ronnie_suburban wrote:It definitely happens but I've had a really good streak there lately, including a few later-night meals. If you really want shrimp at LSC, the dry chili prawns and the mayonnaise (orange) shrimp have both been very reliable items, in my experience. In fact, the dry chili prawns may be the best shrimp preparation in town.

It does suck to talk a place up and then have it let you down, though, especially with co-workers. I hate when that happens and am still living a few of those down at my office.

=R=

Probably should stick to the recommended dishes. I do like the green bean/black bean app.
I have one friend who likes it from work, but he was not there to defend the choice! if we go again, I will try your recommendations.
Oh well. This board is a great resource, I just hate it when a place misses so badly. A little off would have been okay but it was way off.

lhbeetle wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:It definitely happens but I've had a really good streak there lately, including a few later-night meals. If you really want shrimp at LSC, the dry chili prawns and the mayonnaise (orange) shrimp have both been very reliable items, in my experience. In fact, the dry chili prawns may be the best shrimp preparation in town.

It does suck to talk a place up and then have it let you down, though, especially with co-workers. I hate when that happens and am still living a few of those down at my office.

=R=

Probably should stick to the recommended dishes. I do like the green bean/black bean app.
I have one friend who likes it from work, but he was not there to defend the choice! if we go again, I will try your recommendations.
Oh well. This board is a great resource, I just hate it when a place misses so badly. A little off would have been okay but it was way off.

Yeah, it's not fair to blame LTH for the bad recommendation when you order dishes that no one here has mentioned.

=R=

Went to LSC in Chinatown for lunch today with a few first timers who I'd been talking it up to. Their regular is Fortune up in Milwaukee (one of the best Cantonese restaurants I've ever been to assuming you ignore the Americanized side of the menu). Today we had Ma Po Tofu, Boiled Beef in Spicy Szechuan Sauce, Garlic Chinese Broccoli, Crispy Shrimp in Mayo & Sole in Black Bean Sauce. All of it was excellent. Getting both the Ma Po and Boiled Beef might have been a bit of overkill on spicy heavy sauce, if there is such a thing. The sole was really nice, served with bok choy, but the sauce was also a bit heavy...later my friends inquired whether there was a steamed version. Anyone know? There's not much finer, in my opinion, than dragging a few mayo-slicked shrimp through the Ma Po, a flavor/texture explosion. I also got an order of Tony's Chicken to go (for my wife who could not make it), which I'm snacking on now...the only popcorn chicken I have any interest in.

I'm coming to Chinatown in a couple months for my annual fix. I've heard on this forum that sometimes the restaurants will validate parking. How does this work? Thanks.

It's been a while since I did it but essentially, you park in one of the lots by Archer & Wentworth. On your way into the lot, the machine spits out a ticket that you take. Keep it with you when going into the restaurant. When you're paying your bill at the restaurant, present it and they'll stamp it or put a sticker on it or something. When you leave the lot, you'll get a discounted rate on up to 2 or 3 hours of parking, forget exactly how much.

Correct me if I'm wrong internet

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:It's been a while since I did it but essentially, you park in one of the lots by Archer & Wentworth. On your way into the lot, the machine spits out a ticket that you take. Keep it with you when going into the restaurant. When you're paying your bill at the restaurant, present it and they'll stamp it or put a sticker on it or something. When you leave the lot, you'll get a discounted rate on up to 2 or 3 hours of parking, forget exactly how much.

Correct me if I'm wrong internet

It's a little different now. Still take the ticket, but the restaurant will give you a second discount card. You go to the pay machine (there are no longer attendants) upon leaving, insert your ticket, then the discount ticket, and then pay the two bucks. Put the paid ticket into the machine when you leave.

Thanks so much!

DKoblesky wrote:Praise for Lao Sze Chuan and praise for the LTH Forum.

I went for a second visit to Lao Sze Chuan to get Tony's Three Chili Chicken and Crispy Shrimp with Mayonnaise. Went for dinner because these items are not available at lunch, which was my first visit. Can I get a t-shirt?

