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lockportlegend.com dining out
the Lockport Legend | January 17, 2019 | 19
The Dish
Runa Izakaya a one-stop spot for Asian cuisine
Nuria Mathog
Contributing Editor
It is the classic lunchtime
debate: sushi, pad thai or
Chinese?
At Runa Izakaya in Tinley
Park, diners can have it all.
Owner Mark Cheung, a
longtime resident of Chicago’s
Bridgeport neighborhood,
prides himself on
the restaurant’s diversity of
Asian offerings. Among the
items on Runa Izakaya’s expansive
menu are Japanese
nigiri — raw fish served on
top of rice — and signature
sushi rolls adapted to more
American palates, as well as
Thai noodle dishes and Chinese
entrees, such as lo mein
and Szechuan chicken.
Cheung moved from
Hong Kong to the United
States when he was just 17
years old and soon discovered
a passion for cooking
through his work in the restaurant
industry. He started
with his first gig as a waiter
at a Chinese restaurant in
Chicago. Runa Izakaya is his
first restaurant, and Cheung
said he appreciates being a
part of the Tinley Park business
community.
“People here are nice,” he
said. “People here [like] my
food.”
The word “izakaya” refers
to a Japanese bar that provides
both food and drinks,
and Runa Izakaya holds true
on both fronts, offering diners
a selection of wine, sake
and cocktails to pair with its
dishes, such as the cosmopolitan
($6.50), made with
Absolut Citron, Cointreau,
lime juice and cranberry
juice.
One of the most frequently-ordered
dishes at Runa
Izakaya is the tonkotsu ramen
($10), which is a large
serving of freshly made noodles,
served in a chicken and
Runa Izakaya
7138 183rd St. in Tinley
Park
Hours
• 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
Monday-Thursday
• 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Friday-Saturday
• 12-9 p.m. Sunday
For more information…
Phone: (708) 342-1652
Web: www.runaizakaya.
com
pork broth, along with pork
slices, bean sprouts, seaweed,
eggs, mushrooms and
green onions. The restaurant
offers several other varieties
of ramen, as well, including
beef jigoku ramen and seafood
tonkotsu ramen.
“The seafood one, we just
change [out] the pork and
put seafood in there: shrimp,
baby scallops and calamari,”
Cheung said. “The spicy
one, the beef one, we put in
spicy beef.”
Sushi fans can choose
from a variety of creatively-named
rolls, including
the Chicago Moonlight roll
($11.99) a salmon and mango
roll paired with shrimp,
avocado and mango sauce,
and the Tinley Park roll
($12.99), made with crab,
cucumber and avocado,
topped with red snapper and
unagi sauce, also known as
eel sauce.
The Fire Dragon roll
($14.99) — a baked shrimp
tempura roll topped with
salmon, white tuna, red tobiko,
onion, eel sauce and
spicy mayo — is among
the restaurant’s most popular
dishes, Cheung said. As
a baked roll, the dish offers
a gateway into the world of
sushi for diners uncomfortable
with consuming raw
fish.
The tonkotsu ramen ($10) at Runa Izakaya in Tinley Park comes with a chicken and pork broth, fresh noodles, pork slices,
bean sprouts, seaweed, eggs, mushrooms and green onions. Photos by Megan Schuller/22nd Century Media
Customers seeking a
more traditional experience
can opt for a bento box, a
meal featuring a selection
of Japanese foods served in
compartments in a box. The
chicken teriyaki bento box
($9.99) comes with chicken
stir fry with teriyaki sauce,
rice, a California roll and
chicken gyoza dumplings
and sauce. The restaurant
also offers three other bento
box varieties: beef teriyaki,
salmon teriyaki and vegetable
tofu.
Cheung hopes area diners
will spring for lunch or dinner
at Runa Izakaya the next
time they are in the market
for a delicious, affordable
meal.
“We’ve got very good
quality and prices,” he said.
The Fire Dragon roll ($14.99) features baked shrimp tempura wrapped with rice and seaweed,
and topped with salmon, white tuna, red tobiko, onion, eel sauce and spicy mayo.