NT_092018

44 | September 20, 2018 | The Northbrook tower life & arts
northbrooktower.com
The black sheep of Glenview
New boba tea shop
adds new twists to
popular concept
Brittany Kapa
Contributing Sports Editor
Boba Club
1825 Waukegan Road,
Glenview
Noon-11 p.m., Sunday-
Thursday
Noon-midnight, Friday-
Saturday
(847) 603-6000
Glenview’s Boba Club knows
it may be a black sheep, but owner
Steve Ha is OK with that.
Ha’s latest business venture,
Boba Club, even dons a black
sheep on its logo — a subtle way
of letting the community know
his place does things a little differently.
Ha, an avid boba tea drinker,
would frequent his local boba
tea shop with his wife three or
four times a week. One day, as
Ha looked around, he noticed the
constant line of guests waiting
outside the door.
And, he then realized there was
room for another boba tea shop in
Glenview, one that did things a
little differently.
Ha and his wife opened Boba
Club, 1825 Waukegan Road in
Glenview, just a few short weeks
ago and offer more than just a
grab-and-go experience to its
customers.
Boba Club encourages patrons
to grab a drink, stay a while and
work. Long chats, homework
sessions or work duties are encouraged
by the incorporation
of private and semi-private work
spaces.
For those that want to focus
and work alone, there are two
private workstations disguised as
red phone booths.
“The telephone booths are really
a throwback to when I first
moved here,” Ha said.
Glenview’s downtown area
originally had phone booths located
across from the library, and
Ha wanted to bring a little local
Glenview history into his shop.
“I wanted to make it like this
because I worked from home before,
and I was a remote worker,
so I was always looking for places
like this,” he said.
Boba Club also has two larger
group work spaces, both enclosed,
in addition to a general
seating area and a bigger open
workspace toward the back.
“I’m really happy since we’ve
opened to see the regulars come
in on their bikes at 3:30 or 4 p.m.
and they’re in the rooms doing
their homework,” he said.
As for the menu, Ha mixed
traditional boba tea flavors with
more popular and modern options
for his customers.
“We do things authentic where
they have to be, so our jasmine
milk tea, for instance, it’s what
you’re going to expect when you
go into a typical boba tea shop,”
he said.
Part of that authentic experience
is making the tapioca balls
frequently, so the flavor and texture
is what a customer would expect
from any boba tea shop.
Boba Club’s tapioca is cooked
every three to four hours, as Ha
doesn’t want his product sitting
around all day.
“That’s what I expect when I
go to a boba tea shop,” he said.
Boba Club offers more recognizable
drink options such as
coffees and lattes for customers
looking for a little caffeine.
Ha incorporated his version
of an international dish he tried
in Hong Kong. The waffle puff
($5 classic, $8.50 waffle and ice
cream combination) is a take on a
traditional street waffle served in
Hong Kong.
“The waffle has the texture,
bounce and chewiness that you’re
going to get from the street waffle
in Hong Kong,” Ha said.
The Purple Palmer, served in a lightbulb cup ($6.75), is a twist on an Arnold Palmer drink made with
butterfly pea flower tea and lemonade. Photos by Erin Yarnall/22nd Century Media
An original waffle puff combo ($8.50) is served
with green tea ice cream and topped with dried
rose petals.
Boba Club’s waffle puff is
served with a variety of ice cream
flavors ranging from traditional
flavors like vanilla to more exotic
ones like green tea.
22nd Century Media editors
recently ventured to Glenview to
get a taste of what Boba Club has
to offer.
Ha prepared two different versions
of a fruit freeze ($4 for a
small, $5 for a large), which includes
three different types of
fruit blended with ice and served
with chewy tapioca balls.
Ha combined peach, mango
and strawberry to create a thicker
version of the drink that was
sweet and near-perfect for a hot
late-summer day.
The other fruit freeze, made
with honey dew, cantaloupe and
watermelon, had a lighter texture
to it but was still a sweet treat.
“Our drinks are somewhat
good for kids, there’s a lot of sugar
because of the fruits and stuff,
but it’s all real,” Ha said.
Ha also let us sample the waffle
puffs. The first, with the classic
Boba Club’s fruit freeze ($4 for a small, $5 for
a large) can be made with a variety of fruits, of
which customers choose three, and has tapioca
balls at the bottom.
waffle, similar in flavor to vanilla,
was served with green tea ice
cream and topped with dried rose
petals. The second, a nod to cookies
and cream, was the chocolate
waffle puff served with sesame ice
cream and topped with crushed
chocolate sandwich cookies.
Both of these sweet treats strike
a balance between authentic and
inauthentic flavors, that work
well together, as was Ha’s intent.
“I really want to keep everything
acceptable to the people that
live on the North Shore,” he said.