One major criticism of food scene in HP is the complete lack of good and authentic Chinese restaurant there. But hooray here comes a genuinely superior choice (by Chicago standard, not Toronto or Vancouver). A friend of mine took my family there in the UIC location 2 years ago and the food was decent.
From Tribune:
Jade Court, one of Chicago’s best Chinese restaurants, returns in October, far from its original home
By Phil Vettel
In 2018, I gave 17-month-old Jade Court three stars, and mused whether it was the best Chinese restaurant in town. With a kitchen crew overseen by Eddy Cheung (who had created the superb Chinatown restaurant Phoenix in 1996 before selling it 20 years later), and the welcoming presence of daughter Carol Cheung in the dining room, there was nothing about Jade Court I didn’t like.
I even liked the incongruous decor, which bore all the vestiges of the space’s Italian-restaurant beginnings. But the Cheungs couldn’t bring themselves to take an axe to the room’s beautiful oak woodwork, however out of place it seemed.
Then came the sudden death of Eddy Cheung in mid-2019, and the paperwork complexities that forced Carol Cheung to close the restaurant. “We definitely will reopen,” she vowed, though clearly it wouldn’t be in the original Racine Avenue location. (That building has since become all-residential, and the oak woodwork, ironically, is gone.)
But Cheung has made good on her promise. Jade Court will reopen in October, a long way from its original location. Cheung has relocated in Hyde Park, at 1516 E. Harper Court; Jade Court will open quietly around the 10th, shooting for a grand opening for the middle of the month.
“It’s a completely new area for me,” she said, “and it’s not the best time to be opening a restaurant. I’m assuming we’ll be doing a lot of carryout at first, and so we’re cutting the menu down a bit. Not everything carries out well.”
Still, Cheung has reunited the kitchen staff of the original Jade Court, who, she says, “are happy to be working together again.”
The restaurant has approximately 65 seats. Decor is sleek and contemporary — no oak in sight — and the full bar will feature “old school Tiki-style drinks,” a first for Jade Court. Cheung said she hopes to offer dim sum — a short, 20-to-30-item selection — but is still working out details.
“It’s frightening; this is the first time I’m doing this without my dad,” Cheung said. “Every time something happens, I find myself wanting to grab the phone and call him. But sometimes, you do what you know. I tried to do other things, and it just wasn’t me. I owe my dad this; I owe it to myself to try this. Hopefully I’ve learned enough from him over the years.”
