Little Three Happiness--I don't get the noodles

We were there on Monday, 24 hours too soon to see the great LTH award presentation.

So, I concede that the Crispy Chicken is the best chicken in Chicago. The Salt and Pepper Smelt are the best smelt in the universe. The potstickers are fine. The hot and sour soup is very good.

But I don't get the noodles. We ordered them extra crispy, with the duck. Bland. Blah. Dull. What am I missing?

(Oh, we also ordered a beef stew. It was pretty mysterious, full of membranes of something. Probably authentic as all get out and the beef was good once you sucked it out between the membranes. But I don't think I'd order it again).

Re the noodles, I just don't know. Off day, maybe? Those noodles are some of the best I've had, esp. with the salty duck skin. Bland would be the last descriptor based on my experience.

The funny thing is, I'm not a fan of nearly anything on the menu at LTH, but I can see the odd appeal of the crispy noodles. It really is a texture thing and it is all about the contrast between the very hard, crunchy bottom layer of the noodle, the hollow, "noodle air" in between, and the chewy noodle on top. I think most people get their flavor, if they need it from Gary's chili oil (or they customize the dish, like Evil Ronnie, with clams in black bean sauce).

To repeat what I wrote the other day, I just really loved the home-made noodles at the "New" Mandarin Kitchen, the newly opened Shanghai Place on Archer. There is no crisp in these noodles, but they are not light in the least and give your mouth a good workout generally in eating them. I had the leftovers with the boney pondfish in spicy bean sauce the other day, and they were as good the second time around for sure.

The "New" Mandarin Kitchen / Da Jiang Nan Bei
2143 S Archer Av
Chicago

I kept thinking I should gather up my nerve and ask for Gary's chili oil, which I thought I could even see in the refrigerator, but we were having communication problems as it was and I was chicken. I'm sure it would have made a difference.

Ann Fisher wrote:I kept thinking I should gather up my nerve and ask for Gary's chili oil, which I thought I could even see in the refrigerator, but we were having communication problems as it was and I was chicken. I'm sure it would have made a difference.

By all means, ask. That's what it's there for! Just because it's Gary's Chili Oil doesn't mean that he's the only one who can use it.

On the subject of noodles, I am still looking for a good version of Dan Dan Noodles in Chicago. The only place I could find them on the menu is Lao Sze Chuan, where the ground pork wasn't fried up crispy enough and the noodles were too thick to handle without getting chili oil all over me and (more importantly) did not absorb the chili oil and mix with the rest of the ingredients. Anyone see it anywhere else? I should try ordering it at Spring World sometime, even though it is off the menu, just to see if they would do it.

My favorite for Dan Dan Noodles:

Wu Liang Ye
36 W 48th St
New York, NY 10036
(212) 398-2308

Rich4 wrote:On the subject of noodles, I am still looking for a good version of Dan Dan Noodles in Chicago. The only place I could find them on the menu is Lao Sze Chuan, where the ground pork wasn't fried up crispy enough and the noodles were too thick to handle without getting chili oil all over me and (more importantly) did not absorb the chili oil and mix with the rest of the ingredients. Anyone see it anywhere else? I should try ordering it at Spring World sometime, even though it is off the menu, just to see if they would do it.

My favorite for Dan Dan Noodles:

Wu Liang Ye
36 W 48th St
New York, NY 10036
(212) 398-2308

Gosh, where's RST when you need him. My favorite noodles at Spring World are the ones that are cold, look like spaghetti and have a dressing that is mostly black vinagar. I cannot for the life of me, tell you the exact dish to order on their menu.

I am pretty sure also that Spring World has something like dan dan noodles. I think it is in the "snack" section of the menu.

FWIW, this is a dish Iron Chef Chinese made last night on a noodle showdown. I don't often watch the show, but was interested to see the Sezchuan stuff he made. The pork, which he mixed with noodles at the last minute, looked kind of like a ragu or picadillo. The noodles were quite thin, like angel hair. Both of which seem consistent with your comments.

Rich4 wrote:On the subject of noodles, I am still looking for a good version of Dan Dan Noodles in Chicago. The only place I could find them on the menu is Lao Sze Chuan, where the ground pork wasn't fried up crispy enough and the noodles were too thick to handle without getting chili oil all over me and (more importantly) did not absorb the chili oil and mix with the rest of the ingredients. Anyone see it anywhere else? I should try ordering it at Spring World sometime, even though it is off the menu, just to see if they would do it.

