MincyBits and I went to the Downer's Grove location with a friend over the weekend and I tried the Three Chili Chicken, for purely scientific purposes. I can now report that it is much spicier than the version served at the Chinatown restaurant.

It's even spicier re-heated today. I ate 30 minutes ago and my mouth is still tingling.

Since I've been among the voices citing LSC inconsistency in the past year since the advent of LSH and LBJ (ooh, that's scary), let me also laud a winning dish when I do see one. I was debating chef's special crispy duck vs. smoked tea duck for placing a takeout order tonight for out-of-town guests, and went with the latter. They packed one of those large trays full to the brim with carefully sliced duck, mostly boneless, with perfectly crisped, chewy fat that must have come straight out of whatever smoking apparatus they use (note to self: Google method for homemade smoked tea duck, since I don't think they're breaking out the WSM back there). The few bone-on pieces were whole little duck legs to one side. A generous amount of a carefully-prepared dish (and a slow-cooked one at that, a rarity on LSC's almost exclusively quick-wok high heat menu) packed with some whimsy, and a third of the cost of the Peking preparation I like less.

This dish has been fine for me in the past at LSC and variable at Spring World, but tonight's order was perfection. Bravo.

I've done tea smoked wings -- a whole duck is a bit less of cocktail-party fodder.
I do it stovetop with a foil-sealed roasting pan, the bottom (lined with heavy-duty foil) filled with lapsong souchang (sp?), brown sugar, some white rice (just for filler, I think), and if I remember correctly, some hunks o' ginger.

Plenty of recipes out there. Tea smoke does great things to poultry.

My friend did tea-smoked duck at home in a wok - quite tasty, and you can find instructions online.

last week, I had a dish at the ogden (downers grove) branch of LSC that has skyrocketed to the top of my must order list - hand pulled noodles with pork and greens of the special menu - I'm not sure these are available at chinatown, and may be a reaction to katy's nearby (there are a number of such handmade noodle dishes on this additional menu)

Chewy slightly fat noodles with greens (think the shanghai noodles at either lao shanghai or mandarin kitchen) but topped with the spicy aromatic broth with ground pork of maopao dofu. Kind of halfway between a soup and a dryer noodle dish - it was served out in individual bowls for us at the table - really good stuff.

Thanks to zim's rec, I had the same "Hand-pulled noodles with pork" dish off the new menu at the Downers Grove branch today. Compared to nearby Katy's, the noodles, although clearly hand-made, are not done quite as well, having a little spring but not the same bouncy chewiness as Katy's. However, the very spicy ground pork and broth (really just a puddle at the bottom of the bowl) was really nice, with a good amount of szechuan peppercorn numbness to it and a little sweetness to round out the flavors. They did have another hand-pulled noodle dish called "Sweet and spicy" that the waitress said was also not really a soup but a drier dish like this one - I may have to try that one next time.

As an aside, the hot and sour soup was especially spicy today, tasting mainly of white pepper. It was good, but perhaps a tad too much and slightly overpowering. The chef must have a heavy hand with spices today, as the noodle dish was spicier than I remember similar dishes they have served in the past (ex. mapo tofu, etc).

Went to Lao Sze Chuan today for the first time in a while. Food first rate as always. But what impressed me today that someone has evidently been focusing on service. Up until now it has been more often than not indifferent at best, but we were greeted warmly, served quickly, checked on many times, offered drink refills four times and engaged in small talk in English. Were there still smoking allowed they surely would have changed the ashtrays. I was impressed.

Went to LSC Thurs for lunch en famille. Few people there. Great time to go, apparently.

The place was firing on all cylinders. Had the sliced beef maw (fuqi feipian) and pig's ear slices as apps. Entrees: hot boiled fish, 3 chili chicken (it's like eating candy!), garlic pea tips (awesome new discovery for me, so simple and done so well), garlic prawns (never expected LSC, a non-Cantonese place, to do it so well, awesome dish), cumin mutton, and the stir-fried (double-fried?) pig chitlins (like bacon with a liquid fat explosion in your mouth).

Splendid 8-dish meal -- and I swear I've had longer waits at McDonald's.

