McKINLEY PARK — For those on the go, Chinese breakfast at the new Chiu Quon Restaurant and Cafe can be a simple affair.
"Grab a milk tea, a bun and you're out of here," manager Will Chan said.
For those with a little more time to savor, breakfast might mean a spin through the extensive menu, served dim sum-style with shareable plates of dishes of steamed rice crepes with shrimp, pork dumplings or the steamed-then-fried taro cake.
"We take this very seriously and we're trying to please everybody," Chan said.
The restaurant, in a strip mall in the 3300 block of South Archer Avenue, is Chiu Quon's third location.
Unlike the other two outposts, which feature the savory breakfast items and counter bakeries, the McKinley Park business is a full-service restaurant with a gigantic Chinese menu that veers toward Cantonese-style dishes.
There are nearly 300 items on the menu — which includes Spanish translations in a nod to the neighborhood — and it included classics like chop suey, fried rice and lo mein dishes.
Lunch specials, served daily from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., top out at $6. Order after 3 p.m. and it's an additional $2. Delivery boundaries are California Avenue to Halsted Street and 18th Street to Pershing Road.
For now, the McKinley Park restaurant serves only some of the bakery's famed baked goods, including fried sesame balls, pork turnovers, honey fried noodles, and, of course, their famous sweet or savory buns — all of which are still baked in-house at the other locations and delivered to the Southwest Side.
Eventually, Chiu Quon owner Pui Yip Chiu will flip the script.
He'll take over the strip mall's adjacent storefronts and make it the main bakery, where cooks will produce the baked goods for the other locations in Chinatown and Uptown.
Chan, himself the son of restaurant owners, said "Chiu Quon has brand recognition. That's why we're spinning it off."
Chiu Quon Restaurant and Cafe is at 3324 S. Archer Ave. Hours are 7 a.m.-10:30 p.m. daily. Phone: 773-376-3839
