Chicago: Ba Le

My friend was supposed to come over to study one night last week. (She ended up taking a nap instead.) I do have to give her some credit though because she did eventually make it to my apartment. My roommate and I were trying to figure out what to make for dinner...when out of nowhere my friend asked if we wanted to get some Indian at Devon. Uh, yea?

Devon was tempting (especially since we'd been talking about making it up there FOREVER), but simply too far away for a spur of the moment trip. My friend came up with a pretty awesome Plan B, which is how we found ourselves piling into her car and cruising our way to Uptown.

Since we were afraid that it would be closed by the time we finished dinner, we dropped by Ba Le first:

Ba Le has a brand new location...one building over from where it was before. The new concept is very clean and modern:



Behind each glass door is an array of Vietnamese goodies that just leave me breathless:

We bypassed all the savory offerings and went straight for dessert. The three of us each picked one dessert cup:

From front to back: che thung (mung bean, tapioca pearl, coconut milk), che chuoi (banana, tapioca pearl, coconut milk), and che ba mau (red bean, mung bean, jello, coconut milk). Each cost about $2.95.

We saved them until after dinner when we could savor them in the comfort of our apartment. The only one I didn't really enjoy was the che chuoi; the banana flavor was just a little too intense for my tastes. Other than that, I'm a lover of coconut milk so I was high on cloud nine.

I really, really love Vietnamese desserts, so I can't even express how happy I am that there's somewhere in Chicago where I can satisfy those cravings.

Ba Le also sells bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwiches). My roommate bought one because she couldn't resist. Which reminds me...I need to ask her how she liked it.

Ba Le

5016 N Broadway

Chicago, IL 60640

(773) 561-4424

http://www.balesandwich.com/