Usually when Tony Hu opens a restaurant it’s an occasion to celebrate. Either the esteemed Mayor of Chinatown introduces a heretofore novel regional cuisine such as Shanghainese, Hunnanese or Beijingese, or takes old favorites and pushes them further, or expands the influence of his flagship Lao Sze Chuan by establishing bases in underserved neighborhoods.
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This is completely new territory for Hu, evident by taking a quick glance around the large (often underpopulated) dining room at any given time and noting the great majority of non-Chinese diners, a demographic atypical of any of his ten other restaurants.
At first glance the menu indicates Hu isn’t pulling punches. There’s the boiled beef in spicy peppercorn sauce, the cumin lamb, the ma po tofu, and the signature Tony’s Three Chili Chicken—all dishes known at Hu’s other restaurants for their assertive, uncompromising spicing, attended by the buzzsaw humming of Sichuan peppercorn ma la, often freighted on a fearless abundance of oil.
The disappointments presented by the food make you nostalgic for the downscale charms of Chinatown. You’ll see no kitchen workers trimming green beans in the dining room or enjoying their staff meal there either. The servers are mostly young, non-Asian women as out of touch with the menu as the restaurant is with its surroundings.
18 W. Hubbard 312-955-8018lao18.com
