There’s a new Szechuan spot in town — and it’s drawing a crowd.
Lao Sze Chuan is serving customers in Charles Village as part of a soft opening, but the interest is more befitting of a strong debut.
The food’s especially bold: pungent peppercorns, fermented black beans and chili crisps touch almost every part of the menu. It’s what makes Szechuan food so specific, hailing from the Sichuan province in China, where the area’s historically damp, muggy climate spurred an interest in spices able to provide both hot and numbing sensations. In Baltimore, those sensations have yet to inspire many new businesses.
Lao Sze Chuan — the latest iteration of a chain that started in Chicago in 1998 and has spread across the country — is part of a small number of Chinese restaurants in the city, with only a handful specializing in Szechuan food, including the family-owned spot Orient Express situated about a block away. Customers waiting to try the new eatery described Chinese restaurants in the area as small, limited and less inventive than similarly styled businesses found in Howard County.
On my visit to the restaurant, a server, who did not want to be named without a manager’s permission, said she felt a sense of excitement from the Charles Village community over the arrival of such a large, modern Szechuan spot. Lofty ceilings hang over chandeliers with bright orange lampshades and rows of gray cushioned booths fill the space on St. Paul Street that used to house Busboys and Poets before the chain left Baltimore in August 2023. Two flat-screen televisions mounted above an extensive assortment of liquors and a lengthy bartop played content accommodating two seemingly different audiences: one TV for anime, the other for sports.
The attempt to cultivate a broad appeal is clear on the menu, where you can find Szechuan favorites like white fish filets swimming in a broth of lotus roots and numbing green peppercorns — a notable, yet comforting amount of heat — or mapo tofu, a silky textured dish with chunks of fried beef that manages to sit in a pool of chili oil without being overpowered by it.
The restaurant has an extensive gluten-free menu as well as options for other allergies and vegetarians. Most offerings contain some sort of fusion of different Asian spices and dishes, including the Tibetan lamb, my favorite on the menu, which is dried, fried and fragrant with large chops of garlic, onion and peppers.
Owner and chef Tony Hu, who’s previously run into financial troubles, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The restaurant’s manager declined to comment on the business until later this week, when they are expected to have their grand opening.
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