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GuYi — Szechuan in Brentwood?

Jun29

Location:11677 San Vicente Blvd suite 315, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (424) 293-0988

Date: May 24, 27 & June 18 & December 10, 2018 and May 2, 2019

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Amazing for the neighborhood

I was stunned when I learned from a friend (Sklar) that they had opened a Szechuan place in Brentwood!

Yeah, Brentwood.

And not just Brentwood on Wilshire or something, but in Brentwood Gardens, least ethnic mini-mall in Los Angeles! I mean this place is gentrified to the hilt. It still features CPK.

In fact, GuYi is right on top of CPK and looks like… well a newish SGV place with a view.

I ignored these boring white bread lunch specials. Forget about ’em!

The usual large menu, featuring Szechuan and Northern dishes — but oddly very few noodles.

They have some bottled smoked plum juice. It tastes like it always does. Maybe it’s always bottled. I don’t think they have a liquor license.

Boiled dumplings with pork and cabbage. They were light and delicate, tasted mostly like cabbage, but were actually rather excellent.

Clear noodle with sauce (spicy). I didn’t expect this dish, although I’ve had it before and this was a decent version. More vegetable (cucumber?) than noodle. And it’s the pappardelle-like rice noodles. Strong mustard flavor as it should have, but I was alone and it’s hard to eat a whole bowl of these oneself.

Bean Jelly in Szechuan Chili Sauce. Got these twice. I love them in general, and I loved them here. Nice jelly texture and great tangy/spicy sauce.

Cold Beef with chili oil. Really excellent (and spicy / tangy) version of this dish. Lots of cilantro to balance it out. There was quite a bit of tendon in here too — which I find rather excellent due to its nice mouth feel (but I’m “adopted” Chinese).

Griddle cooked chicken (w/ bone) and mixed vegetables. What I often call dry hot pot. Very nice flavor. The celery and potatoes soaked up the chili. Chicken tasted really good, but did have all those bones (authentic style).

Popcorn chicken (sometimes known as Szechuan fried chicken with chilies). A nice rendition of this dish, a touch sweet with a fairly thick fry, but no bones and very tasty.

Fried Sweet and Sour “Squirrel” Fish. The squirrel refers to how it looks, all fried and fluffed up like that. Nice fish.

GuYi Sautéed sliced pork. Almost bacon with green and red peppers. This was REALLY good. Very spicy too with a longer burning heat from the green peppers. Like super spicy tasty bacon!

Boiled fish slices in hot sauce. A solid rendition of the classic Szechuan dish. Not enough mala (numbing Szechuan peppercorn) for my taste though.

Boiled beef with tofu pudding. You can get the fish this way too. Similar sauce, with beef and lots of tofu. Sometimes at Szechuan places you get it with beef, tofu, AND fish. I liked this one slightly better than the fish, but both were very good. Nice strong flavor. Maybe a touch salty.

Kung Pao Shrimp (12/101/18). Very nice Kung Pao sauce with that tangy/sweet/spicy blend. Not enough shrimp, but the ones that were there were great.

MaPo tofu (pocked marked old lady face tofu). An ok version of this dish, but not great. Some heat, but no numbing, not too much pork. Needed more depth of flavor.

Overall, I’m blown away that this is in a mainstream Brentwood mall. Hard to imagine most white Brentwoodians eating here, and if they did they’d just have the boring lunch special or American stuff. But service was very nice (if sometimes a touch slow) and it is very tasty. It needs more mala (numbing) and a slightly more tuned up Szechuan flavor balance, but great to have so close!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Brentwood, Chinese cuisine, Gu Yi, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan Chinese

Cui Hua Lou – Szechuan Shed

Jun16

Restaurant: Cui Hua Lou [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 920 E Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91755. 626-288-2218

Date: May 13, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Awesome!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Chinese food is incredible regional, and we are blessed in SoCal with a lot of very specific restaurants (mostly in the San Gabriel Valley). My Hedonist group has returned to this little known spicy Szechuan in the corner of an undiscovered Monterey Park strip mall. We love Szechuan for its spicy/smoky flavors. This is a cuisine that packs a real punch and is one of my favorites in China and CHL is seriously “local.”

The storefront, as usual, isn’t much to look at.

A menu with fairly literal translations.

And the usual minimalist decor.

But we weren’t even in the restaurant proper, but across the parking lot in “the shed.”

