Chicago Foodies

Recipe: Potstickers

The more foods become globalized, the more they seem to take on similarities across cultures. Take, for instance, the concept of filling inside dough. You have the American apple dumpling, the Italian ravioli, the Polish pierogi and on and on. Now, in my inexpert opinion, the genus of Chinese dumplings has the most diverse evolutionary branches of the dumpling family. You have the wonton, the pork shumai, the xiao long bao soup dumpling, the shrimp har gao, the related ha cherng shrimp roll, and of course, the jiaozi potsticker.

Ah, potstickers. Whether steamed, boiled or fried, meat-filled or vegetarian, served from a cocktail tray or out of street vendor cart, the potsticker is always a crowd-pleaser. These days, you can pick up packages of frozen potstickers in almost any grocery store, boil some water and voila, dinner is ready. However, for an even more rewarding experience, it is actually quite easy to make dumplings yourself. You can make dough from scratch and roll it out, but I recommend picking up a package of dumpling wrappers as a shortcut. After all, even with pre-made dumpling skins, it does take a significant block of time to make, fold and cook the potstickers. Therefore, I recommend roping in additional hands to speed up this labor-intensive process, particularly if you aren't picky about how the neatly the potstickers are pleated. (Hint: host a potsticker making party.)

Han 202

My jaw dropped when I first heard the news in June--a five-course dinner for a mere $20? How does that even begin to cover food costs? Review after review urged readers to run, don't walk to Han 202, Bridgeport's newest Asian fusion restaurant with an incredible recession-friendly deal. To further sweeten the pot, the restaurant is even BYOB. I picked up the phone and held my breath, hoping that all the positive press wouldn't make it impossible to snag a table.

This is when I discovered a new wrinkle: Han 202 only takes parties up to four people, no more. Unfortunately, I had guests visiting from out of town, and we totaled five. Were they serious about only serving groups up to four people? How small was this dining room, anyway? What if I volunteered to sit on a lap? I debated my options and decided that if they were adamant on putting their foot down, we could always go down the street to Ed's Potsticker House. I called back and reserved a table for four.

Lao Sze Chuan, Hotpot Edition

Recently, I've been reading Fuchsia Dunlop's Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, her memoirs as the first Westerner to enroll at the Sichuan Culinary Institute. The novel is a fascinating page-turner for anyone interested in food or China and its accompanying history. As Dunlop wrote about the half a dozen ways to stir fry, or the canon of 23 complex flavors of Sichuan cuisine, I was struck by how little I actually know about Chinese cooking. Even the phrase "Chinese cooking" is a misnomer because the regional schools of cuisine vary tremendously. Aside from her experiences as a student and researcher, Dunlop weaves in anecdotes on the history of Chinese cuisine and food culture. If you are confused by the use of MSG in Chinese cooking, or don't understand the appeal of chicken feet or other offal items, do take a peek for insights into the Chinese mindset.

Of course, all this means that I have been ravenously craving Sichuan food for the last few days. And what better place to satiate that craving than perennial Chicago favorite Lao Sze Chuan? As a matter of fact, owner/chef Tony Hu is also a graduate of the aforementioned Sichuan Culinary Institute, though he was probably long gone by the time Dunlop arrived.

Congee – Comfort is King

Spending a long weekend in Manhattan is something to look forward to... especially when it comes to food. 2 hours after landing, before I could even be homesick, I found myself at Congee Village on Delancy and Allen (1st). When the place has congee in the name and the yeasty scent of rice fills the room, you know what to make sure to order. Clue two is that when a table of Brooklynites, especially one in the city to photograph disappearing Jewish eateries, compare the medicinal benefits of congee to chicken soup you need to take notice.

Lao Shanghai

 Previously Reviewed May 18th 2008

For the last week or so, I've been seriously jonesing for some xiao long bao, or soup dumplings. What's that, you say? The xiao long bao is a Shanghai specialty, a bite-size morsel of fatty pork in a semi-transluscent dough wrapper. These are typically steamed over napa leaves in bamboo steamers, and as a result, the dumpling contains a rich, meaty broth that explodes in your mouth as you bite in. The trick is to carefully pick up the dumpling and place it in a soup spoon, so that you don't lose any of the broth inside. Cut with vinegared soy sauce, I could easily make an entire meal out of only soup dumplings. By far the best dumplings I have tasted come from Joe's Shanghai in New York. (If you stop by Joe's, I recommend braving the crowds and going to the Chinatown location.) Hoping to find a substitute closer to home, I decided to stop by Lao Shanghai to check out their offerings. How does Lao Shanghai hold up against its East-coast competition?

