Arguably Chicago’s most influential Chinese restaurant (it currently has eight locations scattered around the city and suburbs), Tony Hu’s flagship made its name with Sichuan specialties that deliver numbing heat. The signature dish — diced chicken stir-fried with garlic, ginger, scallions, dry chiles, and Sichuan peppercorns — is an ideal entrée to the cooking of this heat-obsessed region of China. The crispy nuggets of chicken, loaded with flavor from a finishing touch of chile sauce and sesame oil, have more than just burn going on, but it’s that hurts-so-good sensation that keeps you coming back. $17.95; multiple locations