Lao Beijing - An Awful First Impression

A group of us met for lunch today at the newly opened Lao Beijing in Chinatown Square. I had very high hopes for this restaurant and was looking forward to checking out their version of Peking Duck. The only problem was that they didn't have Peking Duck (or, in fact, any duck at all). For me, this was as good as the end of the story. What kind of restaurant specializing in Peking cuisine doesn't offer any duck dishes? In fairness, they had a few dishes, including Peking Duck, listed on their menu, so perhaps they may have it in the future, however I find the lack of duck to be a cardinal sin.

It was obvious that this place had only been open a short while, because they haven't put up new signage with the restaurant's name yet and they are still offering the Cantonese menu of the place that occupied the location before Tony took it over. Leaving that behind, we ordered several dishes from the as yet untranslated Chinese Language Menu with the half-hearted help of our server.

Lao Beijing Menu


We ordered some fried dough, chive pancakes and a do it yourself version of a pork belly/scallion pancake. In every case the renditions served at Lao Beijing pale in comparison to versions you can get elsewhere, in particular those at GNR Winner Ed's Potsticker House.

Lao Beijing Fried Dough


At the suggestion of our server, we ordered a dish of pork with crispy fried noodles. What we got was a dish right out the the Jewish-Suburban Chinese cookbook, featuring limp noodles covered in a thick cornstarch gravy with some strips of pork, peapods and some American broccoli.

Lao Beijing Pork With Crispy Noodles


All was not gloom and doom, though. We did order a few dishes which were very good. After being told that they do not offer the lamb dumplings listed on the menu, we opted for some Dragon King Sunshine Dumplings, which looked like Xiao Long Bao but were filled with meat only (no soup and served on a plate rather than in a steamer). These were perfectly fine, but nothing you couldn't get better prepared at Shui Wah just a few doors down. We also got a "salad" consisting of julienne cucumbers, mildish jalapeños, peanuts and cilantro with a spicy dressing. This was very good!

Lao Beijing Cucumber Salad


Another standout dish were skewers of lamb rubbed with cumin.

Lao Beijing Lamb


As I said at the beginning of the post, I was very disappointed in this restaurant. It was so much not to my liking that if it weren't for the pedigree of the owner, I'd probably not go back. Given how much I like Lao Sze Chuan, I'll probably give Lao Peking a few months to get its sea legs and then go back if someone else suggests it.

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

Thanks, Steve, for the sneak peek. Too bad it was disappointing. Opening 2 restaurants at the same time seemed like a daunting task, even for a seasoned pro like Tony. It sounds like some adjustment time will be necessary, at the very least.

=R=

HI,

This restaurant location was once Dragon King, right?

Regards,

Underwhelmed is how I would describe it. Out of 7-8 things, I found 2 to be very good, the cuke salad w/peanuts and the lamb skewers. The rest was, to be polite, adequate at best. We pulled a kuhdo though and rallied by walking across the mall to get ducked after the fact. It left us no choice.

It's to early to tell though, so based on Tony's rep, I'd agree to try it again in a month or so (even though I feel he misjudged in trying to open two places simultaneously, something is going to suffer, and apparently both have.)

And yes, it is in the Dragon King space.

Jazzfood wrote:We pulled a kuhdo though and rallied by walking across the mall to get ducked after the fact.

Ah, what might have been. These photos are from our Khudo lunch at Wing Chan

Duck (No pancakes or scallions, though)


BBQ Chicken Legs


Wing Chan BBQ
2157 S China Place
Chicago, IL
312-791-9389

stevez wrote:a dish right out the the Jewish-Suburban Chinese cookbook
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.
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with some strips of pork

I went to Lao Beijing this evening. It's in the location of the old Dragon King and the signs haven't changed -- Tony Hu says they'll be getting this done soon. They still serve the Dragon King menu along with a short version of what's to be a pretty extensive Lao Beijing menu.

First impressions --

Pai huang gua (smashed cucumber in garlic and vinegar) pretty much matched my expectations from when I lived in Beijing, but the pork on top subtracted by addition. The steamed pork/cabbage dumplings with vinegar brought back some memories but I felt like the sauce was missing something to give it fullness. The Beijing duck underwhelmed and the tortillas in place of real wrappers disappointed. The service was great.

I'll be back, but I'll give them some time to work out the kinks. They have a bunch of lamb offerings on the extended menu, none of which were available when I went, but they sure sounded yummy. They also plan to have Dongbei-style pancakes which will be a treat.

Cathy2 wrote:This restaurant location was once Dragon King, right?

Yes, Lao Beijing is located in the old Dragon King space.

prairiedogs wrote:They also plan to have Dongbei-style pancakes which will be a treat.

