurri sauce available at the butcher counter for a ridiculously low price. Here's a little secret, its the same sauce that the popular Argentine steakhouse Tango Sur next door uses. They offer fresh baked empanadas and other South American bakery treats. The pop selection alone is enough to make you think of all the pop, soda, cola whatever you wanna call it out there in the world that you haven't tried. Even better is the fact that there is a Jewel right down the street and although they don't carry as much as Jewel, seeing as it's much smaller, what they do carry is better than Jewel's selection in both quality and price by a longshot. I am told that they carry the largest selection of Yerba mate in the city if that's your thing. I bet whatever mass produced chimichurri marinade Jewel sells is triple the price of the homemade authentic jars at El Mercado. Seriously if your making lunch at home get a jar of this stuff at $2-$3 and make some pasta or grill a piece of beef or chicken and a side and it will still be cheaper than going to Subway.


The empanada case upon entering


Peruvian Chix empanada (L) Argentinian Beef (R)

I have been a frequent visitor to El Mercado grocery and meat market in Wrigleyville for a few years now. Its a great little neighborhood corner grocery that has withstood the local development of every franchise out there and its one of a kind in the area and these are the places I love. When you first walk in the smell of the fresh baked empanada's that sit on the counter hit you in the face in a oh so good way. These little guys are a steal at a little over a dollar each. I'm partial to the Argentinian beef one's that come with ground beef mixed with onions, raisins, green olives and a slice of hard boiled egg, try finding anything this good on the McDollar menu. When you walk out the door you got three empanadas of choice and a can of pop for under six dollars. El Mercado has the largest selection of bottled pop's and drinks from all sorts of Latin American country's that I have ever seen. One of my favorites is a canned pop simply called "watermelon" I have no idea about it because the label tells you nothing. Great snack to bring in with you to a Cub's game if they still allow food from outside, I cant remember. This is one of my frequent stops during summertime for grilling material and a quick cheap bite that tastes good.


Two of my three 'nadas and Watermelon pop that were under $5 on a visit


Chicken (L) Beef (R)

El Mercado Grocery
3767 N Southport
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 477-5020

Bangin' Biryani

-Lunch under $6 so you don't gotta eat at Subway

Chicago's famous Devon ave has finally made its way onto my site and its fitting that its in the cheap lunch segment. When people talk of their favorite streets for eating in the city Devon ave is always on that list. It's a stretch where you can encounter many different immigrant groups with a heavy population of people from all over India included on that list. If you want a great mix of Indian snack and sweet shops with restaurants and grocery stores with produce and spices from this region then this is your place to find them. One of my favorite stops on the strip is Ghareeb Nawaz which is one of the best places for cheap eats in the city. Its fitting that a place that's name translates to "benefactor of the poor" would pack quite alot of food for the low price's they have.


GN is a little further east down Devon than most other Indian spots

The menu at GN is pretty expansive with nothing being more than $7/$8 and every item being abundant in food so its really easy to fill up on tasty food at a great price. I am by no means an expert in Indian cuisine and still very much an amateur but I do know when a dish packs a punch of flavor and the chicken and lamb biryani do just that. I hope to one day bring you the full menu and many different dishes that they excel in but for now all I know is the biryani because thats what I get, even if it wasn't great food at $3.95 its a steal for the amount of it you get. The family of biryani consists primarily of dishes from south Asia and is also an Indian style of fried rice with theirs being Muslim style biryani.


packed deep into the container is biryani and fall off the bone chicken

I think that this could be the best meal in the city for under $5 because it could easily be eaten for lunch and dinner or even breakfast, this a great place to eat before you do any shopping in the area. I'm also a huge fan of the lamb biryani which is just a buck more and their fried chicken and samosa's which run you a mere 50 cents a piece. It's not even about the price for me here, its the amazing flavor in the fried rice and the amount you get is enough to fill you up for sure. Like my guy Bob Barker would say "The price is right" and don't forget to have your pets spayed or neutered.


The biryani plate comes with yogurt sauce, shown here is half of the order

Ghareeb Nawaz
2032 W. Devon Avenue
Chicago, IL 60659
773-761-5300