For certain species of north-siders, suburbanites, and tourists, Chinatown might as well be in China. The reasons are manifold. The very idea of navigating the Land Rover around the south side is out of the question. Didn’t someone say someone found bedbugs on the Red Line? Why spend money on an Uber when you could drop it on that sweet Tilted Kilt wife-beater?
OK, I don’t know if that last part is true about Ben Ruiz, but I do know he’s been the chef at Bar Marta for a while. That’s the Humboldt Park restaurant Baker and others opened when they left the nest at Brendan Sodikoff’s Hogsalt Hospitality. They have great steak frites at Bar Marta. But they don’t have fried rice.
If you get in a certain mind-set, there’s something about eating Sichuanese food that does feel a bit like walking over hot coals. You reflect upon the tiny flame icons signaling the spice levels on specific dishes and you wonder, “How much can I take?” And then your central nervous system reminds you what endorphins do and you order the ma po tofu, dan dan noodles, dry chile prawns, and fiery fried chicken all at once.
About that fried rice. For ballers Won Fun offers a $24.99 plate with roasted duck and foie gras, but a few of the more prosaic versions, like a basic egg-and-scallion variant ($11.99) and one with shrimp missing some promised smoked catfish ($19.99), are priced at a level commensurate with the rents this neighborhood commands, while offering little in terms of execution or quality of product to recommend them over anything you can find in Chinatown.
905 W. Randolph 312-877-5967 funfunchinese.com
