The Verdict
LAO SZE CHUAN is Tony Hu's Chinatown Sichuan restaurant on South Archer Avenue that the late Jonathan Gold cited as one of the best available Chinese restaurants in America — a designation whose specific critical authority communicates that the most serious available American food criticism has confirmed what the Chinatown community has known for decades. The triple-cooked pork belly whose specific preparation communicates genuine knowledge of what the Sichuan pork culture requires; the dry-fried chicken programme whose specific preparation communicates genuine knowledge of what the Sichuan dry-fry technique produces; and the ma-la spice culture whose specific numbing-spicy balance communicates the Sichuan culinary philosophy's most essential and most demanding available expression.
The Sichuan menu at Lao Sze Chuan reflects the accumulated knowledge of Tony Hu's career applied through the Chicago Chinatown context: the triple-cooked pork belly and dry-fry programme whose quality communicates genuine mastery of the Sichuan technique; the ma-la preparations whose balance communicates genuine knowledge of what the Sichuan numbing-spice culture requires; and the Chinatown setting whose Chinese-American community creates the most authentically demanding available daily Sichuan restaurant audience.
Why It Works for a Team Dinner
Lao Sze Chuan's Chinatown triple-cooked pork belly and ma-la culture — the Jonathan Gold imprimatur, the communal Sichuan sharing format, the numbing-spice navigation — creates the team dinner that communicates Chicago Sichuan culture at its most seriously authentic.
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