Counterpoint:

I really like LSC. My last trip to Chinatown netted me a less than favorable trip to Double Li a few weeks ago so I was in need of therapy. Had some stellar Sox tix for the Wed game, went to Healthy Food Lith for a barely average breakfast, watched my Soxies show Greinke where the fences are, and then went straight to LSC to cap the day off right. What a letdown. I was beyond psyched up for some spicy cabbage, cheng don(sp?) dumplings, and dan dan noodles. Whoever was in charge of the spicy oily sauce that day totally ruined it. It was all watered down with soy sauce. The dumplings were cooked about 1/3 of the amt that they needed to be. Dry and chewy. I've had these at LSC several times, and this was the first time they were bad in any way. Back to the spicy oil - I like the dumplings because the sauce is just that oil that they throw on the cabbage. It was dark with soy sauce - watered down. No chile flavor. You could see the redness in there, it's like they were trying to make the oil stretch like they were running low. The dan dan noodles suffered the same fate since that's the sauce as well. As for the cabbage, well, we didn't get to find out about the cabbage. We stopped asking for it after asking the third time. Maybe they thought we were not worthy enough for whatever reason although other diners were, apparently, since they got some.
On the plus side, the chicken crack was freshly fried, and actually had a little more chile heat than I've had there in the past.

My first real letdown at LSC. It won't deter me from returning, every place can have an off day.

seebee wrote:Counterpoint:
On the plus side, the chicken crack was freshly fried, and actually had a little more chile heat than I've had there in the past.

The chicken crack at the party looked fabulous. I was able to take some home to my husband and he said it was divine. Since I don't eat chickens I've been able to get my local vegetarian Chinese place, Yummy Yummy, to render a version covered with little red chilli's made from soy gluten. It's been a long time since I had chicken, but it tastes like what I recall chicken tasting like but w/a mouthful of fire. It's funny, it isn't on the menu and the owner makes it whenever I want it. I was jonesing for it a few hours ago, but didn't order it before they closed.

On a completely different note, I went to The Brown Sack earlier this week & my sandwich suffered b/c my beloved Seebee's giardinera was unavailable.

Dead on dinner at Lao Sze Chuan tonight.

Ma Po Tofu (with $2 of pork) was just a deliciously angry as always. 3 chili chicken was nicely balanced between sweet and spicy. We also had two dishes that were new to me: twice cooked pork and tea smoked duck. The pork was outstanding, salty/spicy bacon (bacon crack?). I wasn't nuts about the duck at first (a bit too smokey for my taste), but it grew on me as I ate it. The nice, melty layer of fat under the skin really sold this dish for me.

In response to seebee's comments above, I too have had 'off' meals at LSC. As he states, it happens. They're rare, though and over the long haul the place consistently delivers above the expectation line.

=R=

Had a terrific lunch here yesterday, lamb with cumin and chinese broccoli with garlic and oyster sauce, but the cold cabbage amuse freebie is what I cannot get out of my mind. Chili, chili oil, salt and / or soy or fish sauce and a slight vinegar or fermented note... Does anyone know the recipe for this wonderful dish?

LTH,

A niece and nephew were in town for the Neuroscience convention at McCormick Place, and, as I am currently reading Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, Lao Sze Chuan seemed in order. LSC was packed with a 20-minute wait, the double PhD niece observed the restaurant was littered with neuroscience conventioneers, lanyard badges a dead giveaway.

Unlike some places where service and food quality seem to diminish when the place is packed, I've observed, over many (many) visits when the joint is jumping LSC steps up its game. Food seems to come out hotter, faster, crisper, spicier. Waitresses more interactive, even the occasional smile, LSC gets it groove on when people are peering in the window wondering when its their turn at the table.

Went with the standards, Sliced Beef and Maw Szechuan style, Ma Po Tofu w/$2 pork, Salt/Pepper Shrimp shell-on, Eggplant in Garlic sauce and Tony's Three Chili Chicken. Eggplant in garlic skewed a little sweet, but I always say that, Tony's Three Chili Chicken was as good, if not better, than ever. Crisp, hot, hint of sweet, truly addictive.

LSC still hitting home runs.

Enjoy,
Gary

A niece and nephew were in town for the Neuroscience convention at McCormick Place, and, as I am currently reading Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, Lao Sze Chuan seemed in order. LSC was packed with a 20-minute wait, the double PhD niece observed the restaurant was littered with neuroscience conventioneers, lanyard badges a dead giveaway.

Gary, I am actually reading Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper currently as well, so that spurned me on to go to the Westmont outpost of Lao Sze Chuan for lunch this past Friday. I had the twice-cooked pork (after seeing it mentioned somewhat in the book), and it was excellent: a little fatty, good pork flavor, and with a lot of spicy zing to it. I plan to go back and see if they have any Strange-Flavored dishes, as the book makes that type of dish sound excellent and I don't think I have ever had it.

borborigmy wrote:...I plan to go back and see if they have any Strange-Flavored dishes, as the book makes that type of dish sound excellent and I don't think I have ever had it.

