Best Lunch Deal, readers' choice: Hot Doug’s

A. Jackson

Reader’s Choice

Spring World

At $3.95 for an entree plus soup, the lunch special at Chinatown’s Spring World is such a good deal they actually try to avoid letting you know it exists. Ignore the impressively bound menu they hand you at first and ask for the lunch special list. You choose from entrees that range from the conventional (robust pork with garlic sauce; a shockingly good version of kung pao chicken) to the we’re-not-at-Panda-Express-anymore (twice-cooked pork belly; pork with black fungus; stir-fried tripe with preserved cabbage) as well as side vegetables. Even when the choices sound tame (stir-fried bean sprouts), they come out flavorful and authentic. And if those choices aren’t out there enough for you, for $4.95 you can hit the appetizer bar, full of items like cold noodles and pig ear. Spring World has always been a neglected spot among the bustling restaurants in the Chinatown Square mall, and a meal this good at a price this low makes that even more inexplicable.  2109-A S. China Pl., 312-326-9966. —Mike Gebert

Readers’ Choice

Pequod’s and Hot Doug’s (tie)

2207 N. Clybourn, 773-327-1512, pequodspizza.com; 3324 N. California, 773-279-9550, hotdougs.com.

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