Inside they’ve actually cleaned it up (significantly) since last time we were here (2 years ago) — back then there was a bunch of junk in the room including a band saw!

Szechuan pickles. Lots of garlic and some chili oil. Great stuff.

Cold beef tendon with chili. Nice and chewy with that hot chili oil flavor.

Vegetables. For plain steamed veggies these were actually excellent. Mildly pickled.

Cumin mushroom and snausage skewers. The mushrooms are pleasantly chewy and the little dogs delicious and a touch sweet.

Spicy Turtle Hot Pot. This Szechuan stew of turtle, chicken, tofu, and veggies was quite good. Though I’ve had better broth here (with the lame stew) and the turtle meat itself wasn’t doing it for me. I mostly ate tofu, veggies, and the sauce.

Turtle foot!

Lamb and gizzard skewers. Both good.

Szechuan chicken wings!

Sweet and sour pork ribs. Super yummy intense sauced pork niblets (with the bones).

Another view of the lovely room. Again, it’s much nicer now!

MaPo Tofu. A very good rendition of this classic dish.

Shredded potatoes.

Lobster. Not usual at Szechuan places.

Beef with green onions. Very tasty.

Fish filet boiled in chili sauce. The sauce for this dish was much hotter, more numbing, and better than the turtle broth.

Kung pao chicken.

Mixed noodles. We sorta wanted dan dan mein and they brought these, saying they were better. I’m not saying they were better but they were actually really good for this sort of simple fried noodle dish. Really good.

But we got the dan dan mein anyway. Very vinegary version, different, not so nutty, but delicious.

Noodle pull!

Three flavors of gelato by Sweet Milk Gelato (me):

White Chocolate Lime-Berry – lime infused milk blended with Valrhona Ivoire white chocolate and laced with frutto di bosco coulis.

Gianduja – Valrhona chocolate with Hazelnut Regina (the queen) from Turin

Black Madeira – Blackberry Madeira sorbetto

I have to regale you with the lovely bathroom!
Check out the mirror!

In conclusion, Cui Hua Lou, while apparently totally undiscovered, offers up some fabulous traditional Szechuan fare. Yarom thinks this is the best Szechuan in the SGV. I’m not sure I’d go that far, as it’s a little too home-style, but it’s certainly one of my favorites. They don’t use MSG. The flavors are great. It has a slightly different mix of dishes than some. But I like a lot of the top Szechuan places, and they are each a bit different.

The service is really friendly, particularly as Chinese restaurants go. Our hostess really took care of us, spacing out the dishes, bringing us whatever we needed.

We went crazy overboard and ordered up about 50% more food than we needed, still this feast, including tax and tip, only set us back $25 a person! If you like spicy, you should try this place. It’s not big, but it was still busy at 10pm!

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Wines pictured below:

By: agavin
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Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Cui Hua Lou, Gelato, hedonists, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine, turtle, Wine

Noodling About – Mian

Sep20

Restaurant: Mian

Location: 301 W Valley Blvd #114, San Gabriel, CA 91776

Date: August 9, 2017 and January 27, 2019 and August 20, 2022

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Salty but good

Mian is the Szechuan noodle outpost from the people who run Chengdu Taste, which is one of the SGV’s original Szechuan places and pretty darn good.

It’s located in the minimall with Tasty Dining and Mei Long Village. And this fact led us to eat not one lunch but two, hitting up both Mian and J&J separated by a one hour bargain foot massage — all in the same minimall!

Mian has a superficial level of style — although if the entire build out cost more than $30,000 I’ll eat 5 bowls of noodles. Still, instead of the hideous white drop ceiling there is an ugly black drop ceiling.

Slightly fermented spicy cabbage adorn the table — like Szechuan kimchee.

And they serve sweet mung bean tea.

I’m not sure I’ve had this tea before, and boy is it ugly to look at, but it goes with the food.

The same Mao era canteen mug is home to this delicious egg custard with ground pork (8/17 and 1/27/19 and 8/20/22). One of those delicate fluffy egg custards covered in savory ground pork. Yum! I really enjoy the texture (and taste) of this kind of custard and with the pork was fabulous.

Zoom in on the custard.

Beef in chili sauce (1/27/19 and 8/20/22). Quite spicy, dry, and nice.

Sweet and sour pork wontons (earlier and 8/20/22). The sauce was that spicy/tangy Szechuan sauce I like, and the noodles and pork filling excellent, however the whole thing was a touch too salty.

