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Double Li - Szechuan cuisine across from LTH [closed]

Double Li - Szechuan cuisine across from LTH [closed]
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  • Post #181 - December 25th, 2010, 7:46 pm
    Post #181 - December 25th, 2010, 7:46 pm Post #181 - December 25th, 2010, 7:46 pm
    Reporting after the Jewish Xmas Eve in Chinatown Event:

    • Hot and Sour Soup was good, not great
    • Szechuan Dumplings were outstanding. A little spicier wouldn't hurt, but very good
    • Shrimp in preserved egg yolk was an interesting variation on Salt and Pepper. I'd definitely order again.
    • Crab Rangoon, for a non-trad item, were top-notch
    • Garlic Peppercorn Beef Tender Loin [sic] was the best item of the night. Don't miss it
    • Sauteed pea pods were perfectly seasoned
    • Pea shoots with garlic were almost as good as the pods, could have used a bit more salt or some acid
    • Eggplant in garlic also an exemplar of the type
    • Dry Chili Chicken was kind of weak, although the second batch was crisper -- neither was very spicy
    • Fish with ??? was very tasty
    • Ma Po Tofu had a nice thick sauce, a good version
    • Pork with plum sauce was like elements (but not enough of them) of Mu Shu
    • Lamb with cumin in spicy hot pot sauce was unimpressive, a little offal-y. I'll stick with the dry version from now on. Not as enticing looking as the pics upthread
    • Pork intestine and blood hot pot. I didn't try this, but Mhays' exclamation of "well, now I've tried it so I never have to have it again" and the disappointment of the hot pot-ish lamb gave me no impetus to taste.

    All in all, I'd come back again and again for the beef, and the seafood with preserved egg... but I'll probably hit LSC again before I do
    (edit --- added two forgotten dishes)
    What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
    -- Lin Yutang
  • Post #182 - December 26th, 2010, 12:05 pm
    Post #182 - December 26th, 2010, 12:05 pm Post #182 - December 26th, 2010, 12:05 pm
    JoelF wrote:
    • Lamb with cumin in spicy hot pot sauce was unimpressive, a little offal-y. I'll stick with the dry version from now on. Not as enticing looking as the pics upthread
    • Pork intestine and blood hot pot. I didn't try this, but Mhays' exclamation of "well, now I've tried it so I never have to have it again" and the disappointment of the hot pot-ish lamb gave me no impetus to taste.


    I am not a huge offal fan, but I liked the intestine - not so much the blood - and particularly the sauce it was in. I also liked the lamb, and didn't find it offal-y. But by that time, we had had a lot of food :) I suspect that if those two had come out first we would have liked them better. The biggest disappointment for me was the hot and sour soup. It was neither, as far as I could tell.
    Leek

    SAVING ONE DOG may not change the world,
    but it CHANGES THE WORLD for that one dog.
    American Brittany Rescue always needs foster homes. Please think about helping that one dog. http://www.americanbrittanyrescue.org
  • Post #183 - December 26th, 2010, 12:58 pm
    Post #183 - December 26th, 2010, 12:58 pm Post #183 - December 26th, 2010, 12:58 pm
    I was at the other table so the selections varied ... particularly good imho was the cold beef homestyle appetizer and the szechuan dumplings - those two were the high points for me along with the black pepper garlic beef (no surprise there!) and the preserved egg shrimp. The lamb with cumin hot pot didn't strike me as offal-y and packed the most heat of the dishes I tasted but was not my favorite. The pea shoots in garlic has a great flavor for counterbalancing the meal and we had twice cooked duck shredded (can't remember precise name) which I enjoyed though more for the contrast with the included veg then a particular duck flavor.

    The cookies plate was superb - and a lovely end to a very good meal.
  • Post #184 - December 26th, 2010, 1:15 pm
    Post #184 - December 26th, 2010, 1:15 pm Post #184 - December 26th, 2010, 1:15 pm
    As much as I enjoyed the company, I thought the meal itself was a bit of a dud. The preserved egg shrimp were overcooked, the dry chili-fried soft shell crab suffered from an overly-thick batter and was too salty, the lamb in cumin hotpot suffered from gristly, sub-par lamb. Our other dishes (black pepper beef, pea shoots, twice-cooked duck, sliced beef in home style sauce, etc) were all ok, but nothing special. Only the eggplant in garlic sauce had me wishing for seconds.

    The service was poor, with what appeared to be two servers covering a packed restaurant (same as last year). We had a hard time getting our server's attention to place our order and a couple of the dishes that we ordered never made it out (we asked to have them removed from the bill).

    Given that my past experiences at Double Li have been very positive, I won't write it off completely, but I'm not rushing to go back.

    Siun wrote:The cookies plate was superb - and a lovely end to a very good meal.
    They really were! Thanks again Joel for sharing those with us.