My favorite for Dan Dan Noodles:

Wu Liang Ye
36 W 48th St
New York, NY 10036
(212) 398-2308

On my last visit to Spring World, I saw Dan Dan Noodles being delivered to a table by a waitress. If it's not on the menu, I'm sure you can ask for it.

JeffB wrote:FWIW, this is a dish Iron Chef Chinese made last night on a noodle showdown. I don't often watch the show, but was interested to see the Sezchuan stuff he made. The pork, which he mixed with noodles at the last minute, looked kind of like a ragu or picadillo. The noodles were quite thin, like angel hair. Both of which seem consistent with your comments.

You wouldn't happen to have that episode on tape, would you? (emoticon for hope)

From what I remember, the noodles are cooked al dente as to absorb the chili oil. The pork is cooked seperately and added at the end along with the other, fresh, ingredients that you mix together.

LSC's version has a ragu poured over cooked spaghetti, and it doesn't work.

Ann Fisher wrote:I kept thinking I should gather up my nerve and ask for Gary's chili oil, which I thought I could even see in the refrigerator, but we were having communication problems as it was and I was chicken.

Word has it the chili oil works great with chicken as well.

Having consumed a good portion of a bowl of chili oil last evening, I can attest that it goes well with chicken, shrimp toast, salt & pepper shrimp and fried squid. A visit to LTH is not complete without chili oil.

I may have to drive 85 miles one way for lunch on Friday now. This thread is getting a craving going on in my gut. I only wish I could combine an LTH meal and an Al's Italian Beef in the same trip. But, that's too much pleasure in one day.

I ate at LTH one day without Gary. I asked for the chili oil with no problems or guilt. We ended up sharing one of the large round tables with 3 ladies from NC on a vacation in Chicago. I offered some suggestions for ordering and shared the chili oil with them. They loved the food and the oil. Gary's Chili Oil spreads good will. Use it.

Rich, I didn't record it, sorry. The chef, who supposedy is the son of a famous Chinese chef, mixed the "ragu" and noodles very thoroughly just before serving.

Ann Fisher wrote:I kept thinking I should gather up my nerve and ask for Gary's chili oil, which I thought I could even see in the refrigerator,

Ann,

Please, be my guest, that is exactly why I leave my chili oil at LTH, for people to use and enjoy. It's kept in the cooler, with the pop and beer, second shelf, right hand side, way towards the back.

I would write a love letter to 'Little' Three Happiness noodles, but I am going out in a few minutes with my neighbor Dan, and to properly describe my love for the crisp, delicious, perfect, transcendent crisp noodles at 'Little' Three Happiness would take hours.

One little ordering secret thought, I always ask, regardless of whether I order rice noodle or thin (flour/steam) noodles, for the noodles to be extra crisp. Sometimes I even make a breaking motion with my hands, just to emphasize crisp. I also ask for light sauce, too much sauce is not a friend to crispy noodles. At least to a crisp freak like myself.

Clams with Black bean sauce, extra jalapeno w/crisp thin noodle. aka Evil Ronnie Style


Duck with pan fried rice noodle, crisp, light sauce.


Enjoy,
Gary

'Little' Three Happiness
209 W Cermak Rd
Chicago, IL 60616
312-842-1964

As I believe there is still about 36 hours until the Great Neighborhood Restaurants Program lockdown, at which point any negative comments about chosen restaurants will be ruthlessly hunted down and punished, I still have time to say a few words myself.

There is no question LTH is a worthy restaurant in many ways. It is not perfect, but then, if it were what would be the point of the other 30 restaurants in Chinatown. At the meal that went with the presentation of the plaque, I remember two or three particular standouts: the crispy skin chicken is simple salty greasy chickeny goodness, the short ribs in black pepper sauce are savory and alive with peppery pep, and the salt and pepper shrimp (or smelts or whatever you care to order that way) is hot, slippery greasy yumminess.

