I'm gonna take this opportunity to start off the new year on a cynical, snarky note. Does all "ethnic" food need to be nearly inedibly spicy to be authentic? Is this really the only dimension by which we judge hunan food? Tell you what, I'll be standing at the corner of adisson and clark giving away free blasts of authentic Syrian tear gas and Palestinian pepper spray for the next few hours for all you spice heads out there. Happy godamn new year.

As someone who spends 95% of her time trapped with a toddler, those chilies are the most exciting things to happen to me all week. Don't begrudge me my cheap thrills.

Habibi wrote:I'm gonna take this opportunity to start off the new year on a cynical, snarky note. Does all "ethnic" food need to be nearly inedibly spicy to be authentic? Is this really the only dimension by which we judge hunan food? Tell you what, I'll be standing at the corner of adisson and clark giving away free blasts of authentic Syrian tear gas and Palestinian pepper spray for the next few hours for all you spice heads out there. Happy godamn new year.

Definitely not. But for me, it's a matter of the food being as it was when the place first opened. It was fiery then, so it should be fiery now. And spiciness aside, raw broccoli and jarred foodservice maraschino cherries on a dish that did not used to have them does not bode well.

=R=

Habibi, I understand where you may be coming from on that comment. I know you may have been blowing of stream. Even so, I have to both agree with Ronnie, and add that Hunan food is known for being extremely spicy, even being almost exclusively so. It was clear that they knew what they were cooking when they opened.

They set a bold standard which I was proud of them for, and I don't intend to sit idly by and let them dumb down the food for me (if that is indeed the case) because I'm not Chinese, or they otherwise think I cannot handle three real stuff. If it turns out to be the case, I fully intend to let the staff and even tony himself have a piece of my mind!

Habibi wrote:Does all "ethnic" food need to be nearly inedibly spicy to be authentic?

Of course not. But most Hunan dishes are supposed to be spicy. And lack of consistency in the spice level from one visit to another is a major problem, regardless of cuisine or restaurant.

Let's put it this way. Give me the spicy Hunan food at Lao Hunan any day over the bland, dumb downed, Americanized food at Le Colonial.

Of course ethnic food doesn't need to be spicy. But it should be authentic. Give me Hunan food, not "Hunan style."

nsxtasy wrote:And lack of consistency in the spice level from one visit to another is a major problem, regardless of cuisine or restaurant.

Stopped in solo right at ten, which turned out to be Lao Hunan's Sunday closing time. One couple finishing their meal, no problem preparing food, but they politely asked if I would mind taking out instead of dining in. Ordered sat at a table to wait with a cup of tea when the waitress said I was welcome to eat in if I did not mind the fact the staff would be eating their meal at the same time. No problem on my end, and it would give me an opportunity to see what the staff ate.

More tea, spicy cabbage, extra napkins and water came in a heartbeat, Famous Hunan chili black bean and bowl of rice soon after. Dry Chili Fish Filet crisp and volcanically hot followed and my request for chili oil was met with a smile. My only other experience at Lao Hunan was lunch over a month ago with a group of six, a stunningly good lunch at that, this just before/after close was every bit as good, if anything better both food and service wise.

Shortly after I was seated a young Asian couple came in, who they let eat in as well, though they turned away later arrivals. The young couple was amazing, thin fit nicely dressed they ordered five dishes and hungrily, lustfully, greedily proceeded to completely demolish plate after plate in well mannered but ever so slightly frenetic fashion. I was in awe.

An admittedly scant date point, but from my perspective Lao Hunan has not lost a beat, if anything I noticed an uptick and can't wait to go back. As an aside, Dry Chili Fish Filet and Famous Hunan chili black bean leftovers make for a terrific breakfast.

Enjoy,
Gary

FWIW, I ate at Lao Hunan very close to its opening, and then again a few days ago. I did not notice any particular change in quality nor in level of spiciness.