    -Dan
  • Post #185 - December 26th, 2010, 6:36 pm
    Post #185 - December 26th, 2010, 6:36 pm Post #185 - December 26th, 2010, 6:36 pm
    For the record, I didn't hate the pork blood cubes - they were about what I expected, and just weren't all that interesting: sort of tofu/jello texture and almost no flavor, just a hint of offally-ness. I'm normally a huge fan of pork intestines (if I'm removing sausage from its casing for cooking, I'll fry the casings up for myself) but I didn't find them to improve in a soup-type situation. I also didn't like the lamb - which was in much the same sauce; not sure if I didn't like the prep, or just the meats involved.

    Sounds like we had much better luck with our fried dishes than your table, Dan - and our veggies were quite good, but the meal was kind of spotty.
  • Post #186 - December 26th, 2010, 7:57 pm
    Post #186 - December 26th, 2010, 7:57 pm Post #186 - December 26th, 2010, 7:57 pm
    Mhays, I know where you're comin' from about the squeezed out casings! such a nice little treat for the hard working chef of the house........ME !!!
  • Post #187 - December 26th, 2010, 8:39 pm
    Post #187 - December 26th, 2010, 8:39 pm Post #187 - December 26th, 2010, 8:39 pm
    local597 wrote:Mhays, I know where you're comin' from about the squeezed out casings! such a nice little treat for the hard working chef of the house........ME !!!

    lol. I guess I've got the luckiest dog in the chicago area, as she usually gets the casings.
    What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
    -- Lin Yutang
  • Post #188 - December 27th, 2010, 7:36 pm
    Post #188 - December 27th, 2010, 7:36 pm Post #188 - December 27th, 2010, 7:36 pm
    I guess I enjoyed the meal a little more than Dansch, but it was not as good as a couple of my more recent meals at Double Li. I particularly enjoyed the Szechuan dumplings, the eggplant and the pea shoots. I also enjoyed the shredded duck, black pepper beef and octopus, but other dishes really disappointed. The preserved egg shrimp was just uninteresting and rubbery, the lamb w/ cumin hot pot suffered from really fatty lamb. In the future, I'll stick to the regular lamb w/ cumin. And the soft shell crab was all batter, no crab, and really lacking in flavor. Still, a very enjoyable evening with a very nice group. And finished well with some great cookies from JoelF. Thanks for organizing a great evening Leek!
  • Post #189 - December 27th, 2010, 8:29 pm
    Post #189 - December 27th, 2010, 8:29 pm Post #189 - December 27th, 2010, 8:29 pm
    JoelF wrote:
    local597 wrote:Mhays, I know where you're comin' from about the squeezed out casings! such a nice little treat for the hard working chef of the house........ME !!!

    lol. I guess I've got the luckiest dog in the chicago area, as she usually gets the casings.
    lol ? I don't get what's so funny.....???
  • Post #190 - December 27th, 2010, 9:10 pm
    Post #190 - December 27th, 2010, 9:10 pm Post #190 - December 27th, 2010, 9:10 pm
    local597 wrote:
    JoelF wrote:
    local597 wrote:Mhays, I know where you're comin' from about the squeezed out casings! such a nice little treat for the hard working chef of the house........ME !!!

    lol. I guess I've got the luckiest dog in the chicago area, as she usually gets the casings.
    lol ? I don't get what's so funny.....???

    I just laughed in that I'm giving them to my dog (instead of just throwing them away). For you it's a treat, something I'd never thought of doing.
    What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
    -- Lin Yutang
  • Post #191 - December 28th, 2010, 11:39 am
    Post #191 - December 28th, 2010, 11:39 am Post #191 - December 28th, 2010, 11:39 am
    I usually have just one or two.. Next time, give it a try; a tasty little snack indeed!
  • Post #192 - January 20th, 2011, 8:46 pm
    Post #192 - January 20th, 2011, 8:46 pm Post #192 - January 20th, 2011, 8:46 pm
    A better late than never post from the Double Li Jewish Xmas Eve Extravaganza...

    I agree with much of what Dansch and BR said above. The company (and cookies) were great, but for me, the food was very disappointing. That said, I made everyone wait to eat so that I could take pictures of the food, so here they are:

    Szechuan Dumplings - These dumplings were fine. (Boring, but fine.)
    Image

    Homestyle Cold Beef - This was tasty. If not for this dish and a few others, I would have gone home hungry.
    Image

    Shrimp in Preserved Egg Yolk - Terrible
    Image

    Dry Chili Soft Shell Crab - Terrible. When this dish first arrived, we realized that we should have ordered two. There was not going to be enough to go around. Then, the first few people tasted it and knew that we did not want another order.
    Image

