Lao Sze Chuan 2008 - every menu item

My New Year's resolution: contribute to a fresh, up-to-date collection of images, descriptions, and reviews of every single menu item from all existing menus and a "side list" Tony promised to give me. I saw him on Wednesday and mentioned the idea, and he loved it and said he'd play along (with descriptions and ingredient lists) when I come in. This is not particularly original, since there is so much existing documentation and beautiful photographs here on LSC (and this may have been done with other restaurants, no?), but I think it will be a fun challenge to try to at least eat as many of the items as possible in one year, and collect everyone's best images and specific item reviews in one place.

Since 40+ of us are about to dive in tomorrow, I figure this would be a good time to start. The way I see this, we could collect:

- the actual menu line item (misprints and all, like "sauteed ell" and "babych.la.la.batai")

- which menu (or wall posting, or Tony's musings) it is located

- the menu number and/or section

- photographs

- an objective description, as in "lightly sauteed bok choy and straw mushrooms in a mild, brown oyster sauce," or "marinated boneless chicken thigh, coated in cornstarch, double deep-fried, sauteed in a sweet sauce with black pepper, dried chili, and chopped fresh chili, and dusted with rich, inspiring crack."

- as many subjective reviews as we can get

For the time being, we can just post at random in this or a similar thread (depending on where mods feel this should/could go), and then I'll try to organize either in the top post or a separate site. Game? Post away. Think this is a terrible idea or needs to be in a different forum? Let me know. I'll keep you posted of my individual progress either way. Happy New Year!

Lao Sze Chuan
2172 S. Archer Ave.
Chicago, IL 60616
312 326-5040



S n a c k s

This is a separate menu section on the online menu, but is scattered into appetizers and Very Special Chinese on the print menu. Items here are mostly $2-5 and appropriate for one or two people. According to Tony and personal observation, they are frequently ordered by Chinese clientele for quick takeout or smaller lunches, or used to accompany main dishes.

Several items, including most of the dumplings and wontons, feature a similar sauce base of hot chili paste, peanut and sesame oils, with sugar, Szechuan peppercorn, and vinegar tempering to differing degrees.

801 Steamed Bread Szechuan Style

See below, only steamed instead of fried (why you would get these steamed, I've no idea).

802 Deep Fried Chinese Bread



Very unusual and supremely delicious fried sweet-and-sour bread dough with lots of egg, flaky and crunchy on the outside and stringy and chewy on the inside. The change in color here reflects doneness more than a different filling. Served with Szechuan Cinnabon (TM) sauce. I swear that's what it is - liquid, butter-rich, delicious frosting. Interior closeup:



803 Spicy Tender Tofu



This is a good-sized (about a pint) order of very soft tofu in a spicy, acidic, oily broth. It is softer than Ma Po Tofu, and without the pork and bean paste. It does have numbing Szechuan pepper. Great on rice, lacks texture on its own. Spicier than the Chengdu Dumplings or Szechuan Wontons, and more vinegary, making for a thinner sauce. Liberally topped with chopped scallions.

804 Szechuan Cold Noodles Salad



A familiar dish: buckwheat spaghetti dressed in sesame oil and citrus, tossed with scallions, soy, and sliced fresh hot peppers. Not quite as good as Katy's purely on account of the noodles, but a generous portion and still very tasty.

8044 Green Bean Jelly Szechuan Style

805 Don Don Noodle



Nowhere as soupy as those at Katy's, these are usually served unmixed, with a knot of spaghetti-like pasta resting on top of the same broth as many other items in this category, but heavily modified with sugar, ginger, and a hint of ground peanut. Super-finely minced pork and wilted greens are strewn on top. This grows on me the more I have it; deceptively simple.

806 Chengdu Dumpling



Served in groups of 6-8 (typically more generous platings at the restaurant than with takeout), these thick-skinned dumplings seem to have a more finely ground, more garlicky, and spicier filling than the standard pot stickers. They are served (drowned) in a sticky, oily, very spicy broth that is usually more sour than the Szechuan Wontons and less sweet than the Don Don. The sauce makes a wonderful condiment for subsequent dishes, so this little order goes a long way. On one occasion, these were the hottest item I've ever been served at LSC; on every other, average or below average in spice. They can come out slightly undercooked at times, and are AMAZING if left in the fridge for a day or two, keeping and developing complexity splendidly.

