Eggplants of Chinatown, Episode 4: Lao Beijing Mission Complete

You may be asking yourself, "why on earth has there been such dearth of eggplant entries in the last four centuries?" The answer, which regrettably does not rhyme, is that I've been collecting material -- so much, in fact, that you can expect regular entries from here on out... or at least, a huge pile of entries all on one day, then another several month hiatus, as seems to be the established pattern.

As you can see from the title, LAO BEIJING MISSION COMPLETE, and by that I mean I have officially tried all the (vegetarian) eggplant dishes available at Lao Beijing in Chicago's Chinatown. Recall the last Chinatown entry:

House Eggplant Special, in which deep-fried sticks of eggplant (and tofu by request, as shown here) are coated in a tangy, spicy, sweet, garlicky red sauce. 

And now for the latest Lao Beijing delicacies, stemming from two separate visits in the past month:

Beijing-style eggplant: similar to the house special in that sticks of eggplant are fried, but this time coupled with a mild brown sauce, peppers, onions, and peanuts. 

Clearly it was a popular addition to the table.

A more recent trip on the occasion of Wagner's birthday (oh, mine too) yielded the following:

You guessed it! Eggplant in garlic sauce. It's slightly different at Lao Beijing than the version at Lao Szechuan, shown below. This one is somewhat sweeter with less peppery kick... or maybe it just depends on who's manning the kitchen that day.

For comparison, the same dish served at Lao Szechuan.

The dish was complemented by House Tofu, which contained some sort of pickly cabbage ingredient as well as the usual stir fry veggies, tofu triangles, and red brothy sauce.

A match made in sodium heaven.

I don't necessarily HAVE to choose a winner, but alas -- my favorite dish is the House Special. It's also the least healthful dish, with the most fried crustiness and fatty greasiness and sugary saltiness... but that's Chinese food in America for you!

This concludes the Lao Beijing sector of the Chinatown Mission, in which I attempt, over a very long period of time, to try all the vegetarian eggplant dishes in Tony Hu's restaurants.