Openings

More Lao Sze Chuans Coming To Burbs

With a new Lao Sze Chuan coming to North Bridge downtown, and Lao 18 due any time, we were starting to worry that there wouldn’t always be more Tony Hu projects in the works at some point. Silly us! Eater reports two more Lao Sze Chuans coming to the suburbs (joining the one that’s been in Downers Grove for a few years); by August he hopes to have one at 1637 Orrington in Evanston, and by the end of the year there should be one in Schaumburg as well, replacing a now-closed restaurant by the name of, yes, Smiling Buddha Szechwan and Mandarin. Taking over existing restaurants and opening relatively quickly with his own menu has been Hu’s m.o. in Chinatown for a while, and if Lao Sze Chuan proves to be that easily replicable at a high level of quality (and based on our experience of the Uptown branch, it has), he may well open them even faster and wider in the coming years. Also on his plate for now: he took over another storefront near Lao You Ju in Chinatown (which already expanded once to include dim sum) and plans a karaoke party room complex in that space. [Eater]

More Lao Sze Chuans Coming To Burbs