All mixed up for better coverage.

Szechuan Cold Noodles (1/27/19 and 8/20/22).

You mix up the above cold noodles and eat. These were superlative. Nice noodle texture, good weight, and this scrumptious tangy chili sauce. Loved them. I adore when the acid balance is right and these really had it down. A bit of nuttiness, but not nearly as nutty or heavy as a dan dan — different, but great.

Extra side of minced pork to mix into the noodles.

Chengdu Zajiang noodles with fried egg and pork. This is the house specialty, with and without egg, with and without some kind of gut busting Chengdu bean.

Here it is mixed up. The noodles themselves were perfect and the meat was delicious. The overall effect was excellent. I think these are a top version of this particular noodle variety. I’m a little partial to great dan dan mien as that has a more complex nutty flavor, but I certainly wouldn’t kick these out of bed.

Overall, Mian has a very simple menu. There are 4 types of the same wontons, about 6 types fo the Zajiang noodles, and not too much else, so it’s pretty much a great spot for a tasty bowl of Chengdu noodles, not a whole Szechuan meal (you could go to Chengdu Taste or one of the many other great Szechuan places for that). The things they do make, however, are quite good.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Mian, noodles, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine

The Legendary Restaurant

Aug01

Restaurant: The Legendary Restaurant

Location: 2718 Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91803. (626) 872-0616

Date: June 26, 2017 & September 21, 2018 and January 6, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Solid Szechuan in the land of so much solid Szechuan

It’s actually been awhile since I tried a NEW Szechuan place for lunch. But part of my 2 part back to back days in the SGV I figured lunch buddy Larry and I would give Legendary a try — the name after-all is very impressive. Wait, that must be Szechuan Impression or maybe Chengdu Impression :-).

Anyway, a year and change later I came back for a revaluation.

Typical frontage. It was 100 degrees in the SGV today!

The interior is just hinting at having some style. Not much. And it used to be some tikki restaurant called Bamboo Lounge and the signs aren’t even all changed over. haha.

It should also be noted that they have a liquor license and a tiny selection of beverages.

Short menu with nice pictures.

By 2018 there was a MUCH glitzier picture menu — printed in China and quite gorgeous. I forgot to photo it though.

Big pitcher of smoked plum juice. A must with Szechuan.

Special Bean Jelly (9/21/18). Oh, Szechuan bean jelly, how I love thee! I can never get enough of the slippery texture and hot tangy taste of this dish.

Hot and sour fern root starch noodle (1/6/19). This was an amazing dish with a really fabulous hot and sour tangy sauce and a cool slippery buckwheat-like noodle.

Chongqing street noodles. Basically noodles in the chili oil broth. Not bad, but I like good dan dan better. Nice noodles though.

Shredded garlic pork (1/6/19). Not exactly shredded, but it was garlicky and porky. Basically garlic cured cold bacon you dip in sesame sauce. Pretty delicious.

Sichuan boiled wontons with chili sauce (1/6/19). Sauce on the side for Ron who is a spice hater.

Shredded eel with dried chili (9/21/18 and 1/6/19). Actually quite delicious. The eel was very fried, very crispy, and not fishy at all. It had that nice salty/aromatic quality from the chilies. This is, of course, very similar to the chicken dish, but more eel!

Second time we had this dish (1/6/19) it had a fairly off-putting “urine-like” taste.

Peking Duck (1/6/19). I was surprised they had it — we had to pre-order, but still, this was pretty darn good. The mean quality was excellent and I liked the way they cut and presented it. The skin could have been a touch crispier but this was great.

Pancakes to go with the duck.

Boiled Fish with Peppercorns (9/21/18). To say that this dish had “peppercorns” will always be an understatement. There must have been an entire bag of Szechuan peppercorns in here — and it gave the fish a delightful (and intense) numbing factor.

Crispy shrimp (1/6/19). Shells, on, a bit sweet, but tasty.

Fried shrimp in hot spicy sauce. I’m not sure I would call this a sauce. Fried shrimp bathed in dry hot peppers is more like it. The shrimp were tasty though.

Griddle Cooked Chicken (parts) (9/21/18). There are any number of griddle cooked dishes, and they taste pretty similar regardless of the protein, but this one was basically all chicken giblets. I must have eaten 10 hearts! Not bad, considering that.

Boiled beef in chili sauce. This was probably my favorite dish. Nice mala broth. Tender beef. TONS of garlic and interesting tofu noodles and lotus rooms underneath. Really great over rice.

