tried Lao sze chuan, wasn't bad. There was a wait, maybe 15-20 minutes. Ordered the hot bean sauce fish, house style tofu, and orange chicken for my Filipino friend. The fish was the star, the filet pieces had a little crisp to the edges, and the sauce was flavorful. The tofu is one of my favorite dishes, as well, and this execution had lots of fresh veggies, which was nice. However, while I don't really understand why the fish never really has any beans as far as I can tell, the house tofu was very heavy handed with those spicy black fermented beans. Too much for my taste, although the dish was still good. tHe orange chicken was a little light on quantity and the breading was surprisingly thick and hard. the crunch was in the right direction, but I think it should be light and crisp, not chicken mcnugget crunch. This was borderline hard panda express crunch. Once inside the batter, the chicken was good quality though some may complain about it being "dry" white meat. Overall, above average Chinese fare, price was on the high side as well. Not a destination restaurant, but if you're in town and want Chinese, I wouldn't object.
Also stopped by chi cafe for a red bean grass jelly small tapioca desert and pork preserved egg congee. The food being walked by to other people smelled really good and didn't look too bad. Otherwise, that desert and congee were mediocre. the congee was lukewarm and the pork was quite salty. The Ed beans and tapioca were both clumpy and the portion was small, althogh i dont really want to eat all that condensed milk, or wahtever they put in it. My friend's milk tea was really strong. In other words, not far from standard cheap hk fare in the US, in my experience.
WRT both places: Not bad, would come again if i were in town for some Chineae food. Ok, not really, Id stick with American food, but if i were a perm resident, I could see myself visiting these two places from time to time. sOrry, not as good as LA, but more than acceptable.
Tomorrow I leave Chicago. Will bike to rick bayless before i leave...
sorry for the typos, iPad and past 3am don't mix well.
