Chinatown Square Chicago

Lao Sze Chuan
Chinatown Square Mall
2172 S Archer
Chicago, IL
312-326-5040

This places is crowded and the wait is long. I spied other dinner guests having "hot pot" for dinner, which is a big broth pot used like a fondue pot to cook veggies and seafood. After you have had your fill of hot pot cooked food, you can use the rest of the unused ingredients to make a lovely soup. We opted for a house special beef stew with tons of crushed red peppers and chinese veggies. It was spicy! We also had an under-whelming chicken dish that was like mall food, and of course, my favorite clams in black bean sauce. It is tough to get a good black bean sauce anymore, now that chefs are are using manufactured jarred sauces, rather than starting with dried ginger fermented black beans. This place is chef owned by Tony Hu, who as been on local cable tv, cooking up some of his recipes. While we were there, he paced up and down his restaurant aisles like a fretful nervous man worrying about something and stressing out talking on the cordless phone, yet getting nothing done for customer satification. An interesting thing the staff did was while seating us, they only brought a fork for the white person at the table and for the rest, chop sticks. If you want hot pot and some spicy dishes, this is the place, but the atmosphere and the pacing owner leaves something to be desired.