Black pepper beef (1/6/19). Well executed with a good bit of flavor, but not a regionally appropriate dish.

Kung Pao Chicken (1/6/19). Pretty good version of the classic.

Braised special pork (1/6/19). Sweet, fatty, delicious.

Smoked lamb chops. Or mouton chops as the case happened to be. Very fatty and gamey. I liked them, but I don’t mind a bit of mouton — but YMMV.

Griddle cooked cauliflower (1/6/19). Nice flavorful vegetable with good crunch.

Trick eggplant (1/6/19). Eggplant and 1000 year old egg. Nice umami savory quality.

Tofu with Crab Roe (9/21/18 & 1/6/19). I discovered this dish on my recent China trip and have been addicted ever since. It has that soft Mapo type texture, but is mild, salty, with a lot of umami.

Second time I had this, 1/6/19 it was not as good. Fine, but blander.

Lightly fried pork buns. These were basically pan fried XLB. Loved ’em. Ate most of this plate. Could have eaten another plate. These unfortunately were out of stock on 1/6/19.

Yang Chow Fried Rice (1/6/19). Solid everything fried rice.

The gang on 1/6/19.

Overall, on my first visit, I found Legendary a solid Szechuan place with a bit better style to the plating than most. Food was good, but not quite as good as some others. They didn’t seem to use MSG though which is great. It was also dead empty so they might not last. I’d certainly go back but the competition is fierce in this area. It isn’t Legendary though, I’d give it a blue, no purple for sure.

Second time around, in September of 2018, I was more impressed with Legendary. We got some different dishes (well totally different, and only a couple I’ve had exactly at other places) and they were all spectacular — except maybe the chicken hearts. They weren’t crowded at all, and same funny Bamboo Lounge vibe, but I this this is a first class Szechuan joint, up there with Chengdu Taste and Szechuan Impression.

Third time, for dinner on January 1, 2019, Legendary continued to impress. 8-9 out of 10 dishes were great and there were a lot of really good ones, including, surprisingly, the Peking Duck. There were a few misses like the eel this time around, but also some other unique and “legendary” dishes like the fern root noodle.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Wines from dinner visits:

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Legendary, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine

Cui Hua Lou – Authentic Spice

Jun03

Restaurant: Cui Hua Lou [1, 2, 3]

Location: 920 E Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91755. 626-288-2218

Date: May 28, 2016

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Awesome!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

The storefront, as usual, isn’t much to look at.

A menu with fairly literal translations.

And the usual minimalist decor.

But we weren’t even in the restaurant proper, but across the parking lot in “the room.” When we arrived some staff or friends were eating (and drinking A LOT of beer). They cleared out as soon as we walked in.

Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Clisson. Light and fresh.

Salted peanuts.
Cucumber with Jelly Fish. Not bad for jellyfish. The cucumber had a nice marinated crunch.

From my cellar: 2011 Veyder-Malberg Grüner Veltliner Weitenberg. 92 points. Excellent. Opened about 8 hours prior to drinking. Pale-mid straw in colour with a nose of green apples and stones. Bone dry and predominantly mineral in the mouth with green sourish apple, vegetal and wet stone overtones. Medium acidity with a distinct tartness which is very refreshing and long in the aftertaste. This is still a very young Veltliner which is several years away from reaching its peak. When it does I estimate that it will deserve a higher score, maybe substantially higher

Beef tendon with chilies. Nice chili flavor with very gelatinous tendon slabs.

Bean noodles with cucumber and mustard sauce. Nice bright mustard flavor.

2014 Weingut Josef Leitz Riesling.

Cumin garlic skewers. Intense and delicious.

Mushroom and “Chinese Hot Dot” skewers. The hot dogs were awesome, tender and a little sweet. The mushrooms were a little chewy.

Lamb and chicken wing skewers. Tasty.

From my cellar: 2006 Mas Martinet Priorat Clos Martinet. VM 92+. Saturated ruby. Pungent aromas of cherry, black raspberry, sassafras, licorice and vanilla. Pliant cherry and dark berry flavors are braced by a zesty mineral quality and framed by silky tannins. Becomes smokier and deeper with air, picking up black tea and herbal qualities on the finish. The finish is sweet but a bit clenched, with fine-grained tannins lending grip. This seems to be holding back today but I like its balance and concentration.

