Armour Square

On the morning of New Year's Eve Megan, Ally and I hopped in my car for a quick trip down to Armour Square. Armour Square includes several diverse enclaves, but is best known as the home of Chicago's Chinatown. This area is where we would spend the entirety of our trip. We parked in a pay-lot at the corner of Cermack and Wentworth, right below the Red Line El stop, and crossed Cermack into the heart of Chinatown.

When you walk down the streets of Chinatown, nobody needs to tell you you're in Chinatown. Our trek south down Wentworth Ave began by walking underneath a 25-foot tall red steel gate with green pagoda tops spanning the width of the street. Four large Chinese characters at the top of the gate either welcomed or mocked tourists, we imagined. Most of the signs were in Chinese, usually with smaller English translations below them. Whole chicken carcasses hung by their legs in storefront windows. Many of Chinatown's 6,000+ Chinese-American residents hurried along the crowded sidewalks minding their daily routines as occasional groups of tourists like ourselves ambled along slowly, gawking at the sights and stopping to take pictures.


The prime real estate near the big gate was taken up by some of the larger restaurants like Three Happiness and Panang Cuisine, several souvenir shops, and the ornate On Leong Merchant Association Building. But as we made our way down the street the scenery changed to more utilitarian establishments -- grocery stores, dental clinics, hardware stores, etc. After a leisurely 10-minute walk, we turned around and headed back to Royal Dragon Restaurant.

Royal Dragon is a nondescript Chinese Restaurant half a block down from the big gate on Wentworth. Around noon on a Sunday it was about 70% full with a mostly Chinese clientele (a good sign?). We still waited about 10 minutes for a table for some reason. As we waited near the small (but fully stocked) bar in the front of the restaurant, we perused the English versions of their take-out menus. Like many of the restaurants in Chinatown, Royal Dragon specializes in dim sum, a traditional Cantonese lunch consisting of many light dishes served family style. Though the dim sum looked fun, we were starving and ended up opting for the Americanized lunch specials. Once we were seated the service was quick and the hot and sour soup was excellent, but the main courses were mediocre at best. Then again, that's what I get for ordering sesame chicken in Chinatown...

We decided to get some dessert at a Chinese bakery for our obligatory second stop of the trip. We found the Wan Shi Da Bakery two doors down from Royal Dragon. Determined to get an authentic Chinese dessert after our unadventurous lunch choices, we browsed the display cases of the small shop. Nothing. The buns, cookies, and tarts just weren't doing it for us. I wasn't even up for the sweet and sour chicken legs that were soaking in a jar in the corner of the display case. After some deliberation, we crossed the street to try our luck at the Feida Bakery. There, we were greeted with the exact same choices--even the sweet and sour chicken legs. As Ally and Megan weighed their choices in the front of the store, I poked my head around a barrier to see what was happening in the back. The dingy back room was packed with old men sitting around circular tables drinking coffee, reading newspapers, and chatting away. I thought it an odd place for such a lively social gathering, but I guess it beats dropping $4 on a coffee at Starbucks. Finally, we settled on, of all things.....a chocolate chip cookie.

Hanging our heads in shame, we made a hasty retreat back to the car, laughing about our exotic trip to Chinatown. Even though we weren't our normal "when in Rome" selves, Megan and I had a good time on the brief trip catching up with Ally and observing the quirkiness of the neighborhood. So we'll let the lack of culinary adventure slide this time. After all, there was New Year's Eve-ing to do that night.