For example, the hot and sour soup is much tastier because there are several different kinds of mushrooms and the broth has a meatier taste, and isn’t as thickened. I also like that there aren’t any of those nasty little baby shrimp to avoid.

Better quality, multi-mushroomed.

I’ve been told the Mongolian Beef and the Shrimp Garlic Sauce Chicken are particularly good here, but I went with the Hunan Beef. I ordered steamed rice, but the fried rice is much better at China Wall than most places because they pay for a higher-quality rice, which is stickier but not dry, and not soggy.

Hunan beef.

The beef is higher quality, too, not stringy or fatty. It was very tender, and the mixed vegetables weren’t overcooked, making for a good texture contrast. There were fresh mushrooms, snow peas, carrots, broccoli, and bok choy. I don’t like water chestnuts, but there was only one on the plate, so I deftly moved it aside like a highly-skilled ninja warrior.

The place is very clean, but a bit small with just a few tables, but that’s fine because most of the orders are for take-out or delivery (there were plenty of open tables when we ate lunch). The staff was extremely friendly and courteous. If you visit, the staff recommends the following house specialties: Coconut Shrimp, General Tso’s Chicken, House Special Lo Mein (chicken, pork, shrimp combo), and Szechuan Beef.

[China Wall: 8550 Andermatt Drive]

NAAN.

It’s a bit of a no-frills joint, but the service is friendly and the place is clean enough. The hand soap in the men’s bathroom was a Dial foam soap refilled with regular hand soap, so it oozed out and squirted with little farting noises. That was fun to do.

Eponymous dish.

With a name like Masala, I felt obligated to get the Chicken Tikka Masala. It was a little creamier and less spiced than I was hoping for, but they have a shaker of what seemed to be cayenne/paprika, so that helped quite a bit. The rice was good and everyone seemed to enjoy their respective entrees, mostly vegetarian choices.

Non-meat wave.

The lentil soup is Quite Nice and comes with a lemon wedge which I think is a sine qua non for lentil soup. I’ve generally assumed lentil soup was vegetarian (vegan, even), but I’m pretty sure the broth is chicken-based. I could be wrong about that point.

The pita bread is super-fresh and I believe it’s made at a bakery in town. Prices are affordable and the staff is friendly. I’ve never really had anything but the soup and falafel, so I can’t speak for the meat dishes. If you’re feeling over-meated, this could be the cure.

Egg roll and papaya salad.

The egg rolls were crispy and hot, and although I was suspicious of the papaya salad (it has no meat in it), I really liked it. Beware: the papaya salad is mofo hot. Well, not quite mofo hot. Pretty hot, though, enough to make the next morning a bit of a gastrointestinal struggle.

Chicken meat.

Chicken satay is something I can fully endorse as part of a meat wave. Peanut sauce and cucumber salad and chicken, that could make a good sandwich. It’s also good to put it all in your mouth as not part of a sandwich.

Basil meat.

We had a green curry (pork) and a beef basil (beef). The basil beef was pretty spicy-hot, but not as hot as the papaya salad. The green curry was well balanced and I really liked both dishes. Highly recommended, and BYOB.

A lot like itself.

I had the char dog (the only way to go, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION), and it’s got all the stuff on it. It tastes just like it should. The fries are good. I even don’t mind that damn sweet relish but I did take off the tomato which was obviously not in season and looked like something they make astronauts eat in space. The main problem is that all those toppings are wet and make the bun mealy by halftime.

Whatever. It’s good. It’s part of the meat wave.

Chippies.

We started with chips and guacamole, both of which were very good. The avocados were fresh and you don’t need to mess much with good avocados. We also dove into a side of frijoles charros, which feature bacon, so that’s a good idea. Another good idea is to get a chip, get some guacamole on it, squirt some of the red salsa and green salsa on it, and then get a piece of the bacon from the beans on that, too, and then you’ve really got something.

Fish, a-fish, a-fishy fish, ooooh!

I normally hide and run from seafood in the Midwest, but breaded and fried fish has got to be good, and so it was in the taco de pescado (“fish taco”). This was my favorite taco, even though I had previously raved about the taco al pastor (“Pope’s taco”). This may sound small, but tacos at Big Star have one good tortilla instead of two crappy ones. That’s a good idea. I’d rather eat one good tortilla than two crappy ones, and I don’t like the filler feel of the extra tortilla. Everything that comes on the taco de pescado is a great mix: cabbage, cilantro, lime, chipotle mayo. I added some salsa roja (“red soss”).

Tri-meat!

Of particular sadness was the taco al pastor, which when I had the first time, was a tender, lovely delight. I love the grilled pineapple and onion combo, but this time the pork was simply overdone. It was dry, chewy, and hard to eat.

But I’ll forgive them, this time.

I had amazingly never hit up Al’s Beef for an Italian beef, and the one in River North was, as they say, at hand. I noticed they sell a lot of stuff besides Italian beefs at Al’s beef, which begs the question: “Why?” Also, the River North spot has table seating, so you aren’t expected to do “the stance” over a ledge.

I had mine dipped, which is plenty juicy for me (there are other options, like “juicy” and “soaked,” which sound like real commitments), and hot, with the giardiniera.

A meaty treaty delight.

If we’re comparing to Mr. Beef, Al’s Beef is pretty similar, but I think the meat is slightly more tender at Al’s Beef. The only complaint I have is that I think the meat is soaked in spices for either too long or with too many spices (all-spice, specifically). I prefer a more vanilla approach to the meat (it’s meat, it’s good, no need to spice it, I have giardiniera, thanks). But Al’s Beef is a fantastic sandwich and I’d eat one right now and all day until I got sick and then I’d probably have one more.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

I prefer the fries at Mr. Beef, they being more shoestring in nature and with less skin, but Al’s Beef gets the fries good and crispy and they came out good and hot.

