HI,

I actually did order the eggroll once largely due to Steve Dahl's statement claim they were second best in the city. I didn't like them, then wondered what was first place.

Regards,

Christopher Gordon wrote:but...this is LSC...why order eggrolls and Cantonese?

CG,

I've been to LSC dozens of times and each time, at least the times I actually look at the menu, Steve Dahl is telling me LSC has, as Cathy2 mentioned, the Second best eggrolls in Chicago. Eventually I succumbed to the not so subliminal message and ordered a set just to see what the hoo-ha was all about. Turns out not much, my memory is of a blah deep fried number not at all in keeping with LSCs typical full bodied flavor.

Lao Sze Chuan Eggroll


Far as I'm concerned Kow Kow has the best eggroll in Chicagoland.

Enjoy,
Gary

Christopher Gordon wrote:

Air Flow wrote:Anyone find the chicken crack a little over-breaded and short on fowl? The flavor is top notch however. Also tried shrimp in mayonnaise sauce - delicioso - crispy and sweet. Egg roll was solid. Not sure it lived up to the lth hype for us, but will give another whirl, venturing into more of the menu.

As an LSC aficionado and the originator of this thread...I'm not sure what the hype over the egg roll or mayo shrimp is...I've never had the eggroll there(it wouldn't occur to me to order one at LSC) and mayo shrimp is a Cantonese prep.; not saying they don't offer a good one(I'm not a fan of Cantonese mayo chicken preps so wouldn't order a shrimp dish, either)...but...this is LSC...why order eggrolls and Cantonese?

I'm right with you on egg rolls. Dime a dozen. Why get that at LSC when you can get it anywhere else?

But the mayo shrimp? Silly as I feel ordering a Cantonese prep at a Sichuan restaurant (and I do), find me another place in Chicago that does it half as well and I'll consider taking it off my regular LSC rotation. Until then, I don't care if the best mayonnaise shrimp in the city is to be found in a Cantonese restaurant, a Sichuan restaurant or a Greek restaurant. It's one of my favorites, and I'm not picky about the propriety of where I obtain the best.

Dom: I totally agree with regard to the mayo shrimp. They compare more favorably than those I have had in some of both Chicago's and New York's better Cantonese places. In New York, they're often listed on the menu as Grand Marnier Shrimp.

I think that they make a great sweet respite from the peppery dishes like boiled beef or twice cooked pork on the LSC menu. Honestly, I like them best when run through a pool of the boiled beef sauce on my plate.

The last time I tried a mayo walnut chicken dish the s/o'd ordered it from one of Chicago's divers dive glorified chopsuey palaces(and this is years and years ago). I have mayo issues(including very strict parameters for it's usage...even on hamburgers it constitutes abuse). His mayo chicken dish was gloppy, sweet blahhhhhh; he loved it, actually. I imagine there have to be better preparations out there...and, I'm open minded enough to give it another try. Oh, just the thought gives me the squicks, tho'. Perhaps LSC could change my mind. I give them(and the posters here who recommend their version) the benefit of the doubt.

misterchico wrote:Chicken Crack was awesome and perfect

Riffhard wrote:3 Pepper Chicken (Chicken Crack!),

JeanneBean wrote:Has anyone ever tried the Downers Grove location? Is the chicken Crack as good?

Are people going to LSC and actually ordering Chicken Crack by name and getting Tony's 3 Chili Chicken delivered to the table? If so, LTH has certainly left it's mark on LSC in more ways than just a GNR Award.

I love mayo shrimp. It is a guilty pleasure that I indulge in once in a while and only when nobody else is around. Not even the boyfriend knows I like that stuff.

I always feel less Chinese when I crave certain foods: Ameri-Chinese Egg Foo Young (especially from Orange Garden), Crab Rangoon, and Mayo Walnut Shrimp...

In fact, I had a crazy hankering for the stuff last week, that I was debating whether I would walk 5 blocks uphill from the hotel at 10 pm. Damn San Francisco and her hills!

