(Photo by Sam Ehlinger)
The New York Times released an article Monday on the prevalence of Chinese cuisine in Champaign-Urbana, featuring many local restaurants in the process.
The article, by former Times restaurant critic Pete Wells, highlighted Northern Cuisine, Golden Harbor, Dim Sum House, BakeLab, H-Mart, Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle, Lao Sze Chuan and Latea.
The Times story also emphasized the uncertainty around visas for Chinese students, which has the potential to affect the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a whole, as well as the local food scene.
“Surrounded by miles of flat, green fields of soy and grain corn, [Champaign and Urbana] have a combined population of about 127,000 people and a skyline that rarely pokes above 15 stories,” Wells writes in the article. “The area isn’t anybody’s idea of a major metropolitan center. It certainly isn’t the first place you’d think to look when you are in the mood for serious Chinese food.”
In the story, Wells emphasizes the variety of Chinese cuisine available specifically in Campustown, but also how accessible the food is, even compared to the third-largest city in the country two hours to the north.
In addition to highlighting the eight Campaign-Urbana establishments, Wells quotes a number of stalwarts in the Champaign-Urbana food community, including Dai Shi and Tim Chao from BakeLab, Latea’s Jack Hsiao and former Prairie Fruits & Farm owner Leslie Cooperband.