Boba tea, coffee, fruit drinks are all on the menu at The Wolf, so is the world’s most popular sandwich, banh mi – according to TasteAtlas. On June 14 the family run shop celebrated its grand opening in the Hemingway District at 134 N. Oak Park Ave.
This is the family-run business’ second location. The first is in North Riverside. In both, owner Danny Ly says they strive to serve the highest quality and most authentic ingredients.
It starts with Boba tea, or Bubble tea as it’s also called. The drink, which adds small tapioca balls to chilled tea, rose to popularity in Asia in the 1980s. The beverage has become a national symbol of Taiwan.
“We import the ingredients from Taiwan, a home of boba tea,” Ly said. “That costs more, but the quality is higher. It’s better, tastes fresh.”
That same attention is given to coffee too, from beans to brewing.
“Our coffee is Vietnamese. We use a phin to brew our coffee. It takes longer to brew. There is a higher coffee to water ratio. Our coffee is bold and strong,” Ly said.
The phin filter method is typical in Vietnam, which is the world’s number one exporter of robusta coffee beans. Robusta coffee is less acidic and also less fruity than arabica beans. This lends itself to an array of coffee flavor pairings in the shop: tiramisu, crème brûlée, matcha, ube, to name a few.
Milk tea comes in many flavors as well: brown sugar, strawberry, mango, matcha with salted cream and more. Slushies and smoothies combine all these flavors with a whole host of other fresh fruits.
One customer at the grand opening had been to The Wolf’s North Riverside location and is glad to see this one open.
“I’m a fan of boba and it’s nice to have an option on this side of town. The OPRF kids are going to love this. Other places are too far to walk to from school and get back in time during lunch,” Justin Jones said.
All the drink variety tee up another part of the menu, the snacks and sandwiches.
“Our mission is to bring authentic banh mi to the Oak Park community,” Ly said. “Banh mi is Vietnams most popular street food.”
This sandwich starts with a pillowy French bread roll. Nestled inside is a veggie bed of carrot, cucumbers, daikon radish, jalapeno and cilantro. On top of that sits one of several protein options: Vietnamese ham, shredded chicken or tofu (which makes a vegan option).
“There is not a lot of Vietnamese food in the area. I love banh mi!” said Emily Grossi. “I had the mini, 6-inch breadstick versions here and loved it.”
Grossi and her kids, Fiona and Nels, ordered drinks and were waiting to try another food choice on the menu: mini pancakes, served with fruit and whipped cream.
Another snack is a croffle, which is a croissant transformed by a waffle iron. You can get them either plain or with ham and cheese inside. Vietnamese spring rolls with shrimp are available too.
Owner Danny Ly explained the symbolism of the restaurant’s name.
“The Wolf was actually inspired by the qualities of wolves. They’re smart. They’re fast. And they work well in groups. They’re strong as a group. And good teamwork, so that’s what we want our staff. We want our staff to have the qualities of the wolf,” said Ly.
Welcome the pack to Oak Park!
Know before you go
thewolfbobatea.com
134 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park
Open daily 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
