If you haven’t been to Evanston lately, you haven’t been to Evanston. The city has sprouted well beyond being a Northwestern University enclave and a small in-the-shadow-of-Chicago community. New restaurants and high-rise condos have completely changed the cityscape. And what is old is new again in the guise of LuLu’s restaurant, an Evanston favorite since 1991, now in a new location. It has kept the best of its old menu and has also added some wonderful new choices.
LuLu’s is pan Asian — blending cuisines from various Asian countries such as Thailand, China, and Korea; the result is delicious.
The Atmosphere
LuLu’s is casual and generally quite busy in the evenings. In the nearly three hours my friend and I dined, the room changed over twice, though we never felt like they were trying to rush us out to turn the table over.
This storefront eatery with large floor-to-ceiling windows has two dining rooms. Why two? The owners had initially opened two restaurants (with one kitchen!) but the clientele for LuLu’s food kept expanding, so they succumbed to customer demand and created one big LuLu’s, double the size of the original.
If you have to wait to be seated, it’s rarely more than 10-minutes. Amuse yourself with the display of rubber Godzillas, by reading the community bulletin board that lists a host of area activities, or rubbing the belly of the Happy Hoti statue for good luck.
The Menu
Like many Chinese restaurants, you’ll find a wealth of choices here. Fortunately, they don’t number in the hundreds and go on for pages (I’ll have the number 5,085 please). Rather, LuLu’s divides its permanent menu into "Small Eats/dim sum" and "Big Eats" with some 30 choices between them and plenty of vegetarian and vegan items. There’s an additional "specials" menu listing and seasonal items as well as a daily special advertised by a simple slip of paper on your table.
The menu is the same for both lunch and dinner. Fresh large salads, udon noodle soups, and veggie spring rolls top the list of favorites here. LuLu’s also has expanded its drinks menu to include a selection of wine, beer, and cocktails such as the mai tai and Singapore sling complete with paper umbrellas.
Small Eats/dim sum items are all priced around $5, Big Eats/entrées range from $8 to $13. I’ve often had their Big Eats salad with tangy ginger dressing (I wish they’d bottle this dressing). But recently two of us shared a meal of Small Eats (topped off with a sinful chocolate brownie dessert). The coconut shrimp with a sweet-spicy chili sauce and fresh slaw was perfectly crisp, a tad on the sweet side but easily balanced with a shot of pepper sauce, standard on all tables. The potato croquettes with red chili aioli (mayo with spicy sauce) was deceiving. At first we both found it a bit bland but after a second bite we got the full flavor — you just can’t be too quick to judge. The hot and spicy eggplant braised with garlic and hosin sauce was my idea of perfection. They used whole baby eggplants rather than slices of large eggplants, which would have turned into a mush. The sauce had a bold bite but didn’t send me running for my beverage.
Clean Food Factor
Lulu’s doesn’t use any msg, ever, nor do they use any hydrogenated oils. Salad dressings are made with olive oil and vegetable oil (mostly soy) is used in other dishes. Owner Dan Kelch also points out that they don’t use woks because they typically require more oil. Dishes like pad Thai are often laden with oil but at LuLu’s they use water to steam the noodles and veggies then finish the sauté with fish sauce. Most of their noodle dishes are made this way. All sauces are homemade; noodles come from various places — some fresh from Chicago’s Chinatown others fresh frozen from Japan.
Final Word
The portions are large and LuLu’s will spilt or half order any Big Eats. If you can’t decide among the many mouth-watering choices, try the Bento Box, which contains an assortment of favorites such as steamed spinach, pot stickers, and sesame noodles.
If you haven’t been to Evanston recently, LuLu’s is a great reason to head north. The parking is getting tight but a city lot a half block away is free for the first hour and just $2 after that.
LuLu’s dim sum & then sum, 804 Davis, Evanston; 847-869-4343. Open daily Monday through Thursday from 11:30 am to 10:00 pm; Friday and Saturday from 11:30 am to 11:00 pm; Sunday from 11:30 am to 9:00 pm.
JoAnn Milivojevic is a freelance writer whose articles on food, fitness, and travel have appeared in magazines nationwide.