
Today is the start of the Lunar New Year, this year being the Year of the Snake, which means that eating certain foods (dumplings, whole fish, longevity noodles) is considered good luck.
Lucky for us all, there’s a new Sichuan restaurant in town that has plenty of dumplings on the menu, as well as Kung Pao chicken, mapo tofu, cumin lamb, and plenty else.
Open in Charles Village since early January in the former Busboys and Poets space, Lao Sze Chuan is part of a national chain of Sichuan restaurants that was started in Chicago in 1998 by restaurateur Tony Hu—who some might recall making news in 2016 when he was jailed for tax evasion.
With legal woes behind him, Charles Village seems to be a good home for Hu’s latest venture, as the place has been busy since it opened its doors. (With Johns Hopkins classes now back in session, we can only imagine the restaurant will continue to pick up steam.) Here’s hoping it measures up to the standards of Hu’s flagship, which won Michelin Bib Gourmand awards a decade ago.
Lao Sze Chuan has a menu that runs from easily recognizable favorites like Kung Pao chicken and dan dan noodles to more esoteric regional specialties like braised pork belly and abalone, as well as pig’s trotters, which arrive to the table wrapped in a tent of tin foil.
There are also soup dumplings, a requirement on dim sum menus these days, as well as cumin lamb, a version of the toothpick lamb that’s also a now-common dish on Sichuan restaurant menus. Featuring bits of heavily spiced lamb loaded with cumin and chiles, the dish gets its name from the toothpicks that skewer each chunk of lamb. There are no toothpicks here, thankfully for both eaters and preparers; but a bed of red onions and chiles instead.
Instead of whole fish, try ordering the fish fillets with Sichuan peppercorns, a variation on the water-boiled fish with peppercorns, lotus root, and glass noodles that’s also a Sichuan staple. At Lao Sze Chuan, the fish is loaded with the peppercorns that produce that numbing taste called ‘mala’ and comes in a white bowl the size of a hubcap.
There’s a similar dish on the menu at nearby Orient Express and at both of Peter Chang’s Baltimore restaurants, and it’s a fabulous choice for cold weather. The broth is both punchy and soothing, excellent if you’re feeling a bit under the weather. And all that tender flounder is comforting for Mid-Atlantic fish lovers.
There’s a tiny dessert menu (sticky rice cakes and pumpkin cakes), but if you’re still hungry, you’d be better served ordering some more dumplings.
It is good luck, after all.