Da-Kao Restaurant

Meatpacking Companies Filled the Midwest With Immigrant-Run Restaurants | Eater

"Set in a large, century-old red-brick building and decorated with simple hand-me-downs like a broken crucifix and a clock shaped like Vietnam, this family-run restaurant has long functioned as an extension of home. The owners lived upstairs for years and raised children who grew into bussers, delivery drivers, and front-of-house staff. The kitchen serves steaming, hearty bowls of signature pho; banh mi made on local French bread topped with barbecue pork, cilantro, pickled carrots and daikon, pate, and generous butter; fragrant banh xeo crêpes wrapped in fresh lettuce with tangy fish sauce; and Vietnamese iced coffee. Its clientele ranges from meatpacking workers grabbing meals between shifts to tech employees and longtime family friends, making it a neighborhood hub where coworkers sometimes swap gossip and even bring home cuts of meat from work." - Tony Tran