This restaurant’s name — inherited along with its sign from previous ownership — is the very definition of serendipity. Every day is a festive gathering in the color-saturated storefront where chef-owner Aomjai Phumpardit (pictured above) assembles the noodle bowls and rice plates she learned to make as a young girl helping out at Bangkok street stalls. She brings the joy, smells, and sizzle from the open kitchen, and the hilarious flower-festooned headwear that is her trademark. Her food bristles with energy. Her repertoire is vast but her kitchen tiny, so you’ve got to check the restaurant’s Instagram page to know what’s on the menu each week. Her boat noodle soup and khao soi (northern Thai chicken curry soup) are so nuanced that you may look past the non-noods. That would be a mistake: The pad kra pao (basil pork with rice) will change your world. 

Price: $
Address: 4205 W. Lawrence Ave.
Website: instagram.com/noodles.party.chicago/