Lao Sze Chuan
Spicy Cabbage
Spring Rolls
Peking Duck with Pancakes
House Special Chili Rabbit
Pan Fried Noodles
Double Crispy Egg Plant
Crispy Shrimp Mayo
Fried Donuts with Condensed Milk
Fried Sweet Potato Cakes
Fortune Cookies
Tea
Gathering the family and making our way down through Pilsen to China Town it was again with good fortune that Black Friday had kept the masses at bay when we arrived at Tony Hu’s celebrated Lao Sze Chuan just after noon to find a six top ready and waiting as the immense menu of items both traditional and modern, tame and daring beckoned. Small and cramped but astonishingly friendly and efficient in service even as the kitchen was experiencing technical issues limiting their repertoire it was with some deliberation that we sat and pondered our options before negotiating a multi-course feast attempting to cover a large swath of the menu, the end result a bit of a mixed bag despite our best intents. Admittedly dining with a combination of palates both adventurous and decidedly not it was with rather run of the mill spring rolls and deliciously subtle shrimp mayo that the meal began and progressing then to a pair of sweet dim sum selections I think all were duly impressed by the execution until the large plates began to arrive, the spicy eggplant and pen fried noodles both showing a deft hand with the wok while the $30 “Peking” Duck proved a pre-carved disappointment of excellent flesh but regrettably flaccid skin and the Rabbit, although tender and intense with chili oil, provided so many bones in the rough-cut stew that it was actually unpleasant and onerous to consume no matter how delicious or authentic.
