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!