Renga-Tei

On a weekday for lunch, my mom and I went to Renga-Tei, a no frills Japanese spot in Lincolnwood. Awesome Japanese food tends to be hard to come by In Chicago (in comparison to NY), but chowhounders rave about Renga-Tei. We went close to 2pm, when the kitchen was about to close. (Note: Many suburban restaurants here close for a few hours between lunch and dinner) We were surprised to find that the moderately sized restaurant was packed, which is really surprising for a weekday in the suburbs. Luckily, we were able to snag the last two seats at the bar before they stopped letting people in.

I ordered the Katsu-Don. Simply pork cutlets with egg, shredded dry seaweed, and broth that was lighter than teriyaki. There were also pickled veggies and rice on the side. This portion was HUGE. It ended up feeding me 3 consecutive meals, believe it or not. And I must say that this was the best katsu dish, as well as "don" I've ever had. I found it to be better than the Negi Tori Don at Yakitori Totto, even though those are pretty different dishes, but one can still compare the overall quality and taste of the dishes.

I definitely plan on coming back here and wouldn't mind trying the sushi.

Renga-Tei
3956 W. Touhy Ave
Lincolnwood, IL 60712