Oodles of Noodles!

A few days ago I got stopped by a bunch of students from the School of the Art Institute Chicago for a "man on the street" interview. They wanted to know what my local restaurant comfort food was, what I'd order if I had a crappy day and just wanted to relax. To even my own surprise, I said I'd want the Spicy Chili Noodles from Joy's Noodles. While I stood dumbfounded at this change of habits, the art students scoffed at my choice of something so simplistic and moved on to talk to some other people, probably someone who looked rich so they could get the hoity-toity answer they were looking for.

Until I moved to Chicago I wasn't a fan of any noodle that wasn't in mac and cheese or an Italian style. Every time I ordered from a Chinese or Thai place, I'd go back to orange chicken or sweet and sour chicken. I was a slave to those pieces of breaded and fried chicken, more often than not resembling oversized and misshapen chicken nuggets, that have been drowned in a sauce and served with rice. It was after I moved into the apartment on Bittersweet Avenue - a choice which netted far more bitter than sweet memories - that one of my roommates suggested ordering from Joys. And once I'd tried it, I was in love.

Joy's Noodles is a quaint little thai noodle byob place on Broadway just south of Roscoe, in the subsection of Lakeview called Boystown for reasons which are better experienced than explained. It has a reputation for being fast, delicious and cheap. Sadly for me, I've only been there once, and that's because they deliver and I'm lazy. My meal when I order are the spicy chili noodles, a stir fried egg noodle with spicy Sriracha-style sauce with beef on a bed of lettuce. The wide noodles are always just the right texture, the beef is always tender and never tough and the sauce gives the entire dish the perfect amount of burn. I've also had the Pad Thai with chicken and its a fantastic non-spicy dish. Thin rice noodles stir fried with crushed peanut, chicken, bean sprouts, cabbage and served with a lemon wedge. Joy's has a sister restaurant in Lincoln Park, named Noodles in the Pot, whose reputation matches Joy's in every way.

While I've tried several other noodle options in the city, I keep going back to Joy's and the simple yet flavorful offerings. And the art institute kids? They're missing out.