Forget the fast food of yesteryear: the greasy burgers, salty fries and sketchy sandwiches. Going beyond our American borders, Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group brought to Chicago a place that highlights delicacies straight from the street vendors of China – Wow Bao. Steamed soft Asian buns (bao) with succulent savory and sweet stuffing – how could you go wrong?
Wow Bao is quite the refreshment from your typical boring and bodily-destructive quick-service joints. Not only is the food delicious, but it is relatively healthy and comes with variety. The trademark “hot Asian buns” are filled with meat-and-vegetable combinations that pay tribute to popular Asian dishes, from Thai curry chicken to Mongolian beef. While these adorable little bulbs of tastiness are the staples of Wow Bao, the menu also features Asian salads, soups, rice bowls, and snacks (soybeans, pot stickers, etc.). Wash it all down with their signature homemade ginger ale and a dessert bao (molten chocolate or coconut cream) – satisfaction ensured, and all at great prices!
Wow Bao’s atmosphere is as warm as their buns. At every location, smiling employees perched behind the order counter suggest their favorite treats. Business-folk in pressed suits laugh with coworkers as they unwind on their lunch break or after work. Couples and groups gobble and gab among the red and white decorations and fixtures.
Bao fanatics follow @BaoMouth on Twitter to keep updated on the whereabouts of the Wow Bao food truck. Lucky followers sometimes receive coupons or gift certificates from the generous soul behind the social media mask. Wow Bao-savvy customers arrive right before close in the hopes of walking away with several free snacks that the restaurant would otherwise throw away. Basically, any broke college kid “in the know” will not go hungry.
Wow Bao’s are conveniently located among the skyscrapers of downtown. A luxury that one only endures while passing through the chaotic Loop area, Wow Bao is surely missed in the surrounding Chicago neighborhoods. Perhaps the most difficult task is driving to pick up baos – there is never parking and the pedestrians are in full-force. There exists little purpose in taking your baos to-go unless your office or apartment is within blocks.
But that doesn’t keep some eager diners from altering their daily routes with “hot Asian buns” on the brain. Though Wow Bao may be arguably tastier and healthier than McDonalds, it is definitely just as (if not more) addicting that those salty fries. Each bao is served with a piece of wax paper on the bottom to indicate which filling it holds – that paper should also contain a note that reads, “warning: extremely addictive.”