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Exploring Chicago's ethnic markets.

Monday Oct 23, 2006.     By Michael Nagrant

Food Feed

I'm like the culinary Charlton Heston—you're gonna have to pry Chicago from my cold dead hands. Sure New York's got a decent Chinatown and a vibrant Latino food culture, but it boasts nothing like Devon Street. Chicago's abundance of ethnic markets has made exploring Bangkok, Tokyo, Mumbai, Saigon or Oaxaca without leaving the city limits a regular weekend quest. Here's a guide to my favorites:

Viet Hoa Plaza This Vietnamese market has more herb than a Humboldt County dope dealer. Score verdant bunches of fragrant mint, spicy sweet Asian basil and pretty much any leafy green for about a dollar. Stalks of woody lemongrass share space with stinky but sweet Durian fruit and freakishly large carrots, as live blue crabs clack against one another in cardboard boxes. Grab bible tripe and beef tendon for a couple bucks a pound and brew pho, the Vietnamese version of chicken soup. If organ meat's not your thing, roll up your leafy veggies in rice paper wrappers and make Vietnamese spring rolls.

Uni-Mart The one good thing you can say about colonization is that it leads to great food. The Philippines once hosted Asian and Arab traders and endured 400 years of Spanish rule, and this rich culinary legacy is on display at the Filipino Uni-Mart grocery. The prepared foods counter is filled with glistening pork picadillo with peppers, deep fried whole pig, rich red adobo-marinated chicken, roasted whole fish and the unbelievable lumpia shanghai, deep-fried pork egg rolls. When they're fresh, you'd be hard pressed to find a better egg roll in Chinatown. Filipinos are fond of deep-fried dried snacks; expect no shortage of chicharrones (pork skin), squid rings, anchovy sticks and shrimp chips.

Bobak's Sausage Company When my Polish grandmother died a few years ago, the grief was partially displaced with a selfish need for her comforting pierogies, but her keen sense of humidity and the finesse in her fingers as they worked the dough were irreplaceable. It took me five years to find them, but Bobak's pierogie Ruskie (potato and cheese) brought back my childhood; my grandfather's fresh-cured kielbasa found its counterpart in the kielbasa wisniowa, a spicy version with a fruity note from cherries used in the cure. Barrels of fresh sauerkraut and rotund dill pickles rub up next to mounds of pickled herring, and there's no better twist on pigs in the blanket than Bobak's Polish sausage wrapped in a cornucopia-shaped bread roll.

Richwell Market Looking to cook some fresh amphibian? Freshness isn't even a question at Chinese markets, with croaking bullfrogs and wary-eyed carp swishing in every direction. Even the whole Peking ducks, with their glistening orange roasted skins, look like they were quacking a few minutes before. If frog legs aren't in your future, load up on carbs. You can buy an assortment of frozen buns stuffed with custard, pork and veggies, or cheap udon, buckwheat soba and rice flour noodles in a variety of shapes. Wonton skins and egg roll wrappers make it easy to perfect your favorite appetizers at home.

Carniceria Jimenez If you're looking to heed your inner Rick Bayless, this is the place. The produce section overflows with bulbous spring onions and shiny poblano peppers (great for stuffing). Ripe plantains await the deep fryer, spicy chorizo sausage lines the meat aisle, dried chilies await a quick reconstitution in water and mountains of limes threaten to cascade out of their baskets and bury you. Grab some fresh masa, a tortilla press and some queso fresco, and you can grill up Maxwell Market-like quesadillas at home. The greatest secret of the Latino groceries is the Mexican coke, served in glass bottles and made with real cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup.

More must-see markets:

Chicago Food Corp This is the spot for kim-chi and Korean BBQ-style cuts like short ribs and thinly slice ribeye for bulgogi or kalbi.

Patel Brothers Considering homemade mango lassis or got a hankering for frozen samosas? Make a trip to Devon, but whatever you do, avoid the Pillsbury paratha bread.

Mayflower Foods Located directly in Chinatown, stop here for fresh goods and Chinese gummies before you hit up a restaurant for dinner.