Prairiedogs,

You mind elaborating a bit. I'm not familiar with Dongbei-style pancakes and a web search yielded little aside from Dongbei-style is from Northeastern China.

Lao Beijing's steamed dumplings reminded me of my wife's favorite dumplings at the now defunct Korean restaurant Lincoln Noodle House to the extent I was picking a time to take her to Lao Beijing. After a bit more web noodling, I wonder if they are Dongbei-style as there's culinary crossover with Korea. Lao Beijing might even offer Ja jiang mian.

Enjoy,
Gary

stevez wrote:however I find the lack of duck to be a cardinal sin.

Steve,

Yes, it's daffy Lao Beijing did not have duck, though as they are only open a few days I don't quite find it the cardinal, or would that be mallard, sin as you. What I find surprising is Prairiedogs's mention Lao Beijing using tortillas for Peking duck wrappers.

That said, I quite liked elements of our lunch, for example Cucumber with peanut, cilantro, scallion and crushed red pepper and the steamed dumplings. The various 'pancake' dishes were tasty, as was the skewered lamb with cumin, though, as mentioned, Ed’s Potsticker does similar dishes equally, if not better.

I'm guessing over time, a surprisingly short time, Lao Beijing, and sister restaurant, Lao Shanghai, will develop nicely.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:I'm guessing over time, a surprisingly short time, Lao Beijing, and sister restaurant, Lao Shanghai, will develop nicely.

Like I said, I have no problem giving Lao Beijing a second try in deference to Tony, but it would only be after some time has passed and more favorable reviews start to appear.

HI,

When I don't feel like making Chinese doilies/wrappers for Peking duck or moo shu pork, then I will use flour tortillas. I buy the kind I can work them apart into two wrappers per tortilla and later steam them. These have worked out so well, that now I almost never make the wrappers myself.

When making the Chinese doilies, you put a bit of sesame oil between the two disks of dough. You roll them out together to make a compound doily. When you put the compound doily into a griddle/frying pan to cook, then the steam of the oil separates them into two very thin doilies. Later you steam the doilies before cooking.

I guess I don't find the tortillas as shocking, though I bet I do a few extra steps than what was served.

Regards,

Hi G Wiv,

LBJ wasn't serving the pancakes so I don't know what they'll be like when they begin, but the northeastern pancakes I ate when I lived in Beijing were starches served in place of noodles or rice and had some corn meal in them.

The tortillas as wrappers weren't an awful substitute -- the plum sauce dominated whatever flavor the wrappers had -- but yeah, a little disappointing.

I stopped by Lao Beijing for a late lunch yesterday and had a very sub par meal. I went with my 20 year old brother and his 18 year old friend, so I was not as adventuress as usual. But this is one of the reasons it was even more disappointing. We were going to start with the pot stickers and the vegetable steamed buns, but the buns did not come out until we were done with our entire meal. The pot stickers were dry, luke warm and has a serious lack of flavor. And the steamed buns, when they came, were
a bit tough and only had a thimble full of stuffing. They were steaming hot and DIY, but I would have preferred a frozen store bought product.
Then we ordered the Salt & Pepper Shrimp, Shanghai Pan Fried Noodles & Mongolian Beef. The Salt and Pepper Shrimp had a good flavor, but 4 of the shrimp we had were ineditble due to texture. Flabby and liquid texture after you bit through the yummy fried crust. The Shanghai Noodles were the best of the bunch, with crispy noodles, shrimp and napa cabbage. The pan sauce was perfect and it was loaded with ginger. Then the Mongolian Beef which was over cooked and unimaginative. Also the table side tea was cold and we did not get any rice until our steamed buns came. All in all a pretty bad experience. I will go back and try again, because in Tony I trust. And I always give a second chance.

I went with a friend to Chinatown today. She wanted to meet her son as he got off the El there and have lunch. We walked around for a good while, browsing, people watching and she wanted to try out Lao Beijing mostly because she was curious as to what 'food from Beijing would be like'.

The place was packed when we went in and we waited around 15 minutes to get seated.We both took this as a good sign.The weird thing was that they didn't seem to have menus yet? They handed us printed take out menus and told us to order off of there. I also had an issue when trying to order certain dishes that the waitress would immediately tell me "Not for you. You won't like that. Pick something else."

We had the Onion Pancake, Shanghai style pork dumplings, rice with egg and green onion, all which were good. After going through our run around with the server about things we would or wouldn't like, she suggested that we try the House Special Beijing pork. The pork itself was prepared well, slightly breaded and fried but the sauce it was in was a far too sweet, and it was very thick and syrupy, almost like a jarred sweet and sour sauce, but darker.