Stewed Lamb in Casserole. This is one of the house special dishes. It comes like this and then heats to a boiling (and spicy) temp. Below the mutton (the meat is incredibly tender, although on the bone) is a seething pit of chili sauce, cabbage, soft tofu, and glass noodles. The sauce has an incredible flavor with a good bit of numbing Szechuan peppercorn. It’s incredibly delicious and unique to Szechuan cooking.

2007 Dönnhoff Kreuznacher Krötenpfuhl Riesling Spätlese. JG 92. honey lemon, grapfruits with hint of perfume floral and Mosel like mineral tones. Juicy intense palate with rich lemony, citrus notes and hint of sweet yellow fruits that firmly supported by the mineral backbone with bright acidity that flow on to the very clean, grippy finish with ripe acidity to go along.

Pan Seared Chili Pepper. Maybe Jalapeño. Delicious with a good middling heat.

Pork belly with garlic. Like super fatty bacon in garlic sauce.

From my cellar: Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese Goldkapsel Auction. 93 points. Great stuff.

Kung Pao Shrimp. As good a version of the classic as you can find. Not that spicy.

Potato with Chili. Looks and tastes a bit like al dente noodles. A nice subtle flavor too.

2012 Turley Zinfandel Cobb. VM 91. One of the more immediate, fleshy wines in this extensive lineup, the 2012 Zinfandel Cobb Vineyard is an excellent choice for drinking over the next handful of years. Suave, silky and juicy on the palate, the 2012 is built on a core of open, resonant fruit. Sweet spices notes add nuance in a distinctly supple Zinfandel with tons of near-term appeal.
Hot braised eggplant with garlic sauce. Awesome garlicky flavor, with some significant heat (of both sorts).

2001 Marquis Philips Shiraz Integrity. 94 points. Notes of mint/eucalyptus, leather, plum and dark fruit with a very subtle funky/bretty undertone that is rather enjoyable. Medium- to full-bodied with nicely integrated tannins and flavors of spice, vanilla, blackberry liqueur, and herbs. Hint of leather coming in on the finish. The most complex and ready of the four- solidly in its window and probably won’t improve in my opinion. Should hold at this level for a couple of years, but I see no reason to wait.

Sweet and sour spareribs. Little sweet bits of porky yum.

Boiled fish in chili sauce. A great version of this dish. The fish was very tender and the broth was delicious.

Dan Dan Noodles.

Wilson mixing it up. One of the biggest challenge is getting only part of the noodles and an even distribution of the chopped meat at the bottom. Clearly, when Marco Polo brought noodles back to Italy this became the seed for Bolognese sauce, as aside from this being quite spicy, there is a definite similarity. This particular version wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, and doesn’t have the nutty sesame quality the dish sometimes does, but it was certainly enjoyable.

Tomato and egg. Classic Chinese breakfast.

Cabbage with preserved shrimp. A nice mild cabbage with just a hint of salty dried shrimp.

Fried corn. Slightly sweet and could have almost passed for a dessert (certainly in Chinese terms). It blended great on the plate with other items like the above tofu, adding a bit of crunch, salt, and sweetness.

The “private room” has a karaoke machine.
And even more terrifying, a meat band saw.
Yeah, this is the kind of thing killers might use to dispose of the body!

In conclusion, Cui Hua Lou, while apparently totally undiscovered, offers up some fabulous traditional Szechuan fare. Yarom thinks this is the best Szechuan in the SGV. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but it’s certainly one of my favorites. They don’t use MSG. The flavors are great. It has a slightly different mix of dishes than some. But I like a lot of the top Szechuan places, and they are each a bit different.

The service is really great, particularly as Chinese restaurants go. Our hostess Elaine really took care of us, spacing out the dishes, bringing us whatever we needed.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

We went close by to Salju for some awesome snow. In this case pineapple snow, passionfruit, strawberry, almond jelly and boba.

Coconut snow with blueberry, mango, and condensed milk.
And more coconut snow with mochi, gumi bears, and rice balls!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cui Hua Lou, hedonists, Salju, Sichuan, Szechuan

Szechuan (second) Impressions

Apr20

I was even more impressed at my April ’16 visit to Szechuan Impression, having eaten at many many Szechuan restaurants in the 18 months since I was last here. Plus, one of my initial gripes with SI was that the menu didn’t feature some of the Szechuan greatest hits but they seem to have expanded the offerings. Because of the wine thing this is more a lunch place for me, but check out the details here.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine, Szechuan Impression

Chuan’s – Even More Pepper

Mar07

I love me some Szechuan, and surprisingly, so do a lot of others because Szechuan places have become all the rage lately. The Hedonists recently headed back to Chuan’s to check out its spicy Szechuan fare a year+ after opening — this time with wine!

