C2E2 is here and I took it as an opportunity to take Christel to her first comic convention-y thing to look at some merch and see what illustrators sell at these kinds of things! After a few hours walking the floor we finished up and decided to have a late lunch in Chinatown.
LOCATION - 2138 S ARCHER AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60616
We just decided to walk around and see what looked good. I was in the mood for some carbs (noddles specifically because I'm dying from a cold and my body wants what it wants) and we ended up at MCCB Chicago.
Neither of us have heard of this place before but we've of course walked by it many times and from the looks of the menu we thought we would like it so we walked in and were seated by the window right away. I was still feeling the cold but have been sick long enough to feel like I wouldn't get Christel sick so we figured I would just be careful and we could go family style.
Since I was craving some noddles, we decided on the Spicy Dan Dan Noodles pretty quickly. Christel was feeling like some seafood and from what we could see there was a pretty popular whole fish dish but she opted for a safer choice of shrimp. MCCB has some pretty unusual flavors which caught our attention and we wanted to be slightly adventurous since we'd never see that before and ordered Mango Crispy Shrimp. Seeing as we're us, we had to round the meal out with some veggies as well so we picked our go to veggie anywhere, the infamous string bean.
Turns out the crispy shrimp had rice included with it so we were really rolling in some carbs and my sick body was all over it. Everything was perfect and just what I wanted. The spicy dan dan noodles had the perfect kick to them but were balanced with a creamy peanut-y flavor. Green beans are always a win with me and the crispy shrimp turned out to just be the creamy shrimp my dad makes at home with a very mild mango flavor. I loved every single one of these dishes and would absolutely go back to MCCB.
Our waiter that day was the nicest guy I've never met in my life. I wish he could be my waiter everywhere that I went because he was just so sweet and I think he enjoyed out quirky the two of us are. MCCB also had a nice promo where if you spend $25 you get a free Italian soda or a sweet dessert soup kinda thing and while I was drinking hot water for my throat, nothing screams Emily like a free soda so I ordered a pomegranate Italian soda, which our adorable waiter said was his favorite, and got it in a cool mug to take home (I even asked him and he said it was for me and even brought me a lid). I'm not a huge fan of dairy like this but it wasn't a bad drink and free is free so I'm always down for it.
I'd love to go back and try some fish but I'm worried my hopes will be up and no one will be as great as the waiter we had our first time at MCCB.