Last Call: I love you, mapo tofu

Last CallLast Call is The Takeout’s online watering hole where you can chat, share recipes, and use the comment section as an open thread. Here’s what we’ve been reading/watching/listening around the office today.  

I’ve been back in Chicago this week to visit The Takeout global headquarters, a trip I’ve been looking forward to and fretting over because there are never enough hours in the day when I visit Chicago. I need to eat all the things, see all the people, and did I mention eat all the things?

I had a number of stellar meals and beers and cocktails while I’ve been in town, but one culinary mission I had was to take the water taxi down to Chinatown for some mapo tofu. I first fell in love with mapo tofu when I first had it at Lao Sze Chuan; this time, my friends and I tried out Dongpo Impression, a Szechuan place I hadn’t yet been to.

Oh mapo tofu. I didn’t even care what else my friends ordered—we shared a giant feast—I just need my tofu fix. I like tofu in other applications, but something about the combination of numbing Szechuan peppercorn broth and silky, yielding tofu squares makes my heart happy. It also makes me sweat a little, but I think that’s just the endorphins.