Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

The best tapioca bubble tea fruit drinks in Chicago are found at Joy Yee‘s. I know they put a lot of sugar in but they still taste like fresh fruit to me. I’ve only had one instance where their tapioca balls were of a questionable consistency. (Are you giggling?)

The rest of their food is reliably good, but since they are a super blend of all things Asian, none of the dishes are going to be better than those from your favorite Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc. place.

Still, the servings are large, the food comes fast, and the dishes are seasoned to support the fruit drinks. In the picture, you’ll see a Korean stone bowl meal, Chinese broccoli in garlic sauce, and a beef and mushroom noodle soup. Look at the size of the dishes for under $10 each! The boyfriend is having a taro drink, and I’m having a lychee one.

If you are not familiar with bubble drinks, all the bubbles (sometimes called black pearls) are are tapioca balls. Tapioca is essentially starch and the ones used in these drinks taste and feel like flavorless gummy bears. They’re fun to chew and suck up the straw. Just take care with your first couple though. Newbies always manage to choke on a couple before they get used to the action.

The tapioca does fill you up though—you’ll have to keep an eye on your food to drink ratio.

The rest of the drink is a frozen fruit blend. Joy Yee’s uses real fruit rather than the frozen mixes so sometimes the taste will depend on whether or not something is in season. If you are trying one out for the first time, just order a fruit that you like. It will pretty much taste exactly like that.

These are heavenly on a hot summer day.

Tags: Chicago, Food by Ms. SP
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We stumbled upon Thai Thank You one day when we arrived too early for Wishbone‘s evening hours. In a clean and comfortable dining room, we had a lovely early dinner.

The food is fresh and tasty. I loved that it wasn’t overly salted. The broth in my noodle soup was full of flavor but still light. To me, it tasted as if they’ve been simmering that stock with some really good stuff for a really long time. As a person who adores soup, I was so happy that this was a bowl I could clean out without being dehydrated from the sodium or weighed down with oil.

I’ve been reading some of the reviews on Yelp, and a lot of the negative ones complain about flavorless food. This must be why I really enjoyed my meal. I don’t use a lot of seasoning in my own cooking at home so when I eat out, I can find the food over the top at times. Why drown out flavor and taste with artificiality?

I tried the boyfriend’s curry dish, and that was very yummy—creamy and lip smacking. And everyone in my party seemed to enjoy his/her bubble drinks.

I do wish the entree portions and rice allocations were just a little bit bigger, but overall, this was a great find.

Tags: Chicago, Food by Ms. SP
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For this First Friday art show, the Flat Iron artists have done something really interesting. The Now You See It, Now You Don’t theme refers to the temporary murals that are all over the maze-like hallways of the building.

To see them, you get one chance and one chance only. From the time the doors open until 10:00 tonight, you can wander around and play Name That Artist. At around 10:00, all these art works are going to be painted right over.

Crazy isn’t it?

I took these pictures on the special Thursday preview night, and I have to say that these murals change the building a lot. I’ve been to shows at the Flat Iron Building for years, and today was the first time in a long time that I became disoriented and turned around in those hallways.

Follow this link to see some of the work in progress.

Tags: Art, Chicago by Ms. SP
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