The Chinese New Year parade, which will ring in the Year of the Dog across Chinatown on Sunday, is boisterous and wildly popular. But there are ways of celebrating other than with fireworks. A number of Chinese culinary traditions, often hidden away in the home, are tied to wishes for the New Year: for example, long strings of uncut noodles represent long life, tangerines good fortune, lotus seeds fecundity. What follows is a survey of dishes available for the holiday at Chinese restaurants and bakeries. Note that most of the items will be available only through the two-week holiday period.
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At Phoenix (2131 S. Archer) a dish called “May only good things happen this year”—actually braised black moss with Chinese mushrooms—is available, as is “Laughing and smiling to start the year,” i.e., crispy shrimp balls. To a nonnative the menu might read like a greeting card.
“In Chinese it’s very easy, but in English it’s hard to say,” says Charlie Huang, manager of House of Fortune (2407 S. Wentworth), of the special names. “It should sound lucky.” Many of the names, which vary from restaurant to restaurant, are actually puns in a language that’s rich with homonyms: the name of a classic New Year’s dish of whole fish, itself a symbol of abundance, plays on yu, which means “fish” and also “surplus.” Hence: eating a fish portends a surfeit of fortune for the coming year. Dragon Court’s haha cai da xiao, deep-fried head-on shrimp, uses haha, which means both “shrimp” and “laughter,” to suggest a joyous New Year. Dishes often have multiple levels of meaning. “Stepping on golden coins,” a plate of black mushrooms and greens at House of Fortune, is so-called because the mushrooms resemble coins. But the dish also incorporates three types of mushrooms, Huang emphasizes, to represent the three generations of the traditional Chinese family.
Stacked next to the sticky cake there’s often a pan of luo bo gao (the name also means “advancement”), a savory turnip cake that’s also Q. Decorated with scallions and bits of pork, the turnip cake at Chiu Quon Bakery (2242 S. Wentworth and 1127 W. Argyle) is particularly good, especially when gently panfried at home.
Ed’s Potsticker House, 3139 S. Halsted, 312-326-6898
