As Chicago’s Chinatown rises, youth—and fresher-than-fresh seafood—is served

CHICAGO, IL - 05/24/2016 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

At 29, Dolo Restaurant co-owner Yiming Luan is a poster boy for an emerging Chinatown: young, entrepreneurial, and ready for bigger and better things.??

His snazzy dim sum and seafood joint, located at the western edge of the Chinatown “strip,” is known for its prodigious 5-lb. Seafood Combo, a Cajun-inspired crawfish, shrimp and crab boil swimming in their spicy-but-not-too-spicy signature sauce. Already dearly loved by locals for its always-fresh, never-frozen dim sum and live seafood, Dolo is starting to attract diners from around the city—and the country. Last year, it grabbed headlines as one of Esquire’s three best new restaurants in Chicago. The Chicago Reader also named its Seafood Combo the “best Maine crab-and-crawfish boil” in the area.

“When we opened Dolo, we wanted to do something different,” says Luan. “So we decided on all fresh seafood. Chicago’s in the middle of the country, so it’s not something you can find very much.”

On any given day, drop by and you’ll see anything from live Canadian lobster (two cost less than $30) and Dungeness crab to rare abalone and geoduck occupying the large tanks next to the bar. Can’t-miss dim sum include pan-fried vegetable and pork buns, shumai, egg tarts and turnip crepes. Evening diners gravitate toward Yelp! favorite beef tenderloin chow fun, the 5-lb. Seafood Combo, salt and pepper enoki mushrooms, house special tea chicken and Peking-style duck or pork chop.

Like the restaurant, Chinatown itself is a neighborhood on the brink of exploding. With a shiny new library that’s the envy of other neighborhoods, a plan for economic and community development and infrastructure projects like the Wells-Wentworth Connector on the horizon, the neighborhood looks poised for growth.

And unlike Chinatowns in places like New York and San Francisco, Chicago’s enclave of Chinese culture and cuisine has been growing. Its population surged by 26% between 2000 and 2010. While the neighborhood has a large aging set, recent years have seen an influx of young immigrants and students, many of whom come with big ideas and big plans.

“Chinatown is becoming more like Pilsen, in a way,” says Dolo manager Jason Moy. “It’s something that hasn’t happened in 25 years. People are going, hey, we’re gonna change things up. And people are loving it.”

With owners all under 30, a young head chef looking to make his mark, and a neighborhood that’s evolving more every day, Dolo is in the right place at the right time.

Dolo restaurant is located at 2222 S. Archer and is open 9 AM–12 AM Sunday through Thursday, 9 AM–1 AM Friday and Saturday. Dim sum is served 9 AM–4 PM daily.