According to Fuschia Dunlop's "Land of Plenty", Strange Flavor is the translation of guai wei wei xing, where wei xing means flavor. I don't think I've ever seen that on menus though, "Strange Flavor" is probably more common here, compared with using yu hsiang for "Fish Flavor" (which itself is a mistranslation, as Yu and Hsiang are old names for the rivers that go through Sichuan, IIRC, making it more of "native flavor" -- there's no fish in it).

There is a garlic eggplant dish on the menu that is, for all intents and purposes, strange flavor eggplant. Sorry, I don't have the exact name of the dish at the tip of my tongue, but its a dish that is often recommended and is among the "standard" dishes that LTHers order at LSC.

borborigmy wrote:

A niece and nephew were in town for the Neuroscience convention at McCormick Place, and, as I am currently reading Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, Lao Sze Chuan seemed in order. LSC was packed with a 20-minute wait, the double PhD niece observed the restaurant was littered with neuroscience conventioneers, lanyard badges a dead giveaway.

Gary, I am actually reading Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper currently as well, so that spurned me on to go to the Westmont outpost of Lao Sze Chuan for lunch this past Friday. I had the twice-cooked pork (after seeing it mentioned somewhat in the book), and it was excellent: a little fatty, good pork flavor, and with a lot of spicy zing to it. I plan to go back and see if they have any Strange-Flavored dishes, as the book makes that type of dish sound excellent and I don't think I have ever had it.

if you're have easy access to westmont, katy's regularly has strange flavored chicken in its fridge, not sure if it's labeled in english though.... if not, looks for 怪味雞?

if you're have easy access to westmont, katy's regularly has strange flavored chicken in its fridge, not sure if it's labeled in english though.... if not, looks for 怪味雞?

I went to Katy's yesterday and asked about Strange-Flavored Chicken, as well as showed the staff the Chinese characters above, but she indicated they did not have it, and did not expect to have it.

At Lao Sze Chuan (Westmont), when I asked a week ago about it, they also said they did not have it, but that a cold appetizer called Bon Bon chicken was similar in style to Strange-Flavored Chicken. Does anyone know if this is true, or has anyone tried Bon Bon Chicken there?

Bon bon (or bang bang) chicken is theoretically similar. On this side of the Pacific pond, bon bon/bang bang chicken is somewhat different from guai wei/strange flavor. Strange flavor should have sweet, sour, hot, and numb flavors; bon bon chicken is, at least at lao sze chuan, just hot and numb/ma la. Fuchsia Dunlop seems to think bangbang chicken has made the transition abroad well; from my experience, I disagree. I still think both are good dishes, but they no longer refer to the same preparation--at least, based on my experiences in Chicago Chinese restaurants, in contrast with my experience with the dish in China.

I recently had an excellent, proper rendition of strange flavor/guai wei chicken at GNR Spring World in Chinatown. It was spot on, and I ate most of it myself, despite being but one in a group of eight.

I recently had an excellent, proper rendition of strange flavor/guai wei chicken at GNR Spring World in Chinatown. It was spot on, and I ate most of it myself, despite being but one in a group of eight.

Thanks so much, mtgl. I will probably try the bon bon chicken at Lao Sze Chuan, but I was really interested in that additional sweet/sour taste after reading Dunlop's book, so it is great to know that Spring World can deliver the goods.

trpt2345 wrote:Went to Lao Sze Chuan today for the first time in a while. Food first rate as always. But what impressed me today that someone has evidently been focusing on service. Up until now it has been more often than not indifferent at best, but we were greeted warmly, served quickly, checked on many times, offered drink refills four times and engaged in small talk in English. Were there still smoking allowed they surely would have changed the ashtrays. I was impressed.

interesting to hear this. service is what has been deterring me from going back to LSC. last time i went (which was more than 2 years ago), the service was still bad even by chinatown standard, which is a damn shame because their SC food is the most authentic in the city. i will have to check back now that there's report of improvement on service.

I asked the grandmother about the chicken styles. She makes bon bon chicken with spicy and sweet. She's never made the strange flavor because she thinks it would be too hot for me to tolerate.

However, I did ask her about the ingredients for the cabbage dish as inquired up-thread. (Now, I can't get a recipe because she has no recipes -- it is all done by taste.)

She lists ground Sichuan peppercorns, sesame oil, Chinese vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger, green onions, crushed chili sauce (she showed me her jar which is all in Chinese), and cabbage. And then we had a spirited discussion in Chinglish to uncover LSC's secret ingredient, of which the grandmother disapproves.