807 Peking Dumpling

808 Szechuan Wonton

(with comparison in shape and color to Chengdu dumpling and Spicy Tender Tofu, shown individually and in personal dishes after takeout)



With a thinner and looser skin than the Chengdu dumplings, these wontons (also 6-8 per order) are in a sweeter broth, and usually less piquant. There is far less filling per wonton, and usually more liquid per dish. They've been perfectly cooked every time I've had them, and I recommend them to those not wanting to risk the varying doneness and heat of the Chengdu dumplings, though they lack the textural interest.

809 Wonton Mandarin Style



Just seeing if anyone was paying attention. This is a Westie very sad he didn't get any delicious Chinese food on Valentine's Day.

810 Steamed Dumpling with Pork



Really tasty dim sum-style bao, with good chewy shell and an air pocket inside around a pork meatball. This is served with both chili oil and a sweet soy, sesame, and ginger dumpling sauce.

811 House Special Rice Noodle Soup

812 Noodle Soup with Sour Pickle and Pork

Sobering illustration of project scope:

At least based on the online dinner menu, we're talking 252+/- menu items (I screened out some double-counts where names were similar but probably missed some) and a minimum cost of around $2800 to get through everything: there are some $23.95 items , but mostly $9.95 or $4.95. This doesn't yet factor Hot Pot. The in-restaurant glossy menu had more like 150 items at quick count today. I may need more help than I think!

I hope this gets into some previously uncharted menu areas. If we're currently even discussing 50 dishes regularly on the board, that's only scratching the surface. I've been pointing off-board friends to this post by Sazerac:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... light=gong

as an example of how much descriptions with line items could benefit not only diners but the restaurant itself, since more demand usually equals quicker and fresher replenishing of some of the less common ingredients.

Sounds good.

Don't forget to include the freebies, like the spicy slaw. (I don't know if it's actually on the menu or not.)

OK, I'll bite off an early review or two here (sorry, no pix, though Stagger may have them):

Note: The entire menu, with numbers and prices, can be found here:
http://www.laoszechuan.com/menu.htm
The arrows don't work for me (IE7), but you can arrow through the list.

482 Crispy Shrimp in Mayonnaise Sauce $12.95
When TonyC first suggested for this for our table at the 2005 Jewish Xmas Eve LTH event, I was severely skeptical: For one, he was also ordering the pork blood cake and intestine soup*. Second, I hate mayo. It only belongs in coleslaw. Period. And then he said, "no, it's sweet!" ...and I felt my gorge rise.

But then these glistening pearlescent crustaceans arrived on a platter, and I had to try one. It's amazing. It's nothing like mayonnaise at all.
It's like the ur-version of a sweet and sour shrimp: a lightly battered crunch to the plump shrimp, in a colorless, lightly sweet, lightly tart sauce (is there a fragrance of orange in there? Perhaps; perhaps it's just the suggestion from the garnish of carved orange peel). They're a wonderful foil to the atomic red oil in many of the hotter dishes at LSC, and a delightful treat.

It's buried on the second page of seafood items, so we almost missed it this year, but added it as a last item. I'll order it again, and again.

* It's #A24 on the "Very Chinese Special" page. No I didn't try it. There's some things my mother told me never to eat, and I haven't managed to break out of all those neuroses

202 Pot Stickers (6) $4.50
203 Crab Rangoon (4) $3.95
I am almost embarassed that these were ordered at our table (especially after seeing the pix of the Chengdu and Szechuan Dumplings), but they are both excellent exemplars of their type.

The Pot Stickers were thick-skinned, chewy noodle, nicely browned in a way I can never seem to master myself without, well, sticking to the pot. The filling was mostly meat, so far as I can tell, and well seasoned. Accompanied by a standard dumpling sauce and some chili oil, they're a welcome start to the meal.

The Crab Rangoon is also a pinnacle of this american invention. Heavier in crab, lighter in cream cheese than many other versions, it was crisp and low on grease. Folded into a pentagram rather than the typical fried-wonton winged shape, they make a nice pocket of tasty stuff. Skip the sweet-and-sour sauce, and top with a bit of hot mustard to cut the cloyingness of cream cheese, you can't miss.

