You could scratch your back with the red-willow twig that serves as the delivery vehicle for the Xinjiang special lamb skewer at Friend BBQ. You could knock it in a bow and practice your apple shot, William Tell style. Or you could order a dozen or so of these fatty, sizzling, spice-crusted meat sticks and, once you’ve gnawed them clean, head into the night to hunt the undead that lurk in the side streets and alleys of Chinatown after dark.
Of the two, Gao’s seems a bit more open to offering the off bits, including, e.g., whole grilled lamb feet, square-angled joints of chewy cartilaginous connective tissue crusted in the blend of cumin, chile, salt, and sesame you’ll find pasted on much of the chuanr you’ll encounter anywhere. There are pigs’ feet too, not unlike the jellylike roasted nuggets found at A Place by Damao. No matter what your anatomical predilection, Gao’s will grill it on a stick for you: kidneys, gizzards, hearts, tripe, and tendon from different creatures in all their chewy, snappy, slithery variety. Though simple lamb- and beef-fatted muscles take top billing (red willow again, just for the former), there are lots of parts to explore, from ruddy pork riblets to suckered squid tentacle tips to scored cocktail sausages (notice how the first character in 串儿 looks like a couple of weenies on a stick) to sheets of textured tofu skin wrapped around lengths of chive that almost feel like a breath mint amid the relentless brush fire in your mouth.
Friend BBQ 2358 S. Wentworth 312-624-8153
Gao’s Kabob Sports Grill 232 W. 22nd Pl. 312-526-3836
