Dumplings from Urban Belly. As a food critic, one of the great luxuries of the Internet is that you’re no longer confined to the precious space of print. As such, you don’t have to make decisions about which restaurant openings to cover or whether you can revisit a spot at the expense of a new spot. In theory, there’s room to cover whatever you want. That being said, while I try to go to a spot at least twice before reviewing it, there’s still the chance you hit two off nights, or the restaurant hasn’t hit its stride, and what the restaurant is now is not what it will become. Lately I’ve found that to be truer than ever....
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Urban Belly, a new noodle shop from former Charlie Trotter disciple and haute chef Bill Kim, opened a few weeks ago. Some folks saw it as Chicago's answer to David Chang and Momofuku noodle bar. While I thought the pork belly ramen with its star anise overtones was really good, I was disappointed in the crab udon, which I had to season myself. More than anything else, I was disappointed at the price point—I didn't feel that $13 for a bowl of noodles and broth was fair, especially when I could get similar things from Vietnamese and Japanese spots around town for $6 to $7. That being said, I haven't been able to get Kim's dumplings out of my mind,...
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