I've been to both the DG and downtown outfits for lunch and have never had a problem getting those things for lunch, including weekdays and weekends.

My first visit ever (finally!!) at Lao Sze Chuan last night with the family. I was very impressed, though I thought it was a bit expensive and a couple fo the dishes underwhelmed. We started with the Peking dumplings that were very tasty, juicy, but lacked much flavor - overall ok. We also had the house special spicy kidneys, which I've never had before. The texture was nice and the flavor very good with the perfect amount of spice, at least for my palate. We then had the sole in black bean suace which was outstanding! Perfect texture on the fish with a savory black bean sauce that was delicious and not sweet, thank Goodness. Next up was the 3 chili chicken that I found a bit greasy and too sweet for me. A good dish, but I'm not sure I'd get it again. Just too bready-fried for me. Sorry LTH'ers. We then had the MaPo Tofu. OMG! Wow. I don't really understand why Iloved it, but it was the best I've had. I'm really nt even a tofu kind of guy, but the texture was perfect. The sauce was just overly hot, which actually was better than just hot i a way I can't explain. Just wonderful, and I'm glad we have leftovers. My son had the smoked tea duck that he loved, and I thoght was just ok. My daughter also had the peking noodles which were tasty, but too sweet for me.

Next time I want to try one of the eel dishes. Sadly they were out of eel so it will have to wait.

A friend & I made our inaugural visit to Lao Sze Chuan last night...Wow!

We got the cabbage amuse, string bean appetizer (the one with black beans & what I think was bean curd), hot & sour soup, lamb with cumin and dry chili chicken.

The hot & sour soup is pretty good and everything was awesome. I want to go back soon!

Here's my challenge: We ordered "not too spicy," and it was still too hot for me. I loved the flavors, but I suffered all night long. The cabbage, soup & string beans were an acceptable heat level for me, but the lamb & chicken were just too hot. (It didn't help that I couldn't stop eating them because they were so good.)

I realize there's some irony in asking for non-spicy (or, even less spicy) recommendations at a Szechuan restaurant, but can anyone point me to flavorful dishes where LSC knocks it out of the park, but that won't leave me suffering? Then I can have a few bites of the spicier dishes without killing myself. It sounds like the tea-smoked duck (which we were considering and then passed on) is one we should consider.

Never had luck w/their tea smoked duck (pales in comparison to other duck dishes around town) but for non spicy options @ LSC try the pot herb w/ground pork. Chengdu dumplings would also fit your wants.

Jazzfood wrote:Never had luck w/their tea smoked duck (pales in comparison to other duck dishes around town) but for non spicy options @ LSC try the pot herb w/ground pork. Chengdu dumplings would also fit your wants.

That mayonnaise shrimp dish isn't spicy at all and it's terrific. I thought the chengdu dumplings were served under a 'sauce' that contains chile oil. Am I thinking of the wrong dish?

=R=

Yes, there's a sauce w/the dumplings. Never thought it spicy in the least though. Yes on the mayo shrimp as well. A guilty pleasure that just seems so wrong but tastes so good.

For non-spicy options I like the sole in black bean sauce and any garlic vegetable.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Jazzfood wrote:Never had luck w/their tea smoked duck (pales in comparison to other duck dishes around town) but for non spicy options @ LSC try the pot herb w/ground pork. Chengdu dumplings would also fit your wants.

That mayonnaise shrimp dish isn't spicy at all and it's terrific. I thought the chengdu dumplings were served under a 'sauce' that contains chile oil. Am I thinking of the wrong dish?

=R=

I'm appreciating all of the suggestions. I can tolerate some spice--so a sauce with chili oil isn't out of the question--I'm just looking for things with a spice level similar to the cabbage amuse or string bean appetizer.

It also sounds as if crack chicken isn't as spicy as the dry chili chicken (which is what we had), right?

definitely true, the three chili chicken is very mild compared to the dry chili chicken

i'd say the chengdu dumplings are on par with the cabbage -- but the cabbage is wildly variable, so who knows.

gleam wrote:definitely true, the three chili chicken is very mild compared to the dry chili chicken

i'd say the chengdu dumplings are on par with the cabbage -- but the cabbage is wildly variable, so who knows.