Spicy Cabbage (number unknown, provided free on the table; I swear it was on the paper menu, although it's not on the website)
My son thought this was kimchee and advertised it as such to another newcomer, but it's quite different: you don't find oil in kimchee, and kimchee doesn't have this crispness -- different variety of cabbage, I think. I just call it Atomic Coleslaw. I'm not sure if the sweetness here is from the cabbage itself, or a little added to the sauce, but the extreme heat from the oil and chili flakes with the sweet crunch of cabbage helps to wake the taste buds for the feasts to come.

437 Chef's Special Sole Fish Fillet with Tofu* $11.95
Needing to order a few items that my son's kosher-keeping fiancee would eat, we ventured into fish territory. This was good, but not something I'd run back for. It closely resembled a milder Ma Po Tofu, but with added chunks of breaded sole. A little soggy, but very clean-tasting fish.

7055House Special Spicy Fried Rice Vegetable* $7.95
Another item ordered to please the kosher-observant, this was very tasty. What veggies it included were all minced fine, and only slightly spicy. Basically, just a kicked up fried rice.

We ordered other items, including the Chicken Crack, Ma Po Tofu, Lamb with Pure Cumin, but I'll let others tackle those. I thought the Lamb was a bit off from the previous time I'd had it: the onions were relatively raw, and they overpowered the lamb.

Awesome, Joel! I saved Stagger's images separately and am going to begin my own work (with appetizers and snacks) next week.

Santander, the folks at our table on the 24th suggested (though not unanimously) that the challenge ought to be that YOU need to eat (or have eaten at least once) each dish (or at least taste) for the picture to count.

Santander wrote:Awesome, Joel! I saved Stagger's images separately and am going to begin my own work (with appetizers and snacks) next week.

I appreciate the effort, not to mention have the utmost respect for your undertaking but if you want to use any of my pics its perfectly kosher with me.

Just back from a terrific lunch at Lao Sze Chuan with breaking news, Tony Hu is opening two new restaurants, Lao Beijing and Lao Shanghai.

Both are in Chinatown Square, Lao Shanghai will be going in the recently closed KS Seafood and Lao Beijing where Dragon King was. Tony mentioned he was shooting for a January 1 opening for both.

Full post w/pictures to follow.

Enjoy,
Gary

Santander, the folks at our table on the 24th suggested (though not unanimously) that the challenge ought to be that YOU need to eat (or have eaten at least once) each dish (or at least taste) for the picture to count.

Leek - my ears were burning (as likely were your tongues with the chili oil). I considered this carefully but decided that then it would turn into a documentary project like "Super Size Me" instead of what I wanted, which was a visual aid to help Tony's current and potential customers and get us into some of the lesser-traveled dishes. I see pork candy being this year's chicken crack.

Also, while I'm sure I'll shell out multiples of the $2k necessary for the LSC solo quest* on food out this next year, I don't want to put all of my 1000-year old eggs into one bird's nest.

Gary - Tony mentioned some "new ventures" the other day, but you got the full details out of him and I am in continued awe of your rapport with restauranteurs. This makes the quest perhaps even more daunting (and possibly less relevant). I'll re-evaluate in February after I see where I am and who's willing to share some plates with me.

*in mountaineering, they have the "Seven Summits," the highest points on each continent - which seven menus would be the pinnacle of Chicago dining to conquer? At least in terms of scope, if not quality? I think P.S. Bangkok had 150+ items and there must be a number of others in Chinatown.

This might be a job for something like Google Base -- each "item" in a Google Base database can have pictures, prices, etc.

In any case, it's bigger than any thread at LTH should go to.

LTHForum,

Seven of us for Late Notice Lunch at Lao Sze Chuan, and LSC mostly hit high notes with the exception of Chengdu Dumplings, which could have used another few minutes of steamer time.

#806 Chengdu Dumplings


We attempted to order #5 Fresh frog w/sour chili pickle from the Chef Recommended New Dishes, though as they were out of frog went with #1 Baby Octopus w/sour chili pickle. Octopus was good, not stellar as the octopus seemed over tenderized and tasted more like squid than octopus.