Kow Kow Restaurant - Lincolnwood

Driving north of the city through Lincolnwood we used our trusty iPhone to locate a suitable spot to satisfy our hunger pangs.  Being in the mood for Chinese we were directed to a tried-and-true neighborhood spot – Kow Kow Restaurant – on the corner of Pratt and Cicero.  The original Kow Kow opened in 1949 on Devon as a Chinese take-out joint and then moved to the Cicero location in the 80s. It is still family owned and operated by the original proprietor’s son.

Your Soy Sauce Might NOT Be Soy Sauce!

I was enjoying my Wing Hoe takeout the other day and for some reason I was looking at the soy sauce packets. I noticed the MSG and then looked a bit closer. It didn't even register but then I tasted it again and immediately grabbed the Kikomann from the cupboard. Hmmm.

It's an MSG salt water packet. WTF? It's even made in Chicago. Not to get into the whole MSG thing, isn't it weird that salt, MSG and food coloring (caramel color) passes so easily, and for so long, as soy sauce? Granted, I usually don't use the stuff but a simple taste of the genuine article and you see what you're missing.

I don't know really how they can call it "Soy Sauce" either. Granted duck sauce isn't duck and oyster sauce isn't oyster so I don't think they're trying to pull a fast one necessarily, but come on.

Bottom line is that in addition to the ketchup, mustard and mayo, get yourself a nice bottle of Soy sauce, you might end up needing it.

The packet ingredients: water, salt, caramel color, sugar, monosodium glutamate, 1/10 or 1% sodium benzoate.

Real soy sauce ingredients: water, soybeans, salt, alcohol, organic wheat.

Or is this just news to me?

Lao Sze Chuan

So I've been confusing Lao Shanghai with Lao Sze Chuan. It was really embarassing when I wanted to take friends to try soup dumplings and arranged dinner at the wrong place. I actually wrote Lao Shanghai up as Lao Sze Chuan... talk about editorial error. It's since been corrected but the upside was that I got to try another great spot in Chinatown.

Food in China: What's Taboo for You

Prince Philip of the United Kingdom once said "If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an aeroplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it."   I heard this quote repeated in our tour, and it's very true in China, especially the southern parts.   After returning from China and carefully considering what to write about, I decided not to share all the foods I have tried for fear of retaliation.  I decided my life is more important than to have People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals firing a paint gun at me when I'm walking down the street, or worse yet, firebombing my condominium.  Needless to say, for the adventuresome there's lots of things to try that can be found easily, such as chicken feet and pig's ears, and snake.  Some of the restaurants had horse, dog, and rat available on request.  Street markets had chickens and ducks in cages--talk about fresh!  Other markets had deep-fried silkworms and scorpion.   

Lao Shanghai: Xiao Long Bao!

At the beginning of this year I spent some time in Shanghai and since have been ingratiating myself on unsuspecting Chinese waitstaff looking for xiao long bao – the single best tasting morsel of food I had on my travels. Lao Shanghai is the only place in Chicago to try this dish.

One of my pet peeves is messy food. For some reason my reaction is completely out of my control. Why I ordered the plum short ribs AND the spicy whole-shrimp and tofu was beyond me. My "issue" nearly trumped the fact that I finally got my chopsticks on some Xiao Long Bao!

Lao Shanghai is in the mall on Archer and Cermak. There are tons of restaurants from Spring World to Joy Yee. In light of the earthquake they all have Sichuan Relief Fund collection boxes as well.  The small restaurant tightly fits 52 at capacity. It's snug but not too loud and doesn't seem to suffer any service or kitchen problems.

We ordered too quickly. Once I saw the soup dumplings I resorted to auto-pilot. Short ribs? Hell yeah. Tofu and Shrimp. Done. I give my wife crap about her reticence to eat things that are on-the-bone. That said we both enjoyed the short ribs. The sweet plum sauce was wonderful. The deep fried goodness was a diet-meltdown but none-the-less tasty. The shrimp and tofu dish came in a mini-wok and I had to blow out the sterno a few minutes later to keep it from burning. The whole shrimp covered in sauce looked wonderful but I quickly gave that up. I'd need about 17 napkins, a lobster bib and an after-dinner bath to make that work. It's in the fridge for dinner tomorrow.