Please don't think any less of me!!!

Are people going to LSC and actually ordering Chicken Crack by name and getting Tony's 3 Chili Chicken delivered to the table?

At least Tony himself is aware of the "chicken crack" pet name. "All good food is a drug," he noted when we discussed it in January. I'm not sure I would order it that way from the staff.

Santander wrote:I'm not sure I would order it that way from the staff.

Nor would I, but I'm curious if people (especially LSC novices) are walking into the restaurant and asking for it by its street name.

CrazyC wrote:I always feel less Chinese when I crave certain foods: Ameri-Chinese Egg Foo Young (especially from Orange Garden), Crab Rangoon, and Mayo Walnut Shrimp...

In fact, I had a crazy hankering for the stuff last week, that I was debating whether I would walk 5 blocks uphill from the hotel at 10 pm. Damn San Francisco and her hills!

Please don't think any less of me!!!

I know what you mean. I find myself missing Dinty Moore sandwiches -- they're a hometown Detroit thing, so I can justify it, but ... what kind of Jewish girl likes corned beef on white toast with lettuce, tomato and Russian dressing???

What is recommended at Lao Sze Chuan

Ma Po Dou Fu
Potherb in House Sauce
* Salt & pepper greenbean
* Cold cabbage dressed in seasame oil

* Three Chili Chicken
Chili Smelt
* Beef and maw
Bon bon chicken
* Spicy Rabbit w/bone

Dry chili chicken

Chili vegetable side order special

Spicy Beef Tendon
Fried Noodle with Chicken
Smoked Tea Duck

House special hot and sour soup

Chicken and noodles dish

* Lamb in Pure Cumin

Clams w/basil in wine sauce
* Chengdu Dumpling

Pork Hunk with Sour Pickle

Shanghai spring rolls

cold spinach appetizer

beef and mushroom dish

beef boiled in Szechuan sauce

Sole Fish Fillet in Chili Bean Sauce
Steamed Ribs with Mashed Rice

Hot pot

Baby Bok Choy with Straw Mushrooms

Pork in Peking Sauce
Dry-Chili Prawn in shell
Stir-fried sliced potato with fresh chili
Baby Octopus with sour chili pickle
Crispy shrimp with mayonnaise sauce

Ginger squid appetizer

Szechuan beef stew
Twice cooked pork

Deep Fried Chinese Bread

Lobster in sour pickle sauce
Crispy eggplant & pork

PITD, very neat!

Excellent resource: looking it over, I realized that this past Jewish Christmas Eve, we didn't have the sliced beef and maw. Considering how much I love cow face and all the proximate parts, I need to go back...

Panther in the Den wrote:What is recommended at Lao Sze Chuan

* Salt & pepper greenbean
* Three Chili Chicken
* Beef and maw
* Spicy Rabbit w/bone
* Chengdu Dumpling

Do the asterisks signify personal or group favorites or something else?

imsscott wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:What is recommended at Lao Sze Chuan

* Salt & pepper greenbean
* Three Chili Chicken
* Beef and maw
* Spicy Rabbit w/bone
* Chengdu Dumpling

Do the asterisks signify personal or group favorites or something else?

Yup. I just noticed I forgot to mark the lamb with cumin...

Hi, long time listener, soon-to-be first time LSC'er. <ding>

Couple quick questions - how is parking? Is the wait long on a Saturday night? And does anyone know if their liquor license is still operational, or is it BYOB?

Thanks for taking my call; I'll hang up and listen for your comments.

<click>

whiskeybent wrote:Hi, long time listener, soon-to-be first time LSC'er. <ding>

Couple quick questions - how is parking? Is the wait long on a Saturday night? And does anyone know if their liquor license is still operational, or is it BYOB?

Thanks for taking my call; I'll hang up and listen for your comments.

