Compare the Tony Hu restaurants in Chinatown?

Can anyone provide a brief overview/contrast among the five Tony Hu restaurants in Chinatown? I've looked at their menus on the group's website at tonygourmetgroup.com, and I've looked at the LTH discussions on each:

Lao Sze Chuan - here
Lao Beijing - here and here
Lao Shanghai - here
Lao You Ju - here
Lao Hunan - here

But it seems like there's some overlap among their menus, and I'd like to understand how each differs from the others. TIA!

There's a clue in the names, I'm told.

JeffB wrote:There's a clue in the names, I'm told.

Well, I assume they refer to the cuisine of the geographic regions with corresponding names, but what I'm asking is, how does Hunan cuisine differ from Shanghai cuisine and from You Ju cuisine etc?

nsxtasy wrote:

JeffB wrote:There's a clue in the names, I'm told.

Well, I assume they refer to the cuisine of the geographic regions with corresponding names, but what I'm asking is, how does Hunan cuisine differ from Shanghai cuisine and from You Ju cuisine etc?

Actually Lao You Ju means Old Friends Gathering.

I find that the food at Lao You Ju is almost the same as Lao Szechuan, just in smaller portions. But that could just be me.

Hunan food is more spicy than the numb/spicy (ma la) of Szechuan. Hunan food is also generally more oily than Szechuan too. Hunan has some non-spicy dishes, like Mao's favorite stewed pork belly.

Beijing food favors the starch more - noodles (mian tiao), pancakes (bing), dumplings (jiaozi), etc. Shanghai food has more sweet/tangy flavors. Shanghai food is also generally milder, less aggressive flavor-wise than Beijing food.

Just what I have observed from being married into a Henan (not Hunan) family with my father-in-law growing up in both Szechuan and Hunan and my mother-in-law growing up in Shanghai. He loves the spicy dishes, while she can't handle the heat, which makes for some drama when we order at a Chinese restaurant...

That's very helpful - thanks!

Sichuan and Hunan foods are more different than one might imagine.

Sichuan is the home of "strange-flavor," "numb-spicy," and "fish-scented" dishes--guai wei, mala, & yuxiang respectively. You can find these dishes at all sorts of places in Chinatown and across China, not just in Sichuan. Ed's Potsticker House has gotten plenty of love for its yuxiang eggplant, despite being a Northern-focused place. "Guai wei" is (sometimes) typified by bon-bon chicken which you see around town. At some places, it means doused in chili oil, but this isn't quite correct. I've enjoyed it at Spring World (though I confess, I can't recall what they call it in English ).

Hunan I'm less familiar with, but still had a few wonderful experiences with it. A common feature, contra Sichuan's dried chiles, is a preference for fresher, whole/chopped chiles, or the salted ones, called duo jiao or duo la jiao. Lao Hunan does a quintessential whole-fish dish covered in these chopped salty peppers. The emphasis is more on the salt than the heat, and it was quite good when I had it--authentic, at least, if a bit salty for some tastes. I think it's called Hunan-style whole fish on their menu, but don't quite me on it. Lao Hunan also features chou doufu, or stinky tofu, another dish represented all over China but for which Hunan has some renown. I couldn't stand it over there, and wouldn't order it here, but the adventurous might be intrigued. I'm just impressed they offer it.

I haven't been to Lao Beijing in a while to comment on their more Northern dishes. The classical emphasis is, as CracyC mentions, more wheat-based. Two such dishes (from Ed's Potsticker House, at least) that typify the cuisine to me are zha jiang mian & da la pi. The former is probably familiar. The latter is a pile of wheat gluten noodles, I believe, dressed with some pork, and maybe some vinegar and sesame oil. Typical Beijing/Northern/Northeastern flavors are garlic and green onions. I'm still looking for adequate baozi to rival what I ate over there, and despite its lesser reputation, miss Beijing food quite a bit.

Can't help too much with Shanghainese food, sadly.

One important (at least to me) note: Lao Beijing, where the LSC kitchen was in exile after their fire, will make just about anything on the Lao Sze Chuan menu with considerable skill and usually at a $1-3 lower pricepoint per dish. It's a great bargain, plus as mentioned they make their dumpling doughs and noodles right in house. LSC uses dried noodles (which are still very nice) in their dan dan and typically in their stir-fried and soupy dishes as well. I find LBJ has a heavier hand with garlic and a lighter touch (on comparable entrees) than LSC and Lao Shanghai (which has the best servingware and comfy seating, if nothing else).

Lao Hunan is exactly as it's been recently covered and illustrated here of late - busy, friendly (if gimmicky) service, aggressively spiced, and more upfront (at least in menu placement) with the offal, ears, pork belly, etc. It's the only one on the original Chinatown main drag, Wentworth, if your guests like the experience of going under the arch, dodging panhandlers, and buying kitsch and bao right next door.

Lao You Ju is still a cipher to me. Some unique menu items - in small portions as mentioned - but prices are all over the place and the service and client vibe is eccentric, not to mention the lighting. On that footprint I'm more likely to be found at Tao Ran Ju.