Wheaton's Pa Lian Near Top Of Midwest's Top 100 Eateries

WHEATON, IL — The greater Chicago area has no shortage of fine restaurants and havens for local foodies, but a Wheaton Burmese eatery has ranked among the top spots in the Midwest to find a fine meal.

Pa Lian ranked as the No. 2 restaurant in the Midwest region, according to a new listing put out by Yelp. The restaurant, which is located at 254 E. Geneva Rd., offers a wide array of fresh Burmese favorites such as shrimp curry, moh-hin-gar, yarzan thoke, chicken potatoes, pork with gram bean, beef with potatoes, and goat curry, according to the restaurant’s website.

The restaurant, which is owned by Tawk Zalian, was the only restaurant in Illinois serving the cuisine of the southeastern Asia country that is now Myanmar when the eatery opened. According to the listing on the Yelp rankings, Zalian says that he and his wife share the cooking duties and they are anxious to share the food of their homeland with local residents.

“We love to eat, we love to cook, so we decided to bring our cuisine to the Illinois area,” he said on the Yelp rankings website.

Pa Lian finished only behind Blues City Deli in St. Louis as the top restaurant in the Midwest, which spans 12 states in the Yelp competition. As far as what to order when going to Pa Lian, the owner recommends starting with the Tea Leaf salad before moving on to any number of noodle favorites, coconut chicken noodle soup called Ohn-No-Kauk-Swe and an appetizer of fried tofu, Yelp reviewers said.

Other Illinois choices included:

6. Sunset Pho Café, Chicago

10. Aloha Wagon, Chicago

12. Penumbra, Chicago

20. Kuma’s Sushi Bowl, Vernon Hills

21. Boba Burger, Morton Grove

31. XOchimilco Mexican restaurant, Chicago

38. HD Cuisine, Wheeling

40. Offset BBQ, Chicago

46. KALA Modern Greek, Chicago

49. Bavette's Bar and Boeuf, Chicago

52. North Branch Fried Chicken, Chicago

57. Dos Amigos Mexican restaurant, Libertyville

62. El Xangarrito, Chicago

64. Gumii, Naperville

67. Big Ed’s BBQ, Waukegan

80. Bongiorno’s Italian Deli, Chicago

82. Community Tavern, Chicago

88. Cedar Palace, Chicago