    Octopus - Tasted fishy and sad.
    Image

    Garlic Peppercorn Beef Tender Loin - Folks liked this one, but I just can't wrap my head around this dish. To me, it tastes like chewy, breaded beef and movie theater fake popcorn butter.
    Image

    Eggplant in Garlic Sauce - The other good dish of the night, and probably the only one I'd order again.
    Image

    Twice Cooked Duck - Another huge miss. Would have been fine (though boring) if advertised as a veggie dish. Barely any duck, and what duck there was was just thin strips of fat.
    Image

    Honey Chicken - No surprise that nobody has mentioned this dish. A sweet, gloppy mess. Everything I hate about Panda Express.
    Image

    This was my second time at Double Li, and each of my visits could not possibly have been more different from the other. I'll give it another shot, but it will not be on Xmas Eve.
    --Rich
    I don't know what you think about dinner, but there must be a relation between the breakfast and the happiness. --Cemal Süreyya
  • Post #193 - January 21st, 2011, 11:38 am
    Post #193 - January 21st, 2011, 11:38 am Post #193 - January 21st, 2011, 11:38 am
    Wow, yes, even from our table to yours I can see extreme variances - for instance, just the visual of your szechuan potstickers (I thought ours were quite tasty, if not anything terribly unique) had a large helping of chili oil with tons of chili flakes clinging to each one - looks like yours got skimmed off the top.

    The beef was about the same - and the last time I had it, I didn't remember noticing so much breading. I can't imagine why they would have the B-Team running the show on Xmas eve, but clearly they did.
  • Post #194 - April 13th, 2011, 1:55 pm
    Post #194 - April 13th, 2011, 1:55 pm Post #194 - April 13th, 2011, 1:55 pm
    We took some Chinese friends and they really loved the food. A lot of specials are posted on the wall in Chinese too but the regular menu is very large already. Most entrees run 10-12. All very reasonable. Order one entree less as the portions are very generous and then share.
    The Szechwan Dumpling appetizer was great and so was the steamed chicken. We had shrimp, beef tenderloin and lamb entrees. All were super delicious.
    It's a simple storefront place on the N side of Cermak. Park in the Chinatown lot across from Three Happiness and have your ticket validated..
    Berns

    DOUBLE LI
    228 W. Cermak Rd.
    Chicago , IL 312-842-7818
  • Post #195 - April 2nd, 2013, 9:24 pm
    Post #195 - April 2nd, 2013, 9:24 pm Post #195 - April 2nd, 2013, 9:24 pm
    I hate to be the bearer of portentous news but I found a dark Double Li this evening when hoping to fix my long overdue homestyle octopus jones. And the Google says they have Tuesday hours. Most tellingly I found this note taped to the outside window and inner doorway:

    Image

    So, it looks as though we may soon have a newly managed Sichuanese joint in Li's place.

    In more promising news from 200 W block of Cermak, I spotted this menu advertisement adjacent to posters advertising K-Pop karaoke on the windows of the storefront formerly known as Cantonesia. Perhaps a second Hunanese option in Chinatown?

    Image
  • Post #196 - April 3rd, 2013, 9:45 am
    Post #196 - April 3rd, 2013, 9:45 am Post #196 - April 3rd, 2013, 9:45 am
    Jefe wrote:I hate to be the bearer of portentous news but I found a dark Double Li this evening when hoping to fix my long overdue homestyle octopus jones. And the Google says they have Tuesday hours. Most tellingly I found this note taped to the outside window and inner doorway:


    That is really bad news. Double Li has been my favorite place to go in Chinatown for some time.
  • Post #197 - April 4th, 2013, 8:38 am
    Post #197 - April 4th, 2013, 8:38 am Post #197 - April 4th, 2013, 8:38 am
    Say it ain't so! That was our favorite Chicago place for hot.
    Man : I can't understand how a poet like you can eat that stuff.
    T. S. Eliot: Ah, but you're not a poet.
  • Post #198 - April 4th, 2013, 1:32 pm
    Post #198 - April 4th, 2013, 1:32 pm Post #198 - April 4th, 2013, 1:32 pm
    Any chance the new joint is a re-concepted, renovated place run by the Double Li folks?
    Gypsy Boy

    "I am not a glutton--I am an explorer of food." (Erma Bombeck)
  • Post #199 - March 22nd, 2015, 2:59 pm
    Post #199 - March 22nd, 2015, 2:59 pm Post #199 - March 22nd, 2015, 2:59 pm
    Gypsy Boy wrote:Any chance the new joint is a re-concepted, renovated place run by the Double Li folks?

    No, the original location in Chinatown is not. But if you're wondering what Ben Li and Wan Cai Li are doing since they closed Double Li, they are in west suburban Roselle and still creating wonderful Chinese food, as described here:

    8000 Miles - Chinese and Pan-Asian in Roselle

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