Logistics: even with just a dipped sandwich, it’s a mess. There’s no restroom at this location, and it would be nice just to have a bird bath somewhere to rinse. Otherwise, it’s a great crest of a meat wave.

Special salt.

We did a pretty poor job planning our meal because we were all pretty hungry and we chose a series of heavy items, like burrata, meatballs, and pizzas. I think we threw in a salad somewhere, but probably only for looks.

Meat-a balls-a.

The burrata was a first for me, a freshly imported pulled mozzarella. Mozzarella is one of my favorite cheeses, and to be able to taste it so fresh was a little treat. To follow it up with meatballs seemed like a good idea (it was), and while I don’t normally like sweet notes in anything but desserts, the couple of raisins in each one was fine, and the marinara is Really Quite Nice there.

As for the pizzas, we had a Margherita and a pizza bianche (without red sauce). For me, you’ve got to have marinara on the pizza, or else it seems like you forgot something. Thus, the Margherita was my favorite and I was sort of coming down from a meat high with the meatballs, so I wanted to get back on the meat wave and wish we would’ve had some sausage or salami on the pizza. The dough is perfect at Spacca Napoli, with good toothiness and excellent taste (although I don’t eat the corona (crust)).

Prices are reasonable, our service was great, and on the weekends you’ll definitely want to make a reservation. Just be sure to order more smartly than we did and avoid a lot of heavy foods before your pizzas.

Diamond coasters.

Advertisements on the coasters came as a shocking unpleasant surprise and reminded me of those hackish menus at The Cheesecake Factory where every other page is an ad. My Spidey sense was tingling.

I had a Manhattan and it was decent, very similar to how I make them at home. Then the cheesy bread came out and it was alright, but it comes in a paper wrapper and then you just have a piece of trash on the table until the bread’s gone. The bread certainly doesn’t need to be served with the paper, and it was some time before the server removed it.

A cheesy, with its own piece of paper trash to contemplate.

The Single Barrel is stepping it up with locally procured ingredients and making salad dressings from scratch, better than what you often find at other steakhouses with the classic Chef Sysco salad: iceberg, dried-out red cabbage, and dried-out carrot shreds in a wooden bowl with a bottled, sweetened “Italian” dressing.

Gruyere alright.

I started with a bowl of French onion soup, served very hot and savory. I didn’t need to add any seasoning, and they thankfully use Gruyere instead of the gross white “Swiss” you see at many places. My only complaint is that it’s a red-onion-only affair, and this imparted a sweeter taste overall. I prefer a mix of white, yellow, and red onions, but it was still good.

And then something interesting happens at The Single Barrel, because your napkin has only one fork in it: if you’ve used your fork for eating a salad or appetizer, you are asked rather aggressively by the server to keep your fork, even if it has a bunch of dressing on it, meaning that if you’ve ordered a steak after your salad, you’re obligated to lick off the dressing from your fork and use it when you eat your steak. This seems completely obnoxious and should change immediately. You should either get two forks in the napkin, or be presented a new fork with your entree. I’ve never seen anything quite so insulting at a restaurant which is trying to be “nicer.”

Meat medallions.

My entree was the beef medallions on mashed potatoes with Brussels sprouts and a mushroom gravy. I liked my dish quite a bit, and it was certainly plenty of food. The steak was tender even though thoroughly cooked, and the Brussels sprouts were cooked right and the gravy with the potatoes wasn’t to heavy. But this is the kind of dish that at a “nicer” restaurant screams for freshly-cracked pepper. The tables should have pepper mills or it should be offered without asking by the server.

My dinner companions each had medium-rare steaks, and they said they were indeed medium-rare and not overcooked, which is common at many other steakhouses. When we asked the server for Worcestershire sauce, our server acted like it was an unusual request, which I found quite unusual. One of the steaks was dry-aged for supposedly a month, but Ripshaw was suspicious of that, having eaten many dry-aged steaks in his time. He also claimed to be able to taste the gas-grill gas in the steak, something I didn’t notice but he has an excellent sense of taste.

I found the food to be generally very good, but the service gaffes and the issues with forks make The Single Barrel a work in progress. Our server brought out the dessert tray and asked if we wanted dessert while we were only halfway through our entrees. This is unacceptable as well. And our server put the check on the table a few moments later, making us feel rushed when it wasn’t a busy night. Also, we all ordered drinks at the start and they arrived after the salad and soup, which shouldn’t happen, either.

The Single Barrel must start putting two forks in the napkin before I go back, and they need to train the servers in basic dining service if they are to be considered a classier place in town.

Green “chili.”

The chili was from Bread & Cup, and I’m sure the chili authenticists are already rolling around in their graves, because “chili” shouldn’t be green or have pork in it, and don’t tell them it had beans in it, too, or else their heads might explode just like in Scanners. But this was a decent helping for the $3 suggested “donation” and I’m still pleasantly burping up cumin-flavored parcels of air. The pork was good and tender, not greasy, with a nice balance of spices.

My only complaint: it could’ve been served a little hotter. I’d rather burn the roof off my mouf than snarf down lukewarm soups.

The atmosphere is laid back, like you’d expect for a cafe in a bookstore. It was Really Quite Nice. I think I’ll be going back for more “chili” soon.