From my perspective, I'd say two things. First, I do not find the spiciest of spicy Chinese cuisines, to be a intensely spicy as other cuisines. I mean nothing at Lao Hunan is like the grilled jalepenos that people are munching at the carnitas place I ate at a week or so ago. I mean I love spicy Chinese food, I just don't find it fear inducing. The other thing is, I like Lao Hunan plenty, primarily for the chance to sample such new and interesting dishes, but in neither visit did I think the cooking really stellar. It has always lacked the expertise and finesse of, say Lao Sze Chuan.

G Wiv wrote:An admittedly scant date point, but from my perspective Lao Hunan has not lost a beat, if anything I noticed an uptick and can't wait to go back.

Encouraging and very good to know. Perhaps laikom's experience was just on a bad night. Seeing the broccoli and cherries in that picture he posted made me sad.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

G Wiv wrote:An admittedly scant date point, but from my perspective Lao Hunan has not lost a beat, if anything I noticed an uptick and can't wait to go back.

Encouraging and very good to know. Perhaps laikom's experience was just on a bad night. Seeing the broccoli and cherries in that picture he posted made me sad.

=R=

Spotted other lther's lunching as I dined with my old paralegal this afternoon. Still love this place. Jade tofu, check, #622 dry chili eggplant ,check. BYOB on the NA champagne, check & this place is still turning them out.

It's become my family's favorite restaurant, regardless of cuisine so of course I ordered ma po tofu & cashew chicken to go for dinner tonight.

Habibi wrote:I'm gonna take this opportunity to start off the new year on a cynical, snarky note. Does all "ethnic" food need to be nearly inedibly spicy to be authentic? Is this really the only dimension by which we judge hunan food? Tell you what, I'll be standing at the corner of adisson and clark giving away free blasts of authentic Syrian tear gas and Palestinian pepper spray for the next few hours for all you spice heads out there. Happy godamn new year.

Of course not: fresh flavors count for far more. But coming from the culinary wasteland of suburbanized Ashkenazic Jewish cooking, give me Yemenite s'chug anytime over least common denominator cooking (or in context, Lao Hunan over Sunda to avoid stepping over the redline to Said's Orientalism LOL).

Nice to see you pars4life. The feeling in my lips have returned.
Jade tofu, Beijing potstickers, an choy w/garlic (waitress called it baby bok choy, but it wasn't), two bowls of steaming hot beef noodle soup Szechuan style. It was perfect for a snowy day.

nicinchic wrote:Nice to see you pars4life. The feeling in my lips have returned.
Jade tofu, Beijing potstickers, an choy w/garlic (waitress called it baby bok choy, but it wasn't), two bowls of steaming hot beef noodle soup Szechuan style. It was perfect for a snowy day.

That an choy with garlic is going onto my list.

I hadn't been back to Lao Hunan since the new menu but had a chance to revisit on the afternoon of New Years Eve. We ordered four dishes, two I'd had previously and two new to me. I was very happy with everything.

Jade Tofu was exactly as I remember, in both taste and appearance, and remains one of my favorite tofu preps anywhere.



This simple dish—tofu, chilies, oil, cilantro (and…?)—has defied my attempts to duplicate it at home using pickled chilies from Hunan*. I guess it's not so simple, at least for me.

Ground Pork with Preserved Sour Bean was almost identical to the two previous plates I had back in October. Maybe slightly heavier on the pork but that's really not a complaint.



This is another favorite dish (in all of Chicago, not just at Lao Hunan), though one I won't soon attempt at home.

My first noodle dish at Lao Hunan turned out to be a real winner. Heng Shan Noodles (I don't recall the exact name) is sort of a Hunan version of niu rou mian. It comes to the table under a blanket of cilantro and peanuts . . .



. . . then gets mixed together . . .



. . . and served in individual bowls.



The broth is deeply flavored with chilies though not terribly hot. Noodles have a nice springy texture unlike the mush that's so often served. I'll definitely order this again.