<click>

Attention Ship, Longtime Listener aka soon-to-be first time LSC'er:

There is plenty of secured parking at our off-world docking beach: please be advised of requisite deep orbit decontamination procedures.

What is Saturday? Wait times may be long: have you recently upgraded your Planck meme interface to current Convivium standard?

As we await neu viral protocol enhancement perhaps you will consider a lovely beverage distilled from the publik ethanol reservoirs located in Chinatown Square.

Thank you Longtime Listener, we appreciate your patronage during our Great Age of Old Sichuan Cuisine.

ronnie_suburban wrote:It is with great disappointment that I share the news that Lao Sze Chuan's Palatine outpost, SzeChuan House, has closed.


=R=

So, we had dinner at Mapo (Naperville) tonight and learned from our main waitress, who is the daughter of one of the co-owners, (although every family member made an appearance at the table during the evening as is wont in Chinese restaurants) that the other co-owner of Mapo is none other than the prior "owner" (maybe she meant chef) of Palatine Lao Szechuan. Also, one of the waitresses there is also a prior Lao Szechuan employee.

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

In the Mapo thread, I'll be posting photos as well as a scan of the Chinese-language menu our waitress (Cindy? Sandy?) so kindly gave me to post onto LTHForum. Translations will need to come from another kind soul.

Interestingly enough, our waitress also mentioned that another reviewer came in from Yelp recently taking photos as I did this evening.

Some Pics from the LTH LSC (what is it with the 3 consonant thing?) lunch today, 12-16-2008.

The view



Ma Po Dofu "Twice Porked"





Crispy Shrimp with Mayonnaise Sauce (sauced a bit heavy today)



Boiled Fish (yes, it's hot)





"Steamed Rib With Mashed Rice" #206 (Thanks Santander!)



The bill and total leftovers of the 18 dishes (with 8 people in attendance)

Thanks for the pics and good company, Stagger! The rib item is "Steamed Rib With Mashed Rice" from the hot appetizers section:

viewtopic.php?p=226083#p226083

It's #206. Sadly up 50 cents like everything else on the menu, but still a steal at $5.45.

Stagger wrote:

$8.00 for rice?!?!?!

Great looking food though...

Not just any rice... DEVIL RICE!!!

Jay K wrote: $8.00 for rice?!?!?!

Buck a person, and they reloaded the rice two or three times.

If you saw the crew we had at the table and you were ringing in the ticket, you would have asked for a buck a head for rice too.

I have zero issues with the way LSC prices their dishes and the cost of staple food stuffs has gone up. Some of their dishes I think they flat undercharge for like the boiled fish (its huge).

Santander let me know if you need me to get you any of these pics for the menu project via PM.

I think that Alpana Singh was there when we went for dinner last week (Friday night). If not her, then someone who looks like her, sounds like her, and didn't sound dopey when saying their wine had "a lot of mango" in it.

great pictures,

I am really looking forward to trying some different items, as well as indulge in some favorites @ the X-mas eve dinner next week.

leek wrote:I think that Alpana Singh was there when we went for dinner last week (Friday night). If not her, then someone who looks like her, sounds like her, and didn't sound dopey when saying their wine had "a lot of mango" in it.

Would make sense - she was at Binny's for a book signing last Friday from 6-8. I was there as well (just to drink, not for Alpana) and almost went to Chinatown myself when I left.

Food pics look great, thanks for posting. The steamed ribs with mashed rice just got added to my must-try list. I like hot foods but boy that boiled fish dish looks to have a LOT of pepper in it. Yikes.

I went with some co-workers to Lao Sze Schwan for lunch yesterday, first time in a while. Szechuan dumplings, spicy sliced pork, salt and pepper prawns, mayo shrimp. A fine feast and $48 for three. I can't let such a long interval go by before I return.

trpt2345 wrote:I can't let such a long interval go by before I return.

No doubt... I'm thinking five days...

I know what you mean, I was inches away from going back for dinner.