Eggplants of Chinatown, Episode 3: Tony Hu's House Special (Lao Beijing)

Dagnabit, Tony Hu has done it again!

Tony who? I hear you ask. He's the chef and founder of five successful restaurants in Chicago's Chinatown: Lao Sze Chuan, Lao Beijing, Lao Shanghai, Lao You Ju, and Lao Hunan. "Lao" means "old" (though I suppose it also could mean "our chef is from" or "I <3").

I used to think that Lao Sze Chuan was my favorite of Hu's Laos.* But last time I went there, the food seemed more painfully spicy than usual and despite ordering a never-before-Aubergeniussed eggplant dish (as a much needed update to this fallow blog), they brought me the wrong thing. In fact, they brought me this dish that I not only featured previously, but that also gave me horrible indigestion. It was so greasy I felt like I was sweating oil. So despite the addictive spicy cabbage and vast menu and cute decor, Lao Sze Chuan has gotten on my bad side.

Lao Beijing, however, is my new favorite spot. This time I ordered the Chef's Special Crispy Eggplant, which is a more steamy and fragrant version of this:

While not the healthiest item on the menu, this dish is pretty phenomenal: sticks of eggplant are battered and deep fried, then coated in a spicy-sweet-garlicky sauce. The chef was kind enough to add a bit of tofu for nutritional balance. (... As if health were even an issue here.)

The eggplant has an amazing texture -- crunchy-sticky on the outside, creamy on the inside. Even as leftovers (which I am presently devouring), the fried coating doesn't lose its crunch. One may argue that anything deep-fried is automatically delicious, and is therefore no culinary accomplishment... to that I say, hell yes, deep fried things are omnom AND SO WHAT OMNOMNOM.

Though my comrades' dishes were slightly less vegetarian than mine, I couldn't help admiring the beautiful presentation, which seems somewhat upscale for a casual eatery. Here are two whole fish on a long slender plate:

Also, non-vegetarian report: apparently the cumin-spiced lamb is so tender that one doesn't need teeth to chew it. Good news for my elderly readership -- at Lao Beijing, you can go denture commando! (Future ad campaign?)

After lunch, we stopped at Joy Yee for the best smoothies/boba/fruity beverages in Chinatown.

You know smoothies are getting serious when there are special shelves just for fruit.

One member of our excursion got the passion fruit juice with lychee jelly, which I'm totally ordering next time.

Finally, the afternoon came to an epic close as I had the following adventure in the bowels of the Library's Recordings Collection:

Yep, it's a theremin.

*As in, "Hu's Laosing now?"
GROAN

Eggplants of Chinatown, Episode 2: Eggplant with garlic sauce

Last week I paid another visit to Lao Sze Chuan in Chicago's Chinatown -- but I was discouraged from being adventurous owing to my negative experience last time, in which my eggplant dish swam in so much oil that it gave me indigestion. This visit, I opted for the boring but ever-tasty eggplant with garlic sauce, a safe choice. 

Facts:

This dish is delicious.
I am incapable of making it.
This needs to change. 

And since most of us know what eggplant with garlic sauce tastes like, this entry is now terminated.


BUT WAIT
I made leek and fennel tarts today! They... may or may not have excluded eggplant... but a photo couldn't hurt... because I'll put eggplant in the next tarts, I promise...

My form of "studying" for my French translation exam tomorrow. Caramelized leeks, fennel, onions, custard, with some asparagus on top and a rosemary olive oil crust.

Eggplants in Seattle, Episode 1: Chinese

I recently returned from a trip to the Seattle area, land of really good Chinese restaurants. I tried two eggplant dishes in particular that were incredibly delicious (and, in the second case, somewhat unusual).

At Szechuan Bean Flower, we ate an excellent rendition of eggplant with garlic sauce.

The dish, while delicious, wasn’t unlike other eggplant-with-garlic-sauces that I’ve had before. But the second Chinese restaurant we went to, Yea's Wok, serves an unusual variation.

This dish contains eggplant, strips of hard tofu, inoki mushrooms, carrots, and fresh basil leaves. The ingredients are stir-fried together with a light salty sauce. But while the Yea’s dish was more interesting, I’d recommend Bean Flower as a more vegetarian-friendly option. At Yea's Wok, there are few vegetarian dishes and we were accidentally served meat, despite requesting tofu substitution. Bean Flower, on the other hand, has an entire veggie section. And also a huge mirror on one wall, which I find is a prerequisite for good Chinese food.

More Seattle eggplants coming up!

Eggplants of Chinatown, Episode 1: Chongqing eggplant

Chicago’s Chinatown is great in the following ways:*

1) There is a minimum of two really good restaurants. I only ever go to two of them, and my occasional forays into other restaurant territory have been disappointing. But I only need two restaurants, because each one has a menu the approximate length of Beowulf.

2) Unlike Philadelphia’s Chinatown, Chicago’s is not weirdo-hobo-land. No offense to the homeless, but you know those really weird hobos – the ones who have one giant dreadlock and mutter incoherent things while banging their feet against their ears? In Philadelphia, Chinatown is their main hangout.

3) Unlike Philly’s, Chicago’s Chinatown is not filthy as an unwashed hipster. Instead, it is clean as a washed hipster.

4) The best bubble tea of my life at Joy Yee. And I have eaten/drunk a great deal of bubble tea over the years.

The two restaurants I patronize, Lao Sze Chuan and Lao Beijing, are owned by the same chef, Tony Hu, who also operates several other regional-style restaurants in Chicago’s Chinatown.