#1 Baby Octopus w/sour chili pickle (from Chef Recommended New Dishes)


Gratis spicy Cabbage, #A01 Sliced Beef and Maw Szechuan Style


Crispy Shrimp with mayonnaise is a sleeper of a dish, which JoelIF describes beautifully upthread.

#482 Crispy Shrimp w/Mayonnaise Sauce


Pork in Peking Sauce has been described as pork candy, I don't quite see that, though a solid dish, especially as counterpoint to a mostly spicy lineup.

#514 Pork in Peking Sauce


I typically order Ma Po Tofu with the $2 ground pork option, $1 seems light, $3 overpowers.

#609 Ma Po Tofu


#620 Stir Fry Potherb w/ground pork (Yu Choy)


#480 House Special Dry Chili Prawn w/shell


#564 Tony's Chicken w/three chili


Stir fry sliced potato is not my cup of oolong, to my taste it simply seems like slightly oily undercooked potato, and is one of the dishes where Evil Ronnie and I don't see eye to eye.

#631 Stir Fry Sliced Potato w/fresh chili


LSC, as usual, was packing em in at lunch, I hope Tony's new ventures (see upthread) do as well.

Enjoy,
Gary

Any idea what time they start serving lunch? I would need to be back in the office by noon.

teatpuller wrote:Any idea what time they start serving lunch? I would need to be back in the office by noon.

LSC hours are 10:30 a.m.-midnight, so it depends on where your office is located.*

Once again I exhibit an amazing command of the obvious

G Wiv wrote:

teatpuller wrote:Any idea what time they start serving lunch? I would need to be back in the office by noon.

LSC hours are 10:30 a.m.-midnight, so it depends on where your office is located.*

Once again I exhibit an amazing command of the obvious

Cool. Thanks. If I'm there at 10:30, I can be back by noon. I'm at Clark and Van Buren.

Gary, as usual your photos are making my breakfast seem insignificant. Hungry now!!

I've started my quest in the original post (up top, first thing on the page) with the Snacks; I will probably put other sections of the menu in separate posts so as not to totally un-format the first page of the thread.

I'm through about 30 menu items, but it's going to take me a LONG time to get photos and descriptions in, and my enthusiasm has been somewhat tempered by the daunting reality of Lao Beijing and Lao Shanghai, at which I've been spending a bit more time with totally new dishes.

This is to say: quest in progress, but will likely be modified, and I can use all the help I can get. I'll take any photos and descriptions from tonight's (Bridgestone) meal and other threads, with posters' permission, and check off at the end of the year how many I've personally sampled.

206. Steamed Rib with Mashed Rice. This is my new dish of the year - never had it before about April, and I've had it almost ever order since. This is a mix of beef rib tips and short rib pieces heavily laced with allspice and black and white pepper, seared, and then either braised or steamed. At some point, they are coated in crushed cooked rice and fried again so you have this mash of spicy, falling apart beef and oil. And it's $4.95, a steal like the rabbit and beef and maw, when lamb with cumin is up to $12.95 and eggplant and string beans up in the $9s.

I've updated the "snacks" section above with other items, and will start to crosslink photos and descriptions by others of specific dishes. Tony's restructured online and print menu, opening of two other restaurants, too many specials and hotpot combinations to keep track of, and family events have kept me from fervor for personally sampling every menu item this year, but I'm still shocked how I never get tired of this restaurant, and am always discovering new tastes.

Way too many photos and descriptions still to post of main dishes and vegetables (we had about 25 dishes at one meal in April, I can't even look at that memory card). I'm still hoping to post an LTH event for late November where all 10 around the table have to order something they've never had before.

I just went to this place two weekends ago! I didn't realize how popular it was. I wish I took photos to share too.

We ordered:

Appetizers:
House Special Hot and Sour Soup (sooo spicy but so good!)
Crab Rangoon
Dried Beef

Entrees:
Tony's Three Chili Chicken (my friends like to describe it as "food crack")
Orange Beef (delicious!)
Orange Chicken (I know...duplicate sauces, there was some confusion at the table)
Chicken with Cashews

We were boring compared to the rest of the menu items. My friends want to go back and try the pig ears and the rabbit.

I personally want one of those hot pots!

Entrees: Tony's Three Chili Chicken (my friends like to describe it as "food crack")

Your friends might be on to something...

Let's not forget the theme song...