“Naperville’s finest niu rou mian,” tweeted a certain local food critic recently, with a link to a picture of the soup we were lunching on at Mapo Restaurant.
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But in fact Naperville and its west-suburban neighbors are home to many notable versions of this beloved Chinese beef noodle soup, not to mention hard-to-find specialties like hand-pulled noodles and the medicinal herb soup bak kat teh. And there’s a good reason for this. As in the outliers of other metropolitan centers—the San Gabriel Valley outside LA, Flushing, Queens—critical mass has created a demand for a representative authentic cuisine. Chinese account for around 3 to 4 percent of the population in suburbs like Naperville, Westmont, and Lisle, and the broader Asian population accounts for just under 10 percent. That’s according to the 2000 census; more recent demographic data shows that approximately 40,000 Chinese live throughout suburban Chicagoland—significantly more than in Chicago proper.
Chinese restaurants in the western suburbs tend to reflect both regional allegiances and a regard for the pan-Asian community. Taiwanese-owned Fabulous Noodles (4663 Old Tavern Rd., Lisle, 630-305-8868, fabulousnoodles.com) prepares amazingly good renditions of Cantonese classics like beef with bitter melon over wok-blistered chow fun noodles or lo bak go, panfried turnip cake studded with nuggets of crispy cured pork. Yet the chef has the chops to switch gears and deliver a rock-solid version of northern-style vegetarian chicken (marinated tofu skin rolled and filled with bamboo shoots and shiitakes) or Hong Kong-style wonton noodle soup, as well as chop suey and kung pao. The former co-owners of Fabulous Noodles execute an almost identical menu equally well at Noodles Delight (853 E. Nerge, Roselle, 630-307-1010, noodlesdelight.com).