The main reason I remember the chile oil being on the chengdu dumplings is because it's ended up on my shirt several times.

=R=

The chile oil stuff on the cabbage seems to be the same stuff on the chengdu dumplings the times I've gone.
LOL - the cabbage is now an amuse?

seebee wrote:The chile oil stuff on the cabbage seems to be the same stuff on the chengdu dumplings the times I've gone.
LOL - the cabbage is now an amuse?

Ah, now I wish I'd tried the 3 chili chicken instead of the dry chili chicken, but I'll put it on the list for next time.

I don't know that the waiter described it as an amuse...I was using that word because I didn't know if there was a separate cabbage appetizer and wanted to make clear I was talking about the free one!

I just finished a Delivery order from Lao. Flavor was pretty killer. I had the Mushroom Festival Oyster Sauce,
House Special Chili Baby Octopus, and the Clams and Tofu Soup. Again I want to stress, flavor was great. Now for the not so great; I'm not sure if the flavor could justify the prices. Yes I understand food is high and they use fresh ingredients but I just cant really see 15.75 for the Octopus and 12.75 for the Mushrooms. Soup was huge and only 6.75. It also included big chunks of both clam and tofu , so go figure. I'm looking at the pictures from others dinners and it seems that their "delivery portions" are significantly smaller than their "in house portions". Any other experiences like that???? My last gripe is the knife cuts. I understand that this isn't Trotter's where I'm going to get symmetrical 1/8 in brunoise but I had 3 garlic halves throughout, celery cut on a bias that was a good 2 1/2 in long, green pepper that ranged from matchsticks to huge chunks. I don't wanna sound picky because I'm not, it really didn't bother me but it made it a little hard to eat.
All in all I would be very happy to try some of their other items! (esp. if someone else is treating... )

Five years in Chicago, first time at Lao tonight.. holy sh!t that was some good food. Favorite was twice cooked pork - fermented black beans off the hook. THree chili chicken was good but didn't have the kick I wanted. Wife wanted duck, but really it paled to Sun Wah.. Next time (which will be soon) it will be dry chili chicken, boiled spicy beef, and a 'very chinese' entree with tripe and blood...

Lao Sze Chuan catered our restaurant group's holiday party last night and the food was pretty damn delicious. Kudos.

While we were disappointed when we learned that one of our Chinese lunch spots in Schaumburg was closing in December, the owners that sold the restaurant shared that it was sold to someone in Chinatown. We swung by last week to see if there was any sign of reopening, and were surprised to see a hand written sign in the window "lao sze chuan" coming soon, with Tony's web site. This is a small strip mall not even visable from the main roads, as well as a fairly small location -- maybe 15 tables. No mention of the new location on the website either.

Has anyone heard about a new Schaumburg location?

gls wrote:While we were disappointed when we learned that one of our Chinese lunch spots in Schaumburg was closing in December, the owners that sold the restaurant shared that it was sold to someone in Chinatown. We swung by last week to see if there was any sign of reopening, and were surprised to see a hand written sign in the window "lao sze chuan" coming soon, with Tony's web site. This is a small strip mall not even visable from the main roads, as well as a fairly small location -- maybe 15 tables. No mention of the new location on the website either.

Has anyone heard about a new Schaumburg location?

Would you care to share the address?

1220 Valley Lake Dr
Schaumburg, IL 60195

Just off of Golf, formerly Smiling Buddha

Due to my recent love affair with Lao Hunan, it's been quite a while since I've been to Lao Sze Chuan...well that and the fact that they installed those god awful plastic chairs designed for total discomfort. But I digress.