I found some other dishes more problematic. The ong choy in the fermented tofu is one of those things that makes me think I'm eating swamp; the garlicky crabs smell fantastic but are hampered by the fact that, so far as I can tell, there's no actual meat on a crab, the entire animal consists of its chitinous carapace, it's sort of like eating a hardboiled egg which doesn't actually contain any egg, just shell; and the crispy noodle thing sounds good, and the duck and vegetable part is plenty good, but I too wonder about the doughy mass of noodle, I think there's only a small crispy part of it that is actually as good as advertised, the bulk of it is just fried dough.

So, much as I enjoy a meal at LTH, I don't rave about everything that happens there. What you look for so much of the time, I think, is some sign just that there's life in the kitchen at all-- that somebody in there cares and is trying. No doubt about that with LTH, I think.

The ong choy in the fermented tofu is one of those things that makes me think I'm eating swamp;

I happened to like this dish especially well last night. Of course, I have always liked fermented tofu. It's been some years, but I went through a faze where I would stir fry Romaine lettuce and 'dress it' with a paste of fermented tofu. All roll your eyes, I believe the idea came from the Frugal Gourmet.

The dish I simply could not taste was the Curried shrimp. Gary didn't believe it right away when Mike and I said it was tasteless. The curry sauce needed salt and some other seasoning adjustments. The shelled shrimp simply had no taste.

The whole tastelessness phenomena reminded me of an article I read where the family joke was Mom's tasteless shrimp dinner. The Mom had used baking soda instead of cornstarch( ), which had the effect of neutralizing the flavor to nothing.

In any case the company was grand and so was the dinner.

Oh, I can't believe I didn't mention the curry shrimp. Curry from a box shrimp, they sell the curry mixes at Mitsuwa and such places. A can of LaChoy would be a step up in authenticity and freshness. I think asking LTH to make curry anything turned out to be sort of like asking them to make carbonara anything. Just not within their realm.

Mike G wrote:Oh, I can't believe I didn't mention the curry shrimp. Curry from a box shrimp, they sell the curry mixes at Mitsuwa and such places.

Mike,

Geeeeesh, one dish is off one night and lower the BooM.

I agree, the curry shrimp were bland, the shrimp had little flavor, the sauce was goopy. It was an off night for curry shrimp. Geeeesh.

I have also had that dish when the flavors 'Popped', the curry flavor bright and clear, shrimp succulent, aroma enticing. In fact, LTH's curry shrimp is one of Ellen's favorites.

Now if you want to talk delicious, lets talk the rest of the meal, pure nirvana. ~sigh~

Enjoy,
Gary

Vital Information wrote:
Gosh, where's RST when you need him. My favorite noodles at Spring World are the ones that are cold, look like spaghetti and have a dressing that is mostly black vinagar. I cannot for the life of me, tell you the exact dish to order on their menu.

I am pretty sure also that Spring World has something like dan dan noodles. I think it is in the "snack" section of the menu.

Rob,

I think I know which dish you refer to. Unfortunately I don't recall the exact name either. I do know that is is ordered from one of the appetizer lists, and that it's simply listed as something like noodles ----- style. I hope this helps

Flip

G Wiv wrote:Please, be my guest, that is exactly why I leave my chili oil at LTH, for people to use and enjoy. It's kept in the cooler, with the pop and beer, second shelf, right hand side, way towards the back.

Garry, I had to smile during my first visit to LTH Sunday. After reading the above posts, I confidently requested your prized chili oil. The waitress told the owner who promptly came over and thanked me for coming. He said, "Oh, you're a friend of Garry's, he was already here twice this week."

He patted my back like an old friend would when I left. Your oil bonded me to him and to you, though we have never met...yet. I liberally used your oil on our crispy chicken, tofu casserole and shrimp fried rice. I even took the extra oil from the little serving dish home because I didn't want to waste a drop.

This morning, I had to clean the top shelf of my fridge as the chili oil had leaked through the take-home container and the plastic bag. That is some potent stuff! Thanks for "introducing" me to your friends and food.

janeyb wrote:Thanks for "introducing" me to your friends and food.

JaneyB,

What a nice thing to say, thank you very much.

Just as a heads up, I bought ingredients to make a fresh batch of Chili oil and will probably bring a few jars to LTH this weekend. I am now up to making it in 1 gallon and 1-1/2 gallon batches.

Friends and family seem to snap the chili oil up pretty fast these days.