I think that I'd like to try the place out again, on a day where it was a bit slower, and I would possibly have more time to go over the menu and find a better way to assure the waiter/waitress that I would really eat some of the dishes.

I went to Lao Beijing on Monday to arrange for a Chinese new year's party and tasted four dishes. The Beiing pork was crispy and served with a light sauce that was not overly sweet and our favorite dish of the evening. The Beijing style tofu used a very light sauce, included cucumbers and fungus. The tofu was silky smooth and the sauce did not overpower the dish. Lamb with cumin is similar to the one served at Lao Sze Chuan and even the jalpenos were flavorfull. Finally we finished with the fried dough that are sliced and even the uncooked middle portions was tasty but a liitle greasy. My overall impression of the food was good, although it helped that Tony was there that night to meet with me about my event.

I went to Lao Beijing for the first time for lunch on Tuesday. I had Szechuan dumplings-very much like the ones at Lao Sze Chuan-and a terrific salt and pepper squid. My companion had a spicy beef dish from the lunch menu. It was all quite tasty and the lunch menu is significantly less expensive than the dinner menu and included soup. Our total was less than $20. I was favorably impressed.

I went to Lao Beijing a couple of times late last year and was disappointed. I was hoping for an Ed's in Chinatown. My two cents is that the owner seems to serve a lot of the same menu as Lao Sze Chuan. Sichuan and Beijing/Northern are totally different cuisines and there is not a lot of crossover. I understand that you have to have Beef and Broccoli, Crab Rangoon and Fried Rice, but why is there Congee, Dan Dan Mein, and Chengdu Dry Chili Chicken on a menu from a Beijing-style restaurant? These are very specifically regional foods and not Beijing style food. You would have to go out of your way to get these things in Beijing. The menu to me is more Lao Sze Chuan with some Northern style apps/breakfast foods. I have not set foot in Lao Shanghai because I fear the same thing. I hope things change over and will try to keep an eye on the menu when I walk through the Mall.

Four of us were there yesterday, Saturday, for lunch. All and all a very enjoyable experience. The place was busy and the food good. We had the Shanghai dumplings, tomato soup, pancake, black mushroom/pork ball casserole, and a couple of other dishes. Everything was good. Be warned, if the dish is specified as peppery it really, really is very spicy hot. The waiter was amusing and intent. We all had a good time and then drove out to Freddy's in Cicero for gelato. A good day.

This is my go-to restaurant for Manchurian (Dong-Bei) cuisine. Ask the waitresses for recs on Dong-Bei dishes (such as fermented-cabbage and pork casserole [酸菜白肉锅/suan cai bai rou guo], Manchurian pulled noodle [拉皮儿/la pierre]， or Minced potato [土豆丝/tu dou si]), you might have a better experience.

Manchurian cuisine is quite different from Sichuan cuisine. If you go in expecting Lao Sichuan, you will be disappointed.

Ever since the fire at Lao Sze Chuan, which forced some of the kitchen and many of the popular menu items at least temporarily over to Lao Beijing, the latter seems to have its act together beautifully, a status I have not seen abate since everything has been back to normal at LSC. It never seems busy in there, but certain dishes - particularly the special hot and sour soup, dry chili chicken, and orange peel beef - are executed at a consistently superior level, even before you get in to the specialties that are only at LBJ.

We had an excellently prepared and packaged takeout meal yesterday which included:

- Tony's special potstickers (a la Ed's; my brother-in-law calls them "vertical potstickers") with vinegar sauce
- northern fried smoked pork pancake with fresh, fatty, agressively smokey pork and crispy dough
- Shanghai pan fried noodle with vegetables, lots of wok hay and ginger
- orange (peel) beef, delightfully sour and sweet; I like a little glop somewhere in the meal
- salt and pepper squid, clean and tender
- boneless lamb with cumin Xinjiang-style; you can eat everything in the tray and get a riot of textures, colors, and flavor, from sweet garlic cloves to dried and fresh peppers, whole cumin seed, onions, and tender lamb, oily and spectacular

This was capped by their three-course Beijing duck service, which I've found reliably feeds four all on its own for the $29. To go (only 30 minutes advance notice required), you get a container with crackly skin and meat along with a smaller sidekick of cucumber, their signature silky hoisin, scallions, and packaged pancakes (we prefer tearing pancake layers from the smoked pork); a container of light shredded stir-fried duck, scallions, and grated sharp and earthy vegetables; and a balanced, delicate soup that in my opinion puts other duck soups in the city to shame. It features slivered ginger and garlic, cilantro, mushrooms, sesame oil, and the duck neck, and tastes elemental and wholesome.

For those who love Ed's, there are many places where Lao Beijing could fall short, but I don't think it is right now. Some of my favorites of Tony's staff are handling the front of house and are eager to please and suggest; food comes up fast for eating out or in. I could not have been more pleased with several recent meals.

