Lao Bejing...Good Food and Deja Vu

Had a very nice dinner at Lao Bejing. Nothing was less than very good, and some dishes including northern style pancake, Peking smoked chicken, smoked pork buns, lamb sate and pork and cucumber salad were outstanding. "Famous Peking Pork" was also quite good and very deftly prepared, if a little sweet for my taste. Other dishes, among them mustardy bean curd skin "noodles" and casserole of frozen tofu,pork belly and pickled cabbage were also good, but clearly familiar.

Tony was able to solve this mystery revealing that the former head Chef from Ed's Potsticker House was now running the kitchen at Lao Bejing, bringing many popular recipes along with him.Some dishes have been modified a bit (for example the smoked pork buns are now done DIY style) while others are identical to the Ed's versions. Lots of new dishes on the menu as well. My overall impression was quite positive, and I'm sure to be back soon.

Lao Beijing
2138 S. Archer Ave
Chicago, IL
312- 881-0168

Uh oh, I wonder what this means for Ed's...

We had the same thought.

kuhdo wrote: Tony was able to solve this mystery revealing that the former head Chef from Ed's Potsticker House was now running the kitchen at Lao Bejing

Kuhdo,

That would explain why a few of the dishes we had were quite evocative of Ed's, in particular the Northern Pancake or, as the waiter at Lao Beijing called it, sliced pancake.

Nice piece of sleuthing!

Lao Beijing Sliced Pancake
Picture by Steve Z


Enjoy,
Gary

geli wrote:Uh oh, I wonder what this means for Ed's...

I am not hanging crepe as yet. I have been to Ed's when the owner brought food to the table she had prepared herself. If the Chef was trained to make dishes to the owner's standards, then it may mean the owners will train a new Chef/cook or cook it themselves in the short term.

I also have a sense there is more than one cook in the kitchen. Unless Tony persuaded the whole staff to migrate, I doubt (hope) there will not be too much change at Ed's Potsticker House.

Regards,

Hi,

I had lunch at Ed's Potsticker house with 10 people from the Chicago Foodways Roundtable meeting. There was no discernible difference in the food served yesterday from what I've enjoyed in the past.

The smoked pork buns were fully assembled to wow a new set of friends to their wonders. I actually did see soup in my soup dumpling, though I know that is one debatable issue. The fish flavored eggplant was soft and crisp and sticky, just like it should be. We tried their variant of salt and pepper Shrimp that was outstanding. A bow to our guest speaker, we had Americanized Chinese steak and pepper that was very well executed.

Regards,

I had a solid meal at Lao Beijing tonight with nine friends; we used the Fogel Rule to pick our nine dishes, and the total bill came to $117 including tax. Not shabby. The prices are slightly lower than Lao Sze Chuan, and the "Hand of Ed" is strong in the execution of the dishes as mentioned upthread. Tony was in the house tonight, upstairs at a private party with investors in his new $35 million condo development on 14th and Wabash, which is geared towards UIC students, but stopped to visit with us at fortune-reading time. The dishes for tonight:

- little Beijing dumplings with boiled egg, shrimp, and pork. More rustic than the many dumpling styles at Lao Sze Chuan, very good.

- stir-fried celery and lilly. Incredibly wholesome (and boring). The lilly tastes like a blander potato.

- pancake with smoked pork. This is Ed's dish to the letter, except that the components are served separately instead of already in sandwiches; hot pancakes, chilled sliced pork, scallion shreds, hoisin. The pork might have actually been better (no bone or unchewable fat) here.

- lamb satay Beijing-style. More intensely flavored than the lamb with cumin at LSC, five skewers to an order, very tasty.

- bok choy and straw mushrooms, a vegetarian favorite from Lao Sze Chuan. The reconstituted mushrooms were much smokier here, and the UWS (ubiquitious white sauce) was gooier. Meh.

- tofu homestyle, "bear paw" type tofu, but mildly stir fried with conventional vegetables and UBS (ubiquitous brown sauce). Double meh.

- Chef's special crispy eggplant. This is the fish-flavored eggplant from Ed's, with the eggplant trimmed to long rectangular solids and fried with lots of ginger, finished in a sweet sauce. The flavors were right on, but there was no crispiness whatsoever.

- Beijing-style shredded pork and scallions, identical to the pork Peking-style ("pork crack," for some) at LSC, except that it is served with beancurd skin wrappers. Decent, though it needed extra hoisin or chili oil, easily remedied.

- Mongolian beef. The conventional preparation (though no crispy noodles), but a much higher quality meat than usual for this dish. Quite succulent.

Tea was hot, service quick, and our amuse of crispy noodles and peanuts in chili oil was addicting, though I still prefer the cabbage at LSC. LB is still without a liquor license but is BYOB-friendly. This is a worthy side-track on a night when LSC is full or too noisy, but I still think the execution remains best at Tony's flagship.

I was recently at Lao Beijing. Just like I have heard on many reports, Tony was in house and very personable. Although service was expectedly rough around the edges (didn't bring water for the length of the meal, brought the wrong entree initially, LOOOOOOONG wait for orders) the food was spot on.
I too had the chef's special crispy eggplant. While it was delicious and not-so-heavy that I couldn't polish off the plate, there really was nothing "crispy" about the texture whatsoever. hmmmm
However, the lamb dumplings, crispy duck, and pan fried onion cakes were just perfect.

After an afternoon of chicken wings, and crawfish @ Toons, as well as a stop for appetizers @ Moon Palace, I was still in need of some more food, and Lao Bejing was the choice.

really nice flat rice noodle combination dish:




a nicely spiced Hunan beef, really lean beef, nice heat level:




Im gald we stopped in here, I need to get back to explore the menu further.

Chinatown was a nice night cap, thanks to petite_gourmande for the appitizers @ Moon Palace, and the company.

jimswside wrote:After an afternoon of chicken wings, and crawfish @ Toons, as well as a stop for appetizers @ Moon Palace, I was still in need of some more food, and Lao Bejing was the choice.

Im gald we stopped in here, I need to get back to explore the menu further.

Chinatown was a nice night cap, thanks to petite_gourmande for the appitizers @ Moon Palace, and the company.

What a great afternoon spent at Toons, then to cap it off with Lao Beijing was perfect. Both dishes at Lao Beijing were tasty. The noodles had nice wok-qi and crispy edge to the thick chewy center. The Hunan Beef was fragrantly spicy to pair with the mild noodles. Perfect nightcap.

The only misstep was Moon Palace, but we didn't give it much of a chance, only ordering some gringo-esque appetizer.

Thanks again to Jim and buddy for the company, great loads of fun.

petite_gourmande wrote:The only misstep was Moon Palace, but we didn't give it much of a chance, only ordering some gringo-esque appetizer.

Ack, sorry to hear about this. Fresh from the hot and sour soup thread, three dishes that usually hit the spot there are the scallion pancake, the Shanghai noodle, and the (low-soup) xiao long bao.

Thanks for the Lao Beijing report; the noodles look great.

scallion pancake was one of the 3 appetizers while we debated which would be the next stop., the others being shrimp toast(ok), and shanghai eggrolls(ok). the scallion pancake was just ok to my tastes.

Man, you have to get the Northern style pancake as so expertly pictured above. You cannot call a trip to Lao Beijing complete without it.

I just love this place. My family and I had a nice lupper here last week. Being lupper, we split our order between the bready stuff--"korean" noodles, house potstickers, veg dumplings, and the pancake--and an entree of fish with tons of szechuan peppercorns and the cold spinach with mustard dressing. The gentleman who handles, and I mean handles, us is a hoot and makes the food taste even better.

Vital Information wrote:Man, you have to get the Northern style pancake as so expertly pictured above.

.

next time for sure, this was kind of an impromptou quick visit, with no prior research.

Had a really great first impression here last night. Less crowded and hectic than LSC. We were served by Michael, who I recognized from the other restaurant, quite the whimsical dude, a real hoot! He was quick in his suggestions of what to order, which in some cases was very helpful and at other times was contrary to my preferences. In the end, I think I proved to him that I knew- to some extent- what I was doing and for the duration of the meal he referred to me as "boss".

Northern pancakes were light and crisp, almost croissant-like. I was a bit off put by lack of a sauce of some sort. Nice considered as a bread course, though. Pork bun was not smoked as defined upthread, with a home made, coarse ground pork filling flavored with ginger and scallion, like a steamed potsticker with a thicker wrapper. Good, but too doughy for me. Lamb Sate was killer, deepfried skewers of tender lamb, rolled in an intense blend of chile and cumin. Garlic spinach a classic standby. Michael's suggestion of house made "Korean" noodles were almost as good as Katy's, dressed in chile oil with an appropriately spare amount of dried chiles, slivered pork and scallion tossed in, letting the high quality noodles shine. The highlight for me was Tony's Special Soft-Shell Crab a glorious platter of chunks of deep-fried crab aggressively spiced with a similar mixture as the lamb but with a hotter punch and additional sesame seeds. Tossed with the crab were nicely wok-charred string beans. In all the spice and textural melee, the actual character of the crab got lost a little bit, but overall an incredibly satisfying dish.

I really liked Lao Beijing, the scaled-back operation compared to the flagship seems to allow for more considerate and consistent preparation and definitely more attentive service.

Jefe wrote:Northern pancakes were light and crisp, almost croissant-like. I was a bit off put by lack of a sauce of some sort. Nice considered as a bread course, though. The highlight for me was Tony's Special Soft-Shell Crab a glorious platter of chunks of deep-fried crab aggressively spiced with a similar mixture as the lamb but with a hotter punch and additional sesame seeds. Tossed with the crab were nicely wok-charred string beans. In all the spice and textural melee, the actual character of the crab got lost a little bit, but overall an incredibly satisfying dish.

nice write up,

I believe I am heading back to Lao Bejing Saturday, Northen pancake for sure, and perhaps the Tony's special sof shell crab you described.

Also interested in Bejing sunshine seafood dumplings, some more of those combo pan fried flat rice noodles, sweet and spicy chicken wings,conch hunan style, and crispy duck.

nice lunch @ Lao Bejing today. Place was packed with a wait @ 2:00 p.m.

good hot and sour soup, decent egg rolls.

The Northern pancake really didnt do anything for me. But glad we tried it. Also ordered conch Hunan style, a cold appetizer, conch was kind of chewy.

Pork in garlic sauce, nice moderately spicy pork dish, also had to do the pan fried flat rice noodle with a combo of meats. As good as last time. By far my favorite of the day. Ive got some pics, perhaps Ill post them later.

hot and sour soup:



northern pancake:




Conch hunan style:



pan fried fat rice noodle combination:



pork in garlic sauce:

I've been having good luck at LBJ lately - the most interesting dishes are some of the least expensive, so you feel like you're getting away with something eating food you can't get at LSC for a cheaper price in a quieter, more upscale room with a staff that speaks much better English. So if your ass rejects the invisible chairs at Tony's original haunt, slide on over.

One dish to point out is the Lao Beijing Noodle, which is pictured in the window looking like hot and sour soup. It's actually a three-person portion of homemade noodles, topped with a toasted sesame-oil sauce that seems like it will be too monotonous until you realize that there are whole cloves of roasted garlic, big cubes of ginger, cilantro stems, rehydrated mushrooms, winter melon, squash slices, and strips of tender pork hidden throughout. While the dry fried noodle dishes are more reminiscent of Katy's and show off the homemade product better, this soupy bowl is just chock full of interesting flavors, and it's all of $5.95.

A couple of friends and I had a decent meal at Lao Beijing on Christmas day. We started with the Shanghai pork dumplings (xiao long bao). They were okay, but left a lot to be desired. The dumpling dough itself was too thick, a couple of the dumplings stuck to the bottom of the steamer (because the lettuce leaves didn't fully cover the bottom), and there was very little soup in the dumplings. That being said, the flavor of the pork itself was quite good. Strangely, we had to request soup spoons for the dumplings.

We also had the complimentary chili-oil flavored shredded cabbage a la Lao Sze Chuan - and it was as good as LSC's version.

Pea shoots with garlic were good, but I preferred the version the night earlier at Double Li.

Twice fried duck was pretty good, albeit a little dry. But the Kung Pao Beef was surprisingly good, with good quality beef, quite a bit of heat, and a very good sauce.

And just like every other spot in Chinatown, Lao Beijing was packed this Christmas Day night.

We went here for our lunch with the boss today. I had the lamb with cumin ho-ho-holy shit what a delightful dish.

I was the only one who joined the Clean Plate Club®. And then there was a conversation about how they've started dividing their portions in half because they heard people who do so are more alert, live longer, etc.

And my fortune: Hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Thanks!

And now for the reason for my post: this outpost has no liquor license as of 12/18/15. So if you go, take some healthy eater friends with you and just say no to the cookies.