Stir-fried Preserved Pork & Chinese Sausage Hunan Style from Ed’s Potsticker House
Item Purchased: Stir-fried Preserved Pork & Chinese Sausage Hunan Style
Location Purchased: Ed’s Potsticker House / 3139 S. Halsted St. / Chicago, IL
Price: $9.95 + tax
Purchased on: 01/12/08
Review: Even though I was able to make three mouth-watering, left-me-wanting-more-even-though-if-I-had-another-bite-my-pants-buttons-would-kill-an-innocent-bystander meals out of this well balanced dish from my new favorite Chinese restaurant, it left me a bit confused. I found the preserved pork in the dish just fine and happily gnawed on the perfect cross between bacon and jerky. The pork’s flavor was slightly sweet and salted, as if the pig had been a huge fan of kettle corn while it was alive. I couldn’t find the Chinese sausage.
There was fresh lotus root which gave the dish a flowery aroma and hearty crunch. There was lightly sweet-and-soured tofu that paired with the pork strips perfectly. Finally, there were two types of hot peppers which, when cooked with everything else, bled their rich and smoky flavor into every aspect of the dish. All of this tossed with ginger and oil and served with a Jack and Jill sized pail of sticky rice made for a flavorful dish that may just be one of the best Chinese dishes I have ever tasted in my life.
It is at this point in the tasting that I forgot all about what or where the Chinese sausage was (or if the pork and sausage is the same thing), because to suggest that something was missing from this dish is missing would be an insult to a cuisine that I feel I know so little about.
I will never look at a box of fried rice from your strip mall Chinese buffet again. Ed’s Potsticker House has spoiled me. Everything from the welcoming and patient service to the entree size, presentation and content is spot on and unlike anything you will find in Chicago’s Chinatown.
This place (even this dish) is worth a trip to an otherwise downtrodden strip of Halsted St. And forget whatever it is you regularly order at a Chinese restaurant. The menu here offers so many opportunities for you to try something unique and different. You’d be a fool not to try it.
Rating: 4.5 / 5
January 16th, 2008 at 5:23 am
Now this is the Consumatron that I remember from long ago! Your vacation must have done you good! Welcome back!