Preserved Beef with White Chilli (again, not sure of precise name) is another dish well worth ordering.



Chewy chips of salted beef are dry-fried with two types of chilies, long red ones and a light-colored chili I never encountered before.



These white chilies have a unique musty/fruity/salty quality that's difficult to describe. Unlike the red ones, the white chilies have a light, crispy texture that makes them a pleasure to eat. This is an essential dish for any real chili afficianado.

I read some of the previous negative reports with concern. I don't doubt them but I haven't encountered any problems myself. Indeed, about 25 dishes sampled over 3 visits have been exemplary, almost without exception. Not a huge sample size to be sure but Lao Hunan is currently my favorite Chinese restaurant in Chicago by a wide margin.

Lao Hunan
2230 S Wentworth Av
Chicago
312-842-7888

* Great label, disappointing chilies (unpleasantly tough skins and abundant seeds but not much heat or flavor).

I wonder if those white chilies are the "white peppers" referred to by a Yelper? She claimed they were very hot and not served to non-Chinese customers generally. Except the ones in the picture are not, apparently, hot. Hm.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:I wonder if those white chilies are the "white peppers" referred to by a Yelper? She claimed they were very hot and not served to non-Chinese customers generally. Except the ones in the picture are not, apparently, hot. Hm.

Now that you mention it, I think they might be referred to as "white pepper" on the menu. I would hope that if a non-Chinese orders Preserved Beef with White Pepper (or whatever the menu name is) it would be served with the white chilies. We certainly were successful. The white chilies are fairly hot but are fun to chew up to appreciate their unique flavor. It was the pickled Hunan chilies in a jar (not from Lao Hunan) that I said were not hot.

I'm also a big fan of Jade Tofu. So simple and so good. It seems like they might have pressed the water out of the tofu then fried in a dry-ish pan before salting and adding cilantro.

I was thinking the Jade Tofu had something peanuty in it to counteract the heat. There's something in there. Peanut oil, sesame oil, peanut butter?

Sesame oil is almost certainly in that dish (jade tofu).

boudreaulicious wrote:Sesame oil is almost certainly in that dish (jade tofu).

But it doesn't seem especially toasty/nutty like so many sesame oils seem to me & yes I like sesame oil.

I just adore this dish.

Darn it All, it's been a week since last I went.

I agree. It just doesn't seem like sesame oil to me, unless there are really different types.

Rene G wrote:Ground Pork with Preserved Sour Bean was almost identical to the two previous plates I had back in October. Maybe slightly heavier on the pork but that's really not a complaint.



This is another favorite dish (in all of Chicago, not just at Lao Hunan), though one I won't soon attempt at home.

Dropped by the other day and picked this up to go. Remembered it being "Ground Pork with Pickle".. it now said "sour bean" on menu. So I sez to the guy, I sez.. this is not pickle, its sour bean.. its not that spicy, then? No, sez the Hunan-resident (going, presumably, by Hunanese-Scoville-standards), its more sour.. but I will get cook to make it spicier for you, dont worry. Cool beans, say I.

Cool-beans they were not - fiery-burning-hot preserved-beans, they turned out to be!

Damn good, though. Needed to mix them with more than the usual amount of white-rice, but really mouth-burningly, tongue-numblingly , sweat-inducingly excellent. Thanks much for the rec.

(I see a lot of "tofu" and "string beans" etc on the recommendation spicy-hot-list for Lao Hunan... and supposedly pork-belly etc which are "not-hot palate-cleansers" etc). Can anyone recommend some nicely mouth-tingling hot dishes with lamb/pork/beef/poultry? If not on the same level as Ground Pork with Sour Beans, at least close? The "extra spicy lamb-with-cumin" remains my favourite pick at Lao Szechuan, still, for example..)

c8w

Rene G wrote:I read some of the previous negative reports with concern. I don't doubt them but I haven't encountered any problems myself.

