Urban Belly by Chef Bill Kim

www.urbanbellychicago.com

Visit date: March 09

Day #1 of eating in Chicago. As soon as we drop off our bags at the Fairmont, we hop in a 20-minute cab ride out to the burbs of Chicago to Urban Belly. We've been up since 3am California time and we're hungry! Funny thing is that the cab driver has no idea where the place is so I have to Google it for him. Urban Belly is in between a coin-op laundromat and a dry cleaner – reminds me of the little random plazas growing up in LA.

Why Urban Belly? I did a lot of research before this trip and Chef Bill Kim's name kept coming up. Not super important, but both his restaurants Urban Belly and Belly Shack also made Michelin Guide's Bib Gourmand 2011. Chef Kim is known for reinventing Asian food, but not in a fine-dining pretentious way. The restaurant itself is very modest with 4 large wooden communal tables seating 10 at a time. Diners are asked to order at the counter and then just self-serve utensils and water, and find a seat – very on par with hole-in-the-wall restaurants.

The menu is divided into dumplings, rice, noodles and sides, all things that are dear to me. I can't even rank the order I love these the most! Dumplings conjure memories of back alleyways in Taiwan serving steaming hot dumplings that my dad would buy me when he was done with work. Rice is just a staple that I CANNOT live without because it goes with everything. It's my potatoes of a white person's meat and potatoes. Noodles here means noodle soup, which is just simple comfort food for me.

lamb and brandy dumplings served with
edamame, soy/vinegar syrup, chilies

For someone like me who's not a big fan of lamb and its gamey taste, these dumplings are good. I still taste lamb but it doesn't overwhelm me. I actually eat more because I'm amazed by the mild flavor. And notice how the dumpling is stuffed in the shape of a rectangle with the perfect amount of filling. Even with my love of dumpling skin, I like restaurants that know how to please its customers and give the right skin to filling ratio – I feel like I'm getting my money's worth on these dumplings.

lamb and brandy dumplings served with
edamame, soy/vinegar syrup, chilies

duck and pho spices dumplings served with
shredded braised cabbage

Wow... I keep thinking that I'm actually eating a bowl of pho soup! On my last dumpling, I take small bites to savor the taste and try to figure out what Chef Kim has done. I'm sure it's just in the meat marinade, but every Vietnamese pho recipe is different, taking days to make the perfect broth. This concoction is a wonder!

urban belly ramen – pork belly, shiitake, pho broth

The broth is a little sweet (probably from the shiitake) and not as flavorful after tasting the pho spiced dumplings. I'm guessing the spices in the dumpling were once powder and more potent versus in a soup that can dilute flavor. Overall, it's still a good bowl of noodle soup – not overly done with fancy accoutrements as some of the other ramen bowls I've had.

rice noodle – hominy, kimchi and spicy pork broth

This bowl of soup has rice cakes... and hominy... and kimchi... and spicy pork broth... Enough said :)