Lao Sze Chuan

Even though it struck out two out of three, Lao Sze Chuan is the only restaurant I visited, only place I visited that weekend, that made me want to go back to the Second City. You'll have to watch what will hopefully be an inevitable transformation as the months roll by and I learn to appreciate that Chicago does indeed qualify as a major metropolitan area, but right now I'm struggling with the concept. Remember, however, that you are talking to the girl, who when she went back to visit the parents in San Francisco one early return trip felt that the city of hills seemed so flat without the requisite skyscrapers or high rises dotting nearly every block, that I literally expected a cow to start walking by the Victorian's at any moment: moo.

Lao Sze Chuan is a Sichuan restaurant that I found doing so desperate Internet searches for something to eat before my friend and I were headed to a comedy show at Second City (Funny, miraculously actually made me laugh despite my deep tiredness and general curmudgeonly personality, but a little mainstream, and played off of the audience's nervous and tentative homophobia and racism too much for my tastes.). Chowhound directed me to Lao Sze Chuan, and despite its corporate takeovers, it served me well this night.

Every meal at Lao Sze Chuan begins with a complimentary dish of spicy pickled cabbage: the Sichuan kimchee.

My friend and I are both Cantonese, and we caved and ordered a favorite of ours: stir fried pea shoot leaves. Mistake. The dish requires some poor minion to only pluck the top two, largest and most tender pair of leaves, discarding the stem and the accompanying smaller shoots. Lao Sze Chuan appears to have reversed the instructions and served a plate of what any self-respecting Cantonese restaurant would have fed to the rats. The stems were woody, but we were so happy to have some vegetables after Giordano's that we steadily worked our way through the heaping pile of greens.

Now Chowhound didn't knock things out of the ballpark. One commentator enthusiastically recommended the Pork in Peking Sauce which was both too salty and way too sweet.

But someone did make the brilliant suggestion of asking for the Ma Po Tofu with the ma lai or numbing spice famous in Sichuan cuisine. Silken tofu in a spicy sauce that just soaks into the rice, this was fantastic, and I was finally happy. To boot, the Pork in Peking Sauce was pretty good mixed in with the fiery punch of the Ma Po Tofu.

This dish alone gives me hope for the foreign land known as Chicago. There is hope for this town yet.

Lao Sze Chuan, 2172 S. Archer Ave., Chicago, IL, 312-326-5040