Any way you could get the name of the chili sauce? It's not Lao Gan Ma, is it? And is the secret (nasty) ingredient weijing? That would make me sad...

As I reported over in "Other", 7 of us ate at LSC while the majority of LTH was over at Happy Chef -- an Xmas Eve without Chicken Crack was just unacceptable to my family.

Happy to say, the issues some have reported recently were not happening on a full-house Christmas Eve (with Tony Hu in residence). Servings are generous (although I don't remember paying $1/head for rice previously), food is hot and service pretty darn good for such a crowded house.

We had a couple of newbies with us who ordered "ordinary" Chinese food, but even those were quite good.

Appetizers:
Never Forget Chicken -- have I had this before? Just kidding. Similar in taste, texture and appearance to their cold rabbit dish, cubes of randomly-chopped poultry with bone in hot oil. Can't lose.

Spring Rolls -- MrsF orderd one for everyone at the table... I could have skipped. Dull mostly-cabbage interior, but excellently fried outside.

House Special Hot & Sour Soup Vegetarian -- Too much heat for the person who ordered it (and is avoiding meat), we all had a taste. Not your traditional H&S -- a very smoky, spicy flavor, like it had Gary's hot oil in it. Probably some black bean in addition to the usual hot oil.

Pot Stickers -- Filling was unremarkable, but again the prep was perfect: dense, chewy exterior with a crispy side.
One of the few service missteps: these didn't arrive until the entrees.

Entrees: Mostly the usuals:
Lamb with Pure Cumin: Perhaps not as pungent as sometimes, but still a great dish, that you'll never find in a cantonese/mandarin place. I know a couple other places that do it now, but it's still the benchmark.

Tony's 3 Chili Chicken (Crack): This was a notch off its best: not as oily, and the chicken pieces rather large. As I said in the other forum, it's never like your first hit.

Crispy Shrimp with Mayonnaise Sauce: Another unique item, spot on. Sweet, sour, crunchy, perfectly cooked shrimp.

House Special Filet of Sole with Tofu: Still love this dish. Not as spicy as Ma Po, but with similar flavorings, plus fish! Last year, it had an interesting vegetable in it that was missing this time, but that may be the vaguaries of the marketplace.

The Less than Usuals:
Fried Noodle with Shrimp (lo mein): A very good rendition of a cantonese dish. Lots of shrimp and scallion.

Sesame Chicken: I didn't think much of this, but everyone else said it was wonderful.

I thought there was one more entree... I'm too lazy to go find the receipt.

We had a great time, no reason I wouldn't go back again and again.

Went for dinner tonight, didn't find it much different than the last time I went, but then I've found I'm not really a fan of chicken crack on a good day and thus immune to its ups and downs.

While we didn't stray too far from our standard orders, we didn't find anything actively amiss: szechuan string beans didn't have the texture I remember, but were still good. Potherb with pork was minimalist on the pork (but still good) and MaPo Tofu was different from what I remember, but probably in a way most LTHers would prefer: we asked for it less spicy, but it came in a fiery red sauce, not the brownish one I remembered. Dry Chili Beef was what we went for, and exactly as we remembered: flavorful and with a terrific chewy texture. I also liked the tea-smoked duck, and tried Peking-style duck tongues which I liked a lot (but will probably try the dry chili version next time)

Every restaurant I've eaten in in Chinatown has degrees of difference from meal to meal; I didn't see anything unusually different this time.

We were at LSC a week ago, and while we've had various levels of quality every so often this last visit was an example of why we still go. Superb all around, pot stickers, spring rolls, hot and sour soup, delicious pork belly in the twice cooked pork, shrimp with mayo. We may not be that adventurous but everything was fresh, hot, and on time. Good times.

Didn't see this elsewhere on the forum and thought this thread might be appropriate:

Lao Sze Chuan was named one of the top 100 Chinese Restaurants and, even better, it's one of the top 10

We were next to Pine Yard in Evanston yesterday, and I decided to give it a whirl and try their version of two of my LSC favorites: szechuan string beans and MaPo Tofu (which, inexplicably, is labeled Mapo beancurd...are there people who don't know what tofu is?) Wow. You don't realize what you've got until somebody gives you the same exact dish, but cooked badly. Yowza. (Of course, the fact that there were forks and no chopsticks should have been my first clue....)

Mhays wrote:You don't realize what you've got until somebody gives you the same exact dish, but cooked badly. Yowza.

I wouldn't say I 'love' these situations but they are always illuminating and most often, memorable.

=R=

Thanks for reminding me why I stopped going to Pine Yard many years ago, even though it's in the 'hood.