Fortunately for this blog and my belly, each Lao offers several vegetarian eggplant dishes, of which I have sampled four (and three of which went unphotographed, pre-blog). In the ongoing Eggplants of Chinatown series, I’ll provide photos and descriptions of my eggplant encounters as I gradually sample every vegetarian eggplant dish in these two restaurants.

It would sound more impressive if I said, “every eggplant dish in Chinatown,” or “every eggplant dish in Chicago.” Now THAT would be a blog, like Julie Powell's food quest. But no, alas, I am tired of being disappointed by restaurants that are not owned by Tony Hu. So I’m sticking to Lao for nao.

Today I went for lunch at Lao Sze Chuan, where eggplants abound.

The restaurant's cute interior.

I asked the waitress for a recommendation. She suggested the eggplant with garlic sauce, which was too boring-white-person-eating-Chinese-food for me, so I rudely ignored her and ordered the Chongqing style. It came out looking like this:

The eggplants, as you can see, have been peeled, etched with a cross-hatch pattern, and deep fried whole. They are topped with a mild white sauce and fresh hot peppers.

While this dish looked beautiful, it wasn’t quite as delicious as I expected. There were two shortcomings. First, the sauce was a bit boring, tasting of nothing but salt and sugar (no garlic, ginger, chili, soy, etc.). And second, the eggplants gradually exuded so much oil that I ended up meticulously spooning an entire dishful of grease from the surface. I believe I ended up consuming more oil than jasmine tea. And by the time I brought the dish home, the eggplants had oozed so much oil that there was a layer half an inch thick floating on the surface. This is the problem, I find, with eggplants cooked in a deep fryer. So maybe I should have ordered the boring-white-person garlic sauce after all, which I know from past visits to be delicious and not terribly greasy -- but then again, it isn’t nearly as photogenic as these long, squid-like eggplant pieces.

* I like to make lists in all my entries because:

1) As a graduate student, list-making has become one of my primary life skills.

2) Humor is made easy by surprising readers with an unexpected list item.

3) Fishcakes. 

Fab Four, Episode 4: Chinese eggplant with oyster mushrooms in black bean sauce

(See entry titled “Fab Four” for an explanation of this series.)

I don’t profess to being capable of cooking truly authentic Chinese cuisine. Still, this dish is a far cry from the soy-sauce sprinkled stir fry that often characterizes failed American attempts at Chinese cooking. While I don’t happen to have a wok, I’d recommend using it if you have one, as it will make you look super intense.

I’ve discovered that I love fresh oyster mushrooms – they have a sort of chewy, creamy earthiness to them that I find perfectly complements eggplant. Shitakes would also be a delicious addition to this dish, as would rehydrated woodear mushrooms. (Note that woodears have no real taste, only texture.) If you can’t find a grocery that sells fresh oyster mushrooms, it’s better to use ordinary white mushrooms than oyster mushrooms from a can, given that canned mushrooms are sort of nasty.

If you’d like more protein, add some wedges of firm or extra-firm tofu. If you prefer your tofu with a golden crisp on the outside, try frying it first, setting it aside and adding later.

Before I dive into the recipe, note that I use this storebought black bean paste, which primarily contains fermented beans, soy sauce, and garlic.

If you’d rather make the recipe from scratch, you can buy Chinese fermented black beans from an Asian grocery; the beans are small, dark black, and extremely salty. To make your own paste, crush up about 1 Tbsp of beans and add about 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce and a crushed clove of garlic for this recipe. Or make a larger quantity of paste and put in the fridge for later.

Ingredients

With the addition of rice or noodles, serves 2

2 Chinese or Japanese (ichiban) eggplants

1 good-sized bunch of fresh oyster mushrooms

cooking oil

1 1/2 Tbsp black bean paste

slightly less than 1 Tbsp rice vinegar (either black or white)

1 1/2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp tapioca starch (or corn starch, but tapioca makes the sauce clearer)

3/4 c water

Cut the eggplants lengthwise and slice in 1-inch wide diagonal slices.

Cut the oyster mushrooms off the main stem and sliver the larger mushrooms into pieces approximately the same size as the eggplant wedges.

Whisk together sauce ingredients. As starch has a tendency to clump, you may wish to dissolve the starch in  water before adding to the sauce.

Fry the eggplants in a good amount of oil – if they look spongy, don’t be afraid to add more. Give the eggplants a nice brown sear on all sides, remove from pan and set aside. Meanwhile, fry the mushrooms.

A few minutes into cooking time, these are still looking spongy. Cook ca. 5 minutes longer.

When mushrooms have been slightly seared, pour in the sauce. It will look cloudy at first...

but as it bubbles and thickens, it will gradually become translucent and sticky.

Return eggplant to the pan and simmer until eggplant is soft all the way through, about 3-5 minutes. Garnish with fresh scallions and/or cilantro if desired. Serve straight off the stove with rice or rice noodles.

Even the chopsticks are happy!

That’s it for the fab four series! Coming up: anatomy, fusion cuisine, Southwestern, a tribute to bitterness, and oh so much more.

Fab Four

Not everyone is as fortunate as I am. I live a few blocks away from a locally-owned produce shop that sells four different varieties of eggplant.

A pile o' eggplants.

The largest is the common eggplant, the next smallest is the Italian or “baby” eggplant, the tiny teardrops are Indian eggplants, and the long thin variety are Chinese eggplants.

Indian eggplants are wee.

To give a sense of scale, I presented each eggplant to my feline. Please note that this feline is rather tubby and adjust your sense of scale accordingly.

Feline investigates common eggplant.

Feline sports Indian eggplant mustache.

Feline nibbles Italian eggplant.

Feline discovers joys of Chinese eggplant.

Over the course of the next few entries, I will present four different dishes drawing out the particular characteristics of each of these eggplant varieties. GET EXCITED.