- Michael Gebert
- Hu Tieu Mi Thap Cam at Double Happiness
My interview with underground chef Julia Pham yesterday took place at a largely overlooked restaurant on the Vietnamese-Chinese strip in Uptown, Double Happiness at 1061 W. Argyle. It was good enough that the restaurant deserves commemoration in its own right. Which it’s never had; for all the acres of ink dedicated to our ethnic food scene, for all that Argyle-area spots like Sun Wah and Ba Le have gotten notice in mainstream publications, the only substantive discussion I could find about this place goes back to a Chowhound thread from 2003. On a street of shinier shops with neon signs, it is the definition of nondescript, a noodle joint that can be fairly described as an old folks’ diner—older staff, older clientele, and most definitely decor of an advanced age. Nothing about it says good food is inside, it could just as easily be a barber shop or a bookie joint. But we’ve been making a mistake passing it by.
Invisible as it was to non-Asians as we walked by, Double Happiness drew a steady crowd, conversing in Vietnamese, the entire time we were there, and you can see why it has lasted over two decades as a comfort-food spot for residents in the area. I’ll be back, now that it’s not invisible to me any longer, and hopefully you’ll want to see it too.
