Nagrant Finds Delights at Won Fun; Honey’s is a Stunner; More

Michael Nagrant calls Won Fun the "punk-rock Chinese food lair you didn’t know you needed." The new West Loop restaurant, which feels like a "clandestine back-alley opium den," offers a host of admirable Sichuan specialties that bring the heat. Dry chili prawns "exude a tingly buzzy high" with shells that "crackle like potato chips" and flesh that’s "briny and sweet." Likewise, Chongqing fried chicken has a "shatteringly crispy crust" that gives way to juicy interior flesh, while foie gras fried rice is studded with seared cubes that "pop with luxurious buttery fat in every bite." But the menu’s "crowning achievement" is the "pillowy" pork wontons stuffed with rich pork broth and house-seasoned soy sauce. Skip dessert—a poor concoction that tastes like a "child’s poor choices at Forever Yogurt"—and opt for the tangy and floral strawberry daiquiri instead. [RedEye]

Honey’s is the complete package that’s dressed with style and substance. Elizabeth Atkinson calls the spot an "Instagrammer’s dream," full of "gorgeously plated dishes that, thankfully, deliver on taste." Raw dishes, like oysters and littleneck clams, are "amazing," while a hamachi appetizer is served in a "bright and acidic" green broth of cucumber, grapes, finger lime, verjus and pickled onion. Save room for dessert as the sticky toffee pudding is "sweet but not cloying," and cocktails include the mezcal-based Smoke Up Your Glass that packs a "bit of a bite." [TOC]

Lunch at the iconic Pump Room leaves a lot to be desired, according to Joanne Trestrail. Service is subpar and the food is also a "disappointment." Crostini topped with squash and ricotta is a "downer" that’s "too sweet overall and rather heavy," while a three-grain salad is similarly "weighed down, too, by overgenerous drizzles of Dijon dressing." A black truffle and fontina cheese flatbread succeeds with "simplicity and communicative flavors" but a grilled vegetable sandwich is marred by an "inch-high mound of tough radicchio" and an accompaniment of soggy fries. Until the kitchen works out its problems, look elsewhere for a business lunch. [Crain’s]