Serious Eats: Chicago
No Chang in Chicago, No Problem: Pho Xua's Fried Duck Noodle Soup
In Chicago, we have not yet been blessed with a noodle god like Momofuku's David Chang. We've instead had to settle for noodles from a handful of lower level deities, like Tony Hu at Chinatown's Lao Szechuan or Vanna Gumtrontip at Spoon Thai. Last week, I discovered a new star to add to the mix. I may not actually know the star, as I didn't get the chef's name, but his fried duck noodle soup speaks quite well on his behalf.
Served at a new Argyle St./Little Vietnam storefront named Pho Xua, this bowl of soul is filled with a fresh nest of pliant egg noodles, a deep, rich ducky broth, and a fat, fried, crunchy-skinned duck leg, along with a garden of bok choy, scallions, and little earthy mushroom rafts. Slurping it down banished the seasonal mood swings I'd been indulging after a string of weeks of ubiquitous overcast, slate gray days of drizzle and chafing wind.
A bowl like this makes you wonder if we even need a high end chef to make great noodles. Sure, it would be nice to have the same bowl with a chunk of locally raised Gunthorp farm duck breast from Indiana, but the upside is there's never a shortage of reservations and the noodles are always cheap.
About the author: Michael Nagrant writes for Serious Eats from Chicago, where he also publishes Hungry magazine. Michael never met an organ meat he didn't like. He hopes to meet many more.
Pho Xua
Address: 1020 W Argyle Street, Chicago, IL 60640 (map)
Phone: 773-271-9828