Ms. Luo’s recipes

By Naperville Magazine
Appears in the March 2026 issue.

By Peter Gianopulos

La Mom Kitchen celebrates China’s diverse dishes

There are more than 70 items jostling for attention on La Mom Kitchen’s menu (30 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville), a voluminous lineup of wok-fired classics, thick and wispy noodles, and virus-vanquishing soups. Sometimes, an overabundance of options can be a crutch, but here it’s justified, as La Mom is committed to showcasing a diverse array of cuisines from culinary hubs across China.

Owner Judy Luo, who operated a previous incarnation of La Mom in Chicago’s Chinatown, has so much confidence in her pan-Chinese menu that she opened three different locations—Naperville, La Grange, and the Edgewater neighborhood in Chicago—in only a two-month span in late 2025. It’s the business equivalent of calling an all-out, send-the-house blitz—a pure “no risk-it, no biscuit” gamble. Here’s her thinking: If she can entice enough people to sample her menu near those locations, word-of-mouth buzz will bring folks from the cities and neighborhoods in between.

Why the supreme confidence? In addition to a catalog of staples—your de rigueur orange chicken, crab Rangoon, and walnut shrimp—the menu is stacked with exotic curios you’ll never see at your local Chinese fast-food chain. Broth-filled xiao long dumplings (below) that detonate, like tiny soup grenades, upon contact. A litany of fiery sinus-clearing specialties—from smashed eggplant in a chile sauce to peppered pork ribs—as well as recipes you’d only experience if you were family. Think pork blood and tripe soup or eggs scrambled with “rock tripe,” an edible lichen that has the earthy flavor you’d expect from forest fungi.

Despite the menu’s geographic range, Luo places a special emphasis on cuisine from Shanghai, including crispy fried shrimp (the shells are edible) as well as a vegetarian-friendly play on garlic-drenched bok choy (both pictured above).

Then there are the dishes that are dearest to Lao’s heart. Immaculately tender Hong Sue pork belly simmered in a ginger-spiked mahogany-red sauce. Smoked grass carp flavored with ginger, cinnamon, and orange peel. Yan du xian soup, a brothy consommé flavored with salted pork, winter bamboo shoots, and celtuce, a cousin of celery that’s beloved in Shanghai.

And just in case you have a hankering for a full Peking duck service, you can call the restaurant (312-756-9611) three days in advance for this secret specialty.

Photos: Jen Banowetz