The Lim family opened their first restaurant on the corner of Armitage and Kostner Avenues in Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood in March 1986.
It was called Kim Long—which means Golden Dragon in Chinese—and it served Chinese-American classics like chop suey and chow mein, back at a time when dishes cost less than $5.
Forty years later, not long is Kim Long still around (albeit half a mile away in Belmont-Cragin, located at 5114 West Fullerton Avenue), but the Lim children, eight of the nine, are working in the restaurant business.
Between them, they own five restaurants and two donut shops in Chicago.
One of the restaurants, Hermosa, has broken through to the national conversation. Chef Ethan Lim runs a sandwich shop during the day, but by night, serves a highly acclaimed Cambodian tasting menu.
The Lim family is ethnically Chinese, but settled in Cambodia in the early 20th century. The menus at Kim Long and sister restaurant Googoo’s Table, located at 4356 West Armitage Avenue, reflect the Lim’s heritage. You can find fan favorite Chinese-American classics here (orange chicken, Mongolian beef, egg rolls), but less well-known are the Cambodian dishes. You just have to know where to look.
Many of these Cambodian dishes are powered by an herbs paste called kroeung: galangal, lemongrass, lime leaves, among them. Fried in a sizzling wok with chicken (at Kim Long it’s deceptively titled “Spicy Chicken”), it’s a vegetable stir-fry with a spicy, sour, savory flavor, immediately identified with Southeast Asian flavors.
At Googoo’s Table, kroeung gets sizzled in hot oil before it’s integrated in a soup (called beef spicy sour lemongrass noodle soup). Deeply comforting and tingly on the palate, the soup has a tom yum-quality that’s alluring on a cold winter’s night.
Hence then, the article about on chicago s northwest side 2 great chinese american restaurants with cambodian roots was published today ( ) and is available on NBC Chicago ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( On Chicago's Northwest Side, 2 great Chinese-American restaurants with Cambodian roots )
Also on site :