Enjoy,
Gary

I too enlisted The Ultimo's help on Tues afternoon when I found myself in Chinatown and he steered me to the crispy skin chicken and the crispy chow fun noodles with duck and BBQ pork. As Ann said, the chicken was incredible, the skin was the best I've ever had. The noodles had no pork and the duck was good and the noodles texture contrast was great. However, I dislike celery and the omnipresent slivers of it hampered my enjoyment of the noodles. Next time I will get it sans celery and all will be well.

PS Gary, your chili oil is so freakin' good. I keep my stash of yours in a squeeze bottle in the fridge; I had the leftover chicken for dinner last night cold, just a chunk of sweet chicken and a drizzle of your oil....heaven. I ate all the skin at the restaurant , thinking that it probably wouldn't survive being chilled well.

Going to LTH tonight with wife. What would 5 top dishes to get. After reading I get the idea that they would include:
crispy chicken
salt and pepper shrimp
crispy noodles ( do you order them with other items like chicken, etc)
clams in oyster sauce

Other ideas?

thanks,

psychchef

psychchef wrote:Going to LTH tonight with wife. What would 5 top dishes to get. After reading I get the idea that they would include:
crispy chicken
salt and pepper shrimp
crispy noodles ( do you order them with other items like chicken, etc)
clams in oyster sauce

Psychchef,

My top 5 list at LTH would actually be around 20, but if you must restrict yourself to 5.....

Crispy skin chicken
Salt and Pepper shrimp, shell on.
Pan fried rice noodle, crisp, light sauce, with duck and BBQ pork.
Clams in black bean sauce, not oyster, with extra jalapeno
Water spinach with fermented tofu. (ong choi with fu yee)

I like to start an LTH meal with shrimp toast, yep, I know, it's a bit of a Chinese restaurant cliche, but LTH does a particularly good version. The shrimp toast go especially well with my chili oil.

Another two dishes I'd suggest are dry stir fry blue crab with ginger and scallion or pan fried thin (flour) noodle with mixed seafood. I always ask for noodle dishes crisp with light sauce. My wife is a fan of watercress stir fried with garlic.

Don't forget to ask for 'Gary's chili oil'

Enjoy,
Gary

'Little' Three Happiness
209 W Cermak Rd
Chicago, IL 60616
312-842-1964

I would add to Gary's excellent list Szechuan fried string beans with minced pork (extra spicy).

Gary, thanks for the game plan. Sounds great. That is great chili oil from China Moon as well. I love that cookbook! Did some searching earling on LTH and saw your progression from Simon's-Hopleaf-Carols-LTH, sounds like a great evening. How late is LTH open during the week, maybe we should do a 10pm-2am evening sometime. Maybe get Cathy2, etc

Speaking of crisp noodles at 'Little' Three Happiness. I was a wee bit short on cash-o-la, but really wanted a plate of crisp rice noodle. Couldn't afford duck, chicken, seafood or pork, so opted for the least expensive combination.

Pan fried rice noodle, extra crisp, with deep fried chicken head.


Enjoy,
Gary

'Little' Three Happiness
209 W Cermak Rd
Chicago, IL 60616
312-842-1964

psychchef wrote:Gary, thanks for the game plan. Sounds great. That is great chili oil from China Moon as well. I love that cookbook!

Psychchef,

China Moon is one of my favorite cookbooks, Strange Flavored Eggplant is a standard appetizer in our house, fish toast with fresh water chestnut and whipped, then incorporated egg white, are sublime, not to mention her Plum Frangipane Tart.

'Gary's' Chili Oil is an adaptation of Tropp's, which I never fail to mention. Main difference is more chili flake, more garlic and a longer and slower, temperature wise, cooking time. Here's a link to the recipe I posted a month or so ago. Recipe Link

Oh, right, pot browned noodle pillow. ~Sigh~

How was dinner at 'Little' Three Happiness last night? I think, but am not absolutely sure, LTH is open until 3-4 am on week nights.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gary,
I just saved and printed out your adaptation. I will make a batch today. But will take many repetitions to get to you black belt level of saucery, not to be confused with sorcery.

Had a great time at LTH last night. My wife, a little cautious about the chowhound cult, is even wavering and was wowed!! by the food. Had the shrimp toast, crispy chicken, salt and pepper shrimp, and crispy noodles with duck and bbq pork. Washed down with good chinese beer. Next time I want to explore items 6-10 on list of menu items you like.