In my New Orleans childhood, we lived near Young’s Chinese Food, a Cantonese restaurant where I enjoyed biting into a crispy egg roll as it released a burst of steam, nibbling every speck of meat from tiny barbequed spare ribs, and sharing the delights of Egg Foo Young.
Fast forward several decades or more to Oak Park: Perhaps you, like me, have forsaken the old-fashioned Chinese restaurant for more contemporary fare. Perhaps you, like me, say the food can be salty, oily, predictable. You’ve moved on — to Thai or Fusion or New American.
Then, like a flash, a sudden craving for Shrimp Fried Rice!
Luo’s Peking House on Marion Street in Oak Park to the rescue. For $5.95, you receive a small white carton packed with heavenly Shrimp Fried Rice: crunchy bean pods, tiny tasty shrimp, and perfectly cooked rice — not too dry, not too oily.
Is it salty? God, yes.
Is it good? God, yes.
Is it gone? In a flash.
Karen Heller
Oak Park
Editor’s note: Do you have a “local craving” you’d like to tell us about? Email ktrainor@wjinc.com.
