Chicago celebrates AAPI Restaurant Week with mouth-watering lineup
Chicago celebrates AAPI Restaurant Week with mouth-watering lineup
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, so to help celebrate the city is hosting AAPI Restaurant Week.
CHICAGO - It’s a great time to discover a new spot to eat — though every day is a good day for Asian food.
At Bites Asian Kitchen, located at 3313 N. Clark St., owners Asana Nokornchai and Derek Intapura are celebrating their roots and success in Chicago’s Lake View neighborhood.
The duo now owns three restaurants in the area, including Café Flamingo and their newest venture, Felix. But it all started with Bites.
Signature Dishes:
Standing behind a table full of signature dishes, Intapura shared some highlights.
"So here on the table, we got a spread of some of our best sellers," he said. "First we got here our tuna to style. After that, we've got our chicken Pad Thai. This one's really popular here. After that is the Crying Tiger marinated flank steak…"
Also on the table: beef rib ramen, which was recently featured on Food Network’s "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives"; soft shell crab mentaiko pasta, topped with shrimp, flying fish roe and tempura-fried crab; grilled galbi short ribs with kimchi fried rice; and the 24k maki — a sushi roll with truffle tuna, edible gold and black tobiko, served with pickled wasabi.
The final fusion dish? Smoked brisket chow mein.
The backstory:
Nokornchai and Intapura, both Thai American, grew up surrounded by Asian cuisine and now serve dishes influenced by many cultures.
Mabel Menard with OCA Chicago organized this year’s AAPI Restaurants Week — the fourth annual event.
"It started as an idea in 2021, just to see if we could do something similar to what other cities have done," she said. "We launched in 2022 with 34 restaurants. Now we have 58."
"It started out as an idea in 2021 just to see if we could do something similar that other cities have done. So we started in 2022 with 34 restaurants, and now we have 58. Yeah, and it's really about supporting AAPI restaurant owners regardless of cuisines, actually. So even though we obviously have a lot of Asian restaurants, we also have a lot of other restaurants… we're really excited," Menard added.