Read all the details here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chuan's, hedonists, Sichuan

Lao (Hipster) Sze Chuan

Feb29

Restaurant: Lao Sze Chuan

Location: 152 S Brand Blvd. Glendale, CA 91204. Phone number (818) 552-8888

Date: February 28, 2016

Cuisine: Szechuan

Rating: A little Americanized

Regular Hedonist Chevy has been trying to get us to go to this new “hipster Szechuan” in Glendale since it opened.

Lao Sze Chuan is from China by way of Chicago, but this branch is located across the street from the Americana mall in Glendale.

It’s not as “home style” in decor as the SGV joints.

And the menu is a mixture of Szechuan and other more generic popular Chinese dishes.

Chevy in the house.

We had a great private room that was sealed off, large, and quiet.

2009 Ariston Aspasie Champagne Brut Millésimé. Bitter citrus carries through to a slightly austere finish.

Cold garlic cucumber. Normal enough version of this Chinese classic starter.

From my cellar: 2011 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault. VM 90. The 2011 Meursault is quite beautiful, even if it shows some tightness from its recent bottling. White peach, pear and spice notes all wrap around an energetic frame. I very much like the way the 2011 opens up in the glass. The Comtes Lafon Meursault is now a blend of various parcels, mostly Clos de la Baronne, En la Barre, Luraules and Crotos.

Shanghai Style Jellyfish with mustard. Not a lot of flavor.

2011 Greenlip Wine Sauvignon Blanc. 84 points. Some petrol, but not a particularly good wine. Way too light to stand up to Szechuan too.

Cold Spicy Beef Tendon. Nice dish. Good Szechuan chili oil flavor and a bit of peppercorn numb.

1995 Schloss Schönborn Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Spätlese. 93 points. Beautiful golden color, nose incredibly fresh, elderflower, ripe peach, slate, no oxidation. Depth of flavor with high acid, fresh with long lean finish. Could not believe Michael Jordon was playing baseball when these grapes were harvested… it’s holding up well.

Dan Dan Noodles. Of the “chili oil” variant.

Mixed up. Noodles themselves were over-cooked but the flavor was good, with a little mala. Not as nutty as I like.

From my cellar: 2004 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. GV 92. #1; COLOR-nice golden; NOSE-burnt BMX tires meets peaches, apricots & pears; spritzy; TASTE-beautiful bluestone; gorgeous dried Apricots; viscous & oily; gorgeous peach juice; very polished; great, great wine; very delicate; nice floral aspects; subtle cactus juice & on the finish; a concoction of Cantaloupe & dandelion dancing on the back-end; very complex; great balance of acidity & fruit; great structure; absolute elegance at it’s finest; DS-92; GV-92

Numb Taste Wontons. Not as much flavor as these should have.

Spicy Cabbage. Great dish with a lot of mala from the excellent house chili oil and a nice bit of crunch.

Lao Sze House Fried Rice. A bit of everything. Solid. Not too fried.

Crispy Shrimp with lemon sauce. White guy Chinese, but still nice and tasty. Guilty pleasure.

Same dish with sauce on the side — not nearly as good.
1995 Bieche Vouvray. Sweet and tangy. Pretty good, and a good pairing.

Eggplant with garlic. Decent, although I’ve had much better versions of this dish.

Tea Smoked Duck. Pretty good. Looks like Peking duck but this had a smoked flavor. Not as characteristic as the best versions I’ve had, but good.
Ma Po Tofu. They said there was even no pork in this version, which is odd. It had the correct chili oil mala flavor, although it wasn’t super spicy. The chili oil here is pretty good.

2012 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 93. Opaque ruby. Potent, mineral-laced raspberry and cherry aromas are complicated by suave floral and spice qualities, picking up white pepper and cola accents with air. Seamless, round and sweet on the palate, offering intense red berry preserve and floral pastille flavors with a touch of allspice. Finishes sappy and precise, with velvety tannins and a late jolt of cherry compote.

House Spicy Beef. Fried to oblivion, but very tasty.