Today, I met up with a small group an ordered the LSC "Classics". Beef with Maw, Tony's Three Chili Chicken (Crack), Mayo Shrimp, Dry Chili Shrimp, Ma Po Tofu (W/ $2 pork), Lamb W/Cumin, Szechuan String Beans and a couple of other dishes that I'm forgetting. I'm happy to say that the kitchen was really on today. Everything was as good as I've ever had there, except the Tony's Three Chili Chicken has definitely changed from when it earned the name "Chicken Crack". It's a bit more breaded than it used to be, much sweeter and less spicy (despite being ordered extra spicy). It's still an enjoyable dish, but it no longer reaches the heights it once did.

Probaby the best bite of the day was an appetizer special called Shank with Special Pickled Peppers (or something very similar). The peppers in question were similar to sport peppers, but were pickled with a slightly sweet brine. They were delicious.

Haven't seen it posted, but Chef Tony is opening a third branch of Lao Szechuan in Uptown. They will be taking over the old Marigold location. It is scheduled for opening sometime during September. I am very excited for this addition to the neighborhood, no longer need to head down to Chinatown to settle my MaPo Tofu cravings.

Lao Szechuan
4832 N. Broadway

http://chicago.eater.com/archives/2012/ ... -chuan.php

Dlongs wrote:Haven't seen it posted, but Chef Tony is opening a third branch of Lao Szechuan in Uptown. They will be taking over the old Marigold location. It is scheduled for opening sometime during September. I am very excited for this addition to the neighborhood, no longer need to head down to Chinatown to settle my MaPo Tofu cravings.

Lao Szechuan
4832 N. Broadway

http://chicago.eater.com/archives/2012/ ... -chuan.php

Provided that it's not a quite dissimilar restaurant as is the one in Downer's Grove.

Definitely not praise on the mess that was LSC chinatown yesterday. Have been enjoying delivery the past few years but decided to make a festive visit yesterday- what a mistake. Arrived at 3:50, was quoted a 40 minute wait. Finally seated at 5pm. (These things happen.) But the major rub was that we didn't receive any non-soup dishes until 6:20! We wished we had brought our own food like we did for our toddler! Or more than one bottle of wine!

Between delivery and takeout orders, and the upstairs dining room, it seemed like the whole operation was moving in slow motion. Servers didn't have food to run….people were getting irritated all over the place. And to be clear, we didn't order the duck or the souffles! (j/k) Sesame noodles and dumplings in hot oil took the 80+ minutes to hit the table! Same with Ma Pa Tofu which requires minimal prep. And in typical LSC fashion, all of our dishes came at once. We are used to this approach, but usually it happens within 10 minutes!

As the wait for tables seemed to get longer I really felt for the folks who were just sitting down as besides the szechuan "cole slaw" or basic soup orders, they would not be enjoying any tasty treats soon. We wanted to add an order of Shrimp with Mayo to foil the Sole Filet in Sour Pickle Soup (the only dish that came out spicy on this typically un-spicy holiday) but we didn't have the guts to chance another one hour lapse. Wanted to beg some neighbors who seemed disinterested in their order but my companions would not allow

Staff was generally apologetic…we were all surprised that such a seasoned operation would struggle on an obviously busy time. We have been for xmas before and never had any of these problems.

I'll stick to delivery as it seems to get the priority attention and will think twice before venturing out for chinese christmas time!

misterchico wrote:I'll stick to delivery as it seems to get the priority attention and will think twice before venturing out for chinese christmas time!

You got that right! I picked up food from The Golden Chef (Wheeling) last night. Got there at 6, food was supposed to be ready at 6:15, didn't get food til 7:20. I KNOW this can and will happen with Chinese places on Christmas, but I have to laugh at people who actually get upset as if things get delayed or go wrong. There was one guy who was really mad, and I had to rub it in. "You're THAT guy. There's always going to be one person on a night like this who gets screwed and you're him. How does it feel?" I just don't understand how you could possibly expect normal service on a night when the place should be shut down because of fire hazards. There was wall to wall people in there. No room to move. I loved it. I love seeing people whining and complaining in a no-win situation, I'm like George Carlin. I made some friends while I waited and enjoyed my wait. In the end, our food was hot, fresh and delicious, just took a long time.