Dinner at Spring World

I'm a newbie here, but do follow the postings avidly. I just wanted to report on a fantastic meal I had at Spring World last night, bringing an out-of-town foodie friend from North Carolina who wanted a good Chinese meal. We overordered, of course, there being only two of us, but two who wanted to sample the kitchen's range. Our choices:

Lamb and fish casserole. An AMAZING spicy casserole with fish, big pieces of lamb, garlic, ginger, and chiles in a stupendous star-anise-flavored broth. I was dubious about fish and lamb going together, but they did superbly.

Stir fried pork belly. Like twice-cooked pork without the leeks, but with both hot and sweet peppers. Another winner. I'm a big fan of pork belly.

Beef with Yunnanese dried mushrooms. Again a winner, loaded with mushrooms that gave a wild, earthy taste to the dish.

Bean curd skin with scallions. Our "vegetable". The perfect refresher to cool down from the hot peppers.

Portions were generous and the owner was voluble and friendly in describing the "authentic" dishes we wanted. I recommend this place highly (this was my third visit; previous two were also impressive).
The casserole alone would have been a meal for two.

Spring World info:

2109 S China pl
Chicago, IL 60616
(312) 326-9966

Sound Good.

I couldn't agree with you more. Spring World is one of my go to restuarants, but have vowed not to go again unless I am with a group, because we always over order. One of our favorites beside the onion pancake is the "chicken cut randomly"(chinese translation) great small fried chicken pieces with dried peppers ( a lot). (in China, they make it with the bone, but here they americanize it and take the bone out, which I quite enjoy). Good spicy beef noodle soup here too.

I'm a fan of their fish with jalapeno entree -- twice it's been tender, moist, with a good touch of fresh heat that nonetheless doesn't overwhelm the fish. A nice complement, on a recent visit, was chicken with rice cakes -- small, chewy rice cakes and chicken chunks in a relatively dry sauce with a more toasty heat (powdered chile as well as dried red chiles).

I'm by no means an expert, but these were hits all around the table. Each was a server recommendation. Also, they make a nice smoked tea duck.

Here, here, on Spring World. I may have said this elsewhere -- but, in addition to their more esoteric items, they have the best cashew chicken I have ever eaten. Winey, complex, and made mostly of dark meat. It may be a little embarrassing for the hip LTH-reading/posting cognoscenti to order but its a damn fine dish.

edk wrote:Here, here, on Spring World. I may have said this elsewhere -- but, in addition to their more esoteric items, they have the best cashew chicken I have ever eaten. Winey, complex, and made mostly of dark meat. It may be a little embarrassing for the hip LTH-reading/posting cognoscenti to order but its a damn fine dish.

EDK,

Hip be damned, I'm firmly convinced Spring World has the best Kung Pao Chicken in Chicago.

Spring World Kung Pao Chicken


Next time it's an order of cashew chicken for me, along with a few more esoteric items such as my favorite* Sliced Beef and Maw Szechuan Style.

Spring World Sliced Beef and Maw Szechuan Style


Enjoy,
Gary

*Depending on which I've had last my favorite Sliced Beef and Maw Szechuan Style is either Lao Sze Chuan or Spring World.

Lao Sze Chuan
2172 S. Archer
Chicago, IL 60646
312-326-5040.
http://www.laoszechuan.com

Spring World
2109 S China pl
Chicago, IL 60616
312-326-9966

Dinner time last night found us in an astoundingly crowded Chinatown. Cookie's desire for Tony's 3-Chile Chicken at LSC was thwarted by an unprecendented throng outside the restaurant. Double Li was packed to the rafters with young Chinese people (overwhelming the only waitress working).

We still wanted Chinese food with some heat, so "Plan C" brought us to Spring World, where we managed to grab the only open table. We enjoyed a variety of dishes, but here were the two standouts that were new to me:

Hot Pepper Chicken is an interesting backup to Tony's famous dish or to a dry-chile chicken. Chunks of chicken, cooked almost crisp with dry chiles, sliced jalapeno, and celery. The chicken was a bit salty, but the celery added an interesting element to the dish that I enjoyed very much.

Dry Sesame Beef: This is an appetizer. It's essentially dried strips of beef in sesame and chile oil. It's cold, chewy, spicy, and addictive.

Spring World is one of those places that always manages to fall just off my radar. When I managed to make it back, I'm always pleased.

Best,
Michael