2008 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 91. Bright ruby. A heady bouquet displays fresh red berries, sandalwood, dried flowers and a hint of baking spices. Creamy in texture, with lively acidity lifting sweet red and dark berry and candied rose flavors. Becomes sappier with air and finishes with very good clarity and lingering spiciness. Avril thinks this wine will surprise people with its ability to age.

Lao Sze special pork chop. A really tasty sparerib covered in Szechuan goodness.

Szechuan Style Boiled Fish. Drowned in Szechuan sauce. Fish itself was a little mushy.

White rice.

Mixed Hunan Style Vegetables. Mediocre. And not too Hunan.

Combination Chow Mein. Fried noodles with everything. Tasty enough.

Szechuan Chili Hot Pot with lamb. Good stuff with a nice chili oil and cumin flavor and crispy vegetables. Good amount of mala numbing here too.

Cumin lamb. Soft lamb. High quality meat, so not a bad version of this classic.

Shrimp Lo Mein. Not too exciting.

Szechuan String Beans. I’ve certainly had better versions of this dish, but I’ve had far worse.

Various ice creams. Green Tea, Plum, Strawberry, Lychee, and Black Sesame. I loved the three fruit flavors. Nice texture.
And the plum was insanely good, with a fabulous finish.

Overall, Lao Sze Chuan beat my expectations slightly. It is Szechuan, but it’s not seriously hard core about it. Food-wise, I’d say they are middle of the pack as SGV Szechuan restaurants go. The ingredients were pretty fresh, and the meat better than many SGV places. The location is good too, and there is some decor to the build out. Prices are reasonable. Service was great too, better than you’d likely get at a more authentic spot. Very nice servers and they did a great job staging stuff. They didn’t charge us corkage and even gave us a regular discount (as Chevy lives across the street and goes all the time)! A+ for effort.

Now somehow, mysteriously, Lao Sze Chuan has been voted “one of the best Chinese restaurants in America.” Or at least it garnered a real reputation in Chicago. This isn’t hard to imagine as real Szechuan is probably nonexistent in Chicago. Here it’s just fine. Good even if you live in Glendale and don’t want to drive down to the SGV. For me, since Glendale is actually slightly further (in terms of driving time) than the SGV, I’d only go if meeting friends.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Dan Dan Mein, Lao Sze Chuan, mapo tofu, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine

Return to Hip Hot

Jan29

I returned to relative Szechuan newcomer Hip Hot to see how it’s holding up…

See the detailed writeup here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: hip hot, Sichuan

Pockmarked Old Lady Tofu

Jan18

The same shopping trip that picked up ingredients for my homemade Dan Dan Mein led me to make my other favorite Szechuan dish, Mapo tofu. This fragrant and spicy dish translates roughly as “pockmarked old lady tofu”, possibly due to its “unattractive” appearance.

Again I used a hardcore online recipe as my base.

Like most Szechuan dishes, it involves a lot of chilies. Above some Chinese dried chilies.

I made this into chili oil by taking peanut oil and frying the chilies. For whatever reason, it didn’t get very red. It tasted chili-enough. Maybe I needed some chili flakes.

And, of course, Mapo wouldn’t be real Mapo without Szechuan Peppercorns, about to be lightly mashed. These incredibly aromatic bits of vegetation provide the “mala” (numbing spiciness) that is so characteristic of this dish.

I fry them up here in oil.
Meanwhile chopping garlic and ginger.
Add in the garlic.
Add in the ginger.
Then I used ground lamb as my meat, since I can’t use pork.
Mixed in to brown.
Szechuan hot bean paste is a key salty ingredient to this dish. This is a mix of fermented broad beans, soy beans, salt, and various spices.

Mix that in.

Then some (Kosher) chicken broth.

Adds a little liquid to the sauce.

Which we proceed to thicken up with that age old thickener, corn starch.

Mixed with water.

And added to the dish.

Then that whole pot of chili oil went in. Woah! This is one oily suspension (it always is at a good Szechuan restaurant).

Silken tofu is another key ingredient, here cut by me into cubes.

In it goes, this isn’t the most complicated of preps really.

And on top a bit of scallion.

