We stumbled across this place, Wow Bao, on the ground floor of a huge, blingy, 80′s-style mall on Michigan Avenue. My friend Ido had mentioned it to me, so I was ecstatic that we randomly came across it. A fast food joint of exclusively Chinese steamed buns! Their tagline is Hot Asian Buns, which is hilarious. The name Wow Bao is genius though, don’t you think?

There are a few Wow Baos around Chicago. This one is literally right when you walk through the revolving doors of the Water Tower mall. Check out the marble– SO DONALD TRUMP! On a side note, we noticed that Chicago is really big on revolving doors.

This entire experience “Wow-ed” me. (Come on, laugh). First of all, you can order on these touch screen computers! Just like at the movie theater. Minimal human interaction– sign me up! Check this out.

Choose.

Pay.

Checkout.

Et voila!

This is the true definition of fast food. These computers should be mandatory everywhere. I felt like I was in Hong Kong or in a warped William Gibsonian universe or something.

Now, we just wait with everyone else. The prep space of the front was so tiny, but used so well. Check out this range hood.

They also make their own ginger ale, which was pretty good. Matt overheard a lady in line ask her friend, “Do you want some Asian soda?”, about the ginger ale. OMG DYING!

Alright, on to the actual HOT ASIAN BUNS.

We brought them back to the hotel room for a late afternoon snack.

We got a 6-pack of Spicy Kung Pao Chicken, Spicy Mongolian Beef, and BBQ Pork. We opened the box and thought, “Hey, how are we supposed to know which is which?”

But Wow Bao is smarter than you.

The actual HOT ASIAN BUNS weren’t as good as we would have liked. Pretty salty, as you may imagine.

But you know what, the entire concept of this place, from start to finish is pretty awesome that it didn’t really bother me that the actual product wasn’t stellar. I mean, if I were walking around the center of town and had a hankering for a HOT ASIAN BUN in an area where Asian food is extremely scarce, and I could actually score one of these for $1.50… well, I’ll take what I can get.

God Bless America. And the HOT ASIAN BUN.

WOW BAO
Inside main entrance of Water Tower Place
835 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago
T: 312.642.5888

Will it be shoyu? Miso? Tonkotsu?

大もり= Oomori = Super Size Me?

Side of fried rice? Gyoza? An extra egg? Extra slices of roast pork?

Choose button carefully– there’s no turning back! Drop your yen into the machine and the ticket will print with your order. Take ticket to the dude behind the counter, who will personally assemble your lusty bowl of ramen.

PS: This is in ode to a RAMEN TRUCK that will be soft opening on the streets of Hayes Valley, SF this weekend. Follow the Shirohige Ramen-ya on Twitter here. HELLZYAHH!!!

Basically, you text into this number and they text you back what oysters are available that day. It’s totally superfluous and silly, but helpful for oyster nuts like myself. I tried it this morning and immediately got a text back. It really works!

I will try every day until I see some Totten Virginicas or Fanny Bays on the menu.

ok, so here is how this works: the lines are divided up, as usual, into express lanes and regular lanes, which both have their individual screens. so let’s say that you are in the 3rd lane in– then according to this picture above, your lane “color” is blue and you would go to register #19 when you reach the front of the line. get it?

this new system certainly beats the guys standing at the front of the line, yelling at you to go to register #19. this is the most “cutting-edge”, technologically advanced feature introduced to the NYC mass public since they installed train time clocks on the L Train platforms 2 months back (what about the rest of the train lines, MTA???). for such a “cosmopolitan” city, NY is SO technologically behind!

but this at Whole Foods gives me hope! from what i could see, this new system is well designed (love the entire look of the interface) and seemed to help control the craziness of the lines at Whole Foods. can’t wait to see one of these at Trader Joe’s… *k*

footnote: seems like a Whole Foods is in the works for Brooklyn. 3rd and 3rd, so basically Park Slope. awesome.

WHAT???

when i looked up in Fumiko and Jorge’s hallway last night as i was leaving, i saw this and was completely bewildered. i initially thought that it was an art project of sorts (must be an artist’s political statement, duh). we all looked at each other with confused looks on our faces, until Fumiko figured out that it was there to keep the thermostat cold, so the heat never stops generating. A-HA! GENIUS! once again, that inconspicuous bag of frozen peas you bought 2 years ago saves the day– keeping us warm during the cold winter months.

frozen peas, we salute you.

*k*

UPDATE: i was just talking to my co-worker, Dawn, who told me that SHE and her boyfriend Karl practically INVENTED this ingenius pea trick to cool down the thermostat. turns out that she is good friends with people who live in Fumiko’s building, and she told them about this- hence, there were frozen peas on the thermostat last night. isn’t it a small world???

thanks Matt for this.