Eggplants of Chinatown, Episode 5: Lao Hunan

This post is part of an ongoing series, in which I venture through Tonu Hu's restaurants (simply because they have the most eggplant variety on their giant menus) in Chicago's Chinatown. The following posts will get you caught up:
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4

I finally branched out and tried one of Tony Hu's other restaurants, Lao Hunan. The experience was completely bizarre. First of all, we arrived in Chinatown via the Water Taxi, which is by far the best method of transport to the area -- I'd highly recommend.

The top of my father's head and I pull up to the Chinatown pier.

As I expected, the food was delicious, no surprises there -- but I didn't anticipate the communist-China-themed decor. The waitstaff was clothed in the standard green pocketed uniforms of the early regime, like so:

Snapping a photo of our waitress felt a little too bold, so here's an image from Google instead. 

One long wall was plastered with a photo of Mao smiling across the masses, with the words "Serving People" in Chinese and English translation.

On the other wall, a list of notable figures from Hunan, some of whom were artists, writers, philosophers, etc. but many of whom listed simply, "Revolution Martyr."

Needless to say, the choice of decor -- and particularly the green waitstaff uniforms -- was a combination of hilarious and unsettling.

The food was fantastic, as usual, with a giant tome-like menu from which to choose. I'd highly recommend the wood-ear mushrooms appetizer, in which fresh wood-ears are marinated in a spicy, sour, pickly sauce.

Not sure whether the giant chunks of garlic are there for added flavor,
or whether people are actually expected to eat those. We abstained.

Naturally, I ordered an eggplant dish that I'd never seen at the other restaurants -- eggplant in plum sauce. This dish is actually my new favorite, if you can imagine anything to top the Lao Beijing House Special in my past posts.

The sauce tasted similar to garlic sauce, but with an extra sweet/sour component that distinguished it from dishes I've had in the past. I'm not sure that I could taste plum in particular, but it had the perfect balance of sweet, sour, spicy and salty that I expect in a Chinese stir-fry slathered in gooey sauce. The only downside was the extreme greasiness, which seems to be the norm for eggplant dishes in Chinatown.