Tao Ran Ju

     The sign on the door said the restaurant opened at 10:30.  We arrived at around 10:25; so we were early.  There were already a handful of people waiting outside.  Looking in through the door the lights were out.  Grace, her parents and I milled around the door till around until 10:35 - still no movement. So we decided to check the door, which was open.  So we walked into the dark dining room.  The light in the kitchen was on.  As we mulled walking back out two people pushed past us.  They looked at us quizzically, but quickly moved on into the kitchen.  The staff had started to arrive. 

We sat down at table on the side; at 10:40 when the wait staff arrived we got menus.  The head chef entered in a white t-shirt and seasoned apron at around 10:45 and the lights turned on. 

The tables were outfitted with tabletop burners, but it was breakfast time and I wasn’t in the mood for hot pot.  The menu other than the hot pot is a hodgepodge reflecting the Taiwanese chef and Yunnanese owner.  We ordered a few things as the restaurant staff got settled.  

            The xiao long bao (sometimes called soup dumplings) arrived first and I was pleased.  These were the first xiao long bao in Chicago, which I would eat again.  I had had some at other Chinese restaurants that would satisfy a craving, but not much else.  At Tao Ran Ju, the dumpling skin was thin but not so delicate as to tear on contact.    

 Then came the shredded pancake, which was like a lighter scallion pancake (minus the scallion).  The outer skin was crispy with a light salt.   

I could hardly pull myself away as the grilled beef rolls arrived.   Pretty standard beef rolls, but delicious nonetheless.  

The bok choy dumplings, 17 to an order, were nice.  Grace’s father perhaps said it best when he said it reminded him of his days back in Beijing.  

The house special noodle, a spicy beef noodle soup was as advertised.  One would hope that a Taiwanese chef would do justice to one of the countries signature dishes, and he does.   

            I have a special place in my heart for sticky rice roll.  It’s something that my own mother would make on occasion and I think this is the first time I’ve seen it on a Chicago menu. It’s essentially sticky rice around fried dough and preserved vegetables.  In this version the sticky rice gets a healthy coating of sesame seeds and makes a great snack and would make a great breakfast on the go, if it weren’t so big and unwieldy. 

            Tao Ran Ju is a nice change of pace for Chinatown.  For a long time I had felt that Chicago’s Chinatown was a bit stagnant and far behind cities like New York and LA.  But Tao Ran Ju and some other newer restaurants have brought a little spark back and a hope of better Chinese food.  We still have a ways to go, but this is a step in the right direction.