Business & Tech
Honor Roll: Which Chinese Starter Heads the Class?
Out of three New Lenox Chinese takeout places, we see whose egg rolls are best.
Editor's Note: Welcome to another "Chowdown Showdown," in which we take one type of food, try it at three New Lenox restaurants and determine a winner. This week, we have a new taste-tester to see who has the best egg rolls in town.
, 402 Nelson Rd.
Because En Lai is strictly a take-out place (there is just one table inside), I decided that to be fair, all egg rolls in this competition should be take-out. En Lai sells them individually; a single egg roll is $1.25 and a vegetable egg roll is $1.10, so I splurged on one of each.
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Some might say that egg rolls are simply a vehicle for sweet and sour sauce, and if that's the case, that's too bad because En Lai has those packets of light yellow sweet and sour, not my favorite.
When I got home, I put them on a plate and the grease that pooled in the center of the plate was offputting, but the egg rolls were nice and thick. The only difference between the regular and the vegetarian so far as I could tell was that the regular one was saltier (but if there was any meat in it, I didn't notice it).
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The Good: Both were big, cheap and tasty.
The Bad: They were greasy and more doughy than crispy.
, 2417 Joliet Hwy.
I'd ordered delivery from Mo's but had never been inside, so I decided to check them out next. They offer egg rolls and Harvest spring rolls, both of which are $2.75 for an order of two. The egg roll had a lots of meat (chicken? pork?) and the wrapper was crispy. The spring rolls were even crispier, but had more of a sour taste, probably from all that cabbage, so they required quite a bit of sweet and sour sauce. Unfortunately, Mo's offers the same brand of packets that En Lai does.
The Good: The regular egg roll was very meaty and tasty, even without sauce.
The Bad: The Harvest spring roll was crispy but disappointingly one-note.
, 100 W. Illinois Hwy.
Rising Sun also offers egg rolls and vegetable egg rolls that come two to an order for $2.95, but they are willing to substitute one of each in an order. Like the other two places, I placed the order to go. Unfortunately, a phone call I had been waiting for finally came in right when I walked in the door, so the egg rolls had to wait for me. By the time I got to eat them, they had cooled off significantly, but, surprisingly, they were both still crispy and delicious!
The Good: Both egg rolls were outstanding in flavor, probably because they didn't rely on just cabbage filling. Also, instead of the unsatisfying packets, their sweet and sour sauce is the bright orange variety.
The Bad: The wrapper on the vegetable egg roll was unnecessarily thick.
WINNER: Rising Sun Both egg rolls from Rising Sun were tasty, even cold, with great flavor and texture.