Susan Blumberg-Kason

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Back to Broadway

September 8, 2013 By Susan Blumberg-Kason 2 Comments

Ever since I turned 40, my husband Tom, number one son Jake, and I have been going to hole-in-the-wall restaurants for my birthday. We’ve done Ethiopian, Costa Rican, Korean, and last night Vietnamese.

Inside Tank Noodles

We trekked out to New Chinatown, an area on the northside of Chicago where my family and I would shop and eat in the 1980s. Settled by ethic Chinese from Vietnam, this area was closer to my childhood home than the older Chinatown that was founded in 1912. Our favorite restaurant back then was Mekong, a red-and-white-checkered tablecloth eatery on the corner of Argyle and Broadway.

Mekong is long gone, but in its place is Tank Noodles, one of the most popular Vietnamese places in the city. The leisurely atmosphere of Mekong has been replaced by a frenetic restaurant where strangers share tables and slurp bowls of hot pho in close proximity.

tankrainynight

We started with shrimp spring rolls and these stuffed shrimp cakes.

Stuffed Shrimp Cake

Jake and I ordered pho. Tom had a noodle dish (sans soup) with chicken, beef, and seafood. Here’s my bowl of pho tai, or pho with beef slices. It’s the plainest item on the pho menu.

Pho Tai

But Jake didn’t hold back, and ordered the XL Tank pho, complete with tripe, tendons, beef balls, beef brisket, and beef slices.

For dessert, we ordered “sweetie” banana cake.

Banana Sweetie Cake

It was nice to be in familiar territory again. Although I’ve lived back in Chicago for 13 years now, I haven’t spent enough time revisiting old childhood haunts. No better time than for a birthday!

Tom Jake and me

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Asian Food and Drinks, Raising Multi-Cultural Kids

Comments

  1. Stuart Beaton says

    September 8, 2013 at 11:14 pm

    Happy Birthday – the food all looks great!

    Reply
    • Susan Blumberg-Kason says

      September 11, 2013 at 8:09 pm

      Thanks so much! It was quite good! Now back to reality of chauffeuring and packing lunches!

      Reply

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