Cook for just a touch longer and serve.
This isn’t the loveliest dish, and mine was uncharacteristically tan instead of red — despite packing a pretty serious hot and numbing punch — but it tasted pretty dead on like a nice Szechuan restaurant version. The lamb was a good addition too, adding a “spicy” heft as opposed to the pork. Really delicious stuff which got the forehead sweating!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: mapo tofu, Scallion, Sichuan, Soy sauce, Soybean, Szechuan cuisine

White Guys Can Cook Noodles

Jan13

Since I’m a noodle fiend, and Dan Dan Mein is one of my all time favorites, and a lot of my home cooking focuses on pasta (and pizza and gelato) I got it in my head to try making this amazing noodle dish at home — super authentically of course.

So I hunted around for recipes and came across this hard core one to use as my base.

For those of you that don’t know, Dan Dan Mein is the sort of “OG Sesame noodles.” But it’s so much more than the watered down version we get in the states. Ever wonder why sesame noodles are sometimes spicy? It’s because they derive from this dish, which in its true form is always hot. But it’s more than hot. Good dan dan is very complex incredibly aromatic, nutty, spicy, numbing, meaty, and a hefty bowl of chow.

Then before meeting my pal Sebastian out in the SGV for some Szechuan I stopped by the 168 Market and spent about an hour hunting down all the ingredients. I went so far as to make sure even normal items like garlic and peanuts were grown in China! Subtle things like the differences in vegetable breed can influence the flavor of a dish.
We start off making chili oil from scratch. This particular incredibly Szechuan oil is flavored with Szechuan peppercorn, star anise, cinnamon, and “regular” chilis.

Here are the Szechuan Peppercorns, which I learned were also known as Prickly Ash or sometimes Red Ash. They smell amazing (and strong) and have a citrus note and a numbing quality on the tongue.
Dried star anise, which smells like licorice. Oh, and the cinnamon.

Then the chili flakes, and peanut oil.

First try. Let it get too hot. Don’t do this (notice the brown color).

Next try went much better. You basically cook the peppercorns, anise, and cinnamon in the oil slowly to 325.
Then strain out that stuff and dump the regular chilis in and let it sit until it becomes super red and potent.

Next up we brown the meat for the dish. I actually made the noodles twice the first week, once with turkey (above) and another time with lamb (below).
The sauce for cooking the meat involves a mix of shaoxing wine.

The incredibly yummy (and salty) Szechuan sweet bean paste.

And some dark soy sauce (plus a little five spice powder)..

Then in with the browning meat you add sui mi ya cai. This mystery ingredient, which apparently is some kind of preserved mustard green, took me about 30 minutes to possibly locate in the market. None of the employees knew what it was. This “spicy preserved vegetable” was the closest thing I could find. Perhaps it’s the right stuff. Perhaps it’s a variant. It’s certainly preserved and certainly mustard green.

Here they are cooked together with the sauce, then set aside until the noodles are ready. As my friend Bryan, who tried my second batch, commented, the preserved vegetable makes it much more Chinese.

Next up we work on the noodle sauce which is more soy sauce and sesame paste.

Pretty!

And the five spice powder.

And the aforementioned Chinese garlic.

Mixed together.

Some more Szechuan peppercorns needed to be crushed to go straight into this part, so I used my killer mortar and pestle.

You blend it up.

Then incredibly dump a huge amount of that red chili oil in.

And keep stirring.

Meanwhile, some peanuts (also from China).

Chopped.

Then the noodles. The recipe called for Lanzhou noodles, which are flat and white. These turned out to be about the same as most of the restaurant dan dans.

They cook fast.

Then you put the sauce in the bottle of the bowl, dump in some noodles.

Layer on the meat mix, peanuts, and some chopped scallions.

It looks great above, but you need to mix it up.
Here is the fully mixed version you eat. It might not be a looker, but the dish is incredible and I was very pleased how it turned out. Just like restaurant dan dan, all the good stuff is at the bottom, the rich sauce, the meat chunks etc. The lamb version really kicked ass too (most dan dan uses pork). I also used more meat then most restaurants do and tried to keep the sauce under control so it didn’t get too soupy.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Cooking, Dan Dan Mein, noodles, san Gabriel valley, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine

Chuan’s – Back for more Burn

Jan11

I love me some Szechuan, and surprisingly, so do a lot of others because Szechuan places have become all the rage lately. I recently headed back to Chuan’s to check out its spicy Szechuan fare a year+ after opening…

Read all the details here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Sichuan

Huolala Hot

Dec18

Restaurant: Huolala

Location: 206 S Garfield Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 573-8289

Date: November 19 & December 1, 2015

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Awesome heat

Oh Szechuan cuisine, how I love thee.