Keep in mind that while my meal was less spicy than previous meals, the familiar dishes which I had during that meal were the same as previously (except for the addition of the cherries and broccoli as garnish). I was trying out a lot of new stuff, and I really think I just happened to leave off the menu anything that contained those pepper spray green chilies. If you look back at my post, it may have seemed worrisome to some, myself included. However you'll see I still enjoyed the meal immensely. It was never my intention to knock Lao Hunan. I was a bit worried for a moment in time, but I'm really glad it's been verified over and over that the fire is still there when needed.

Thanks for your post, and I'm really looking forward to trying out that niu rou mian dish. Niu rou mian being a favorite of mine at Katy's and other places, I'm very excited to try that rendition .

nicinchic wrote:I agree. It just doesn't seem like sesame oil to me, unless there are really different types.

I assumed it was cut with an acid and maybe a tiny bit of sugar--so while not overpowering, it seemed to definitely be sesame oil to me--I didn't get any peanut. Only way to know for sure would be to ask

laikom wrote:

Rene G wrote:I read some of the previous negative reports with concern. I don't doubt them but I haven't encountered any problems myself.

Keep in mind that while my meal was less spicy than previous meals, the familiar dishes which I had during that meal were the same as previously (except for the addition of the cherries and broccoli as garnish). I was trying out a lot of new stuff, and I really think I just happened to leave off the menu anything that contained those pepper spray green chilies. If you look back at my post, it may have seemed worrisome to some, myself included. However you'll see I still enjoyed the meal immensely. It was never my intention to knock Lao Hunan. I was a bit worried for a moment in time, but I'm really glad it's been verified over and over that the fire is still there when needed.

Thanks for your post, and I'm really looking forward to trying out that niu rou mian dish. Niu rou mian being a favorite of mine at Katy's and other places, I'm very excited to try that rendition .

We've been there almost a half dozen times since they opened, and I wonder if they're making a conscious effort on weekends to tone down the spice content for the non-Chinese coming in. I ordered the cumin beef Saturday night, and beyond the first burst of cumin flavor, the rest of my entree came across as more oily than flavorful. The spicy cabbage amuse didn't quite the bite it had on our previous visits either.

On the bright side, I mentioned the LTH comments last week to the hostess, as well my feeling about the cumin beef vs. the more flavorful cumin beef skewers with cumin seeds at Lao You Ju, and at least got the point across that some folks are want to make sure they're keeping it real. Hopefully they'll take notice.

Here's a picture of our meal, before we consumed all of it.

Behold, the tiniest fan of the Hunan peppers and black beans. We're so proud.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:Behold, the tiniest fan of the Hunan peppers and black beans. We're so proud.

That is awesome!! Looked like the dog wanted in on the action too

Congrats!!

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:Behold, the tiniest fan of the Hunan peppers and black beans. We're so proud.

I don't think I've ever seen him outside of you. He's adorable.

Since we were close by following the Auto Show, the wife and I decided on hitting Chinatown for dinner last night. Despite having number of favorite places and dishes in Chinatown, we both had a taste for the exact same dishes at the same restaurant which made the decision easy -- Lao Hunan!

We'd previously visited the day after Thanksgiving, and despite it having been a couple months, the manager (Rebecca) remembered us and welcomed us back. We ordered the Famous Stir Fried Lamb, Famous Prawns in Hot Wok and the chicken & corn soup with egg and ginger we'd had on our last visit. We also tried for the first time the Spicy Marinated Beef, which was a cold beef appetizer. It was (dried?) beef with a texture almost of beef jerky, marinated in chili oil, ground chilies, spices & scallions. Another winner! The only issue was that it was pretty damn spicy, but because it was an appetizer they didn't bring any rice it to keep the heat in check. The soup came shortly thereafter, which was the one non-spicy dish we'd ordered so that helped balance the heat. The lamb and shrimp were every bit as good as we'd remembered.

It's not even 8am and I already want to dig into our leftovers... but I think my wife would kill me if I started on it without her.