Agreed. This place is so good lately, I can't convince my crew to go anywhere else in Chinatown. If for no other reason, the northen pancakes now are easily the best in Chicago and some of the best I've tried anywhere. If you dig dry chili chicken, try the dry chili shrimp, head & shell on. It's the best of the S&P seafood and dry chili worlds combined. Hot pots are hard to beat in a Chinatown now brimming with them. The staff, a combo of diligent youngsters and maybe the best waiter in Chinatown (the older guy, forget his name), is also great.

PS, even soup dumplings were much improved last time we tried them. Wrappers were good, soup had body and flavor, addressing my main issue with most Chicago versions, but soup volume was low, leaving room for improvement. Getting there.

Allow me to third this sentiment - Lao Beijing has definitely become our "nice" go-to restaurant in China Town (Ken Kee remains our everyday favorite) over the last year, particularly when we have non-adventurous out of town guests.

Case in point - we took the Picky Eater's family, who had never had Chinese food, here over the winter. They approached it with some trepidation, but wound up declaring it the best meal they had ever had, and I was pleased to introduce them to something new without stooping to Ameri-Chinese. IIRC, we ordered the vegetable potstickers, Northern Style Pancake, Fried Dough, a vegetable soup (they loved the family style service of this), pan fried flat noodles with vegetables, string beans with garlic, garlic chicken, the husband's infernal/eternal General Tsao's, and Ma Po for me. We didn't get too adventurous with them, but were still able to have a really terrific meal.

More recently, we visited after a ballgame and made a quick snack of some favorites. I am particularly fond of the scallion pancake and their noodles, although I also really enjoy their Ma Po and hot and sour.





The staff here is also great. There is one waiter in particular, an older gentleman, who is quite funny and enjoys teasing regular patrons. If I'm on the fence about what to order, he generally decides for me in a decisive way, typically in favor of the more unusual dish, and he's never steered me in the wrong direction. In any case, we've yet to have anything but a great meal here in 6 + visits over the last year or so. Good to see Lao Beijing getting some board love.

Small LTH group met for lunch today. We all gave it a pretty strong grade. The only thing I found sub-par was the onion pancake. Note the boiled beef is kind of unusual in that you don't eat the liquid that it is cooked in. I'd be interested if anyone had any background on this kind of dish.

Gratis Appetizer


Dan Dan Noodles


Boiled Beef


Northern-Style Pancake


Korean-Style Handmade Noodles - Outstanding!


Onion Pancake


Tony's Special Potstickers

teatpuller wrote: Note the boiled beef is kind of unusual in that you don't eat the liquid that it is cooked in. Boiled Beef

Ha. Speak for yourself. It's a basic Sichuan dish, often called "water boiled beef," which I understand is the literal translation. Obviously a lot lost in the translation. Love the lamb version. Dipping those northern pancackes in the liquid works for me.

The waiter was vehement when he said don't eat it. I've never had the dish before. I was only following orders.

I'm probably the wrong person to be giving advice. I've had waiters in Chinatown advise against all sorts of things; advice that I happily disregarded. Eating a big bowl of chile oil, which is a lot of what that liquid is, might lead to some GI distress, but there's nothing wrong with ladling some of that stuff on your rice, pancackes, etc. Works great on rusty hinges too, I'd bet.

JeffB wrote:I'm probably the wrong person to be giving advice. I've had waiters in Chinatown advise against all sorts of things; advice that I happily disregarded. Eating a big bowl of chile oil, which is a lot of what that liquid is, might lead to some GI distress, but there's nothing wrong with ladling some of that stuff on your rice, pancackes, etc. Works great on rusty hinges too, I'd bet.

My Chinese friend tells me that it's not safe to actually ingest Szechuan peppercorns. Before she told me this, I did it many times and noticed no ill effects. Since she told me, I've not stopped eating them and lived to tell the tale. Next time I see her, I'll have to remember to ask her exactly why they're to be avoided.

=R=

....so the imported chile oil condiment with prickly ash berries, chiles, peanuts and roasted soy beans that I ladle onto everything shouldn't be ingested? Or am I expected to tweezer out the ash/Sichuan peppercorns which, as in the boiled beef, have been steeping in the liquid forever, their pernicious essence permeating the condiment and the dish? Is it something about the physical husk of the berry that gets you? This is how the Chinese are going to overcome us. I knew it.

My college friends and I were known to have the broth packaged up to go, for later use in enhancing inferior dining hall meats back in the dorm.

I've never heard that Sichuan peppercorns were unsafe to eat--I think most residents of Chongqing would be surprised to hear that--but as China's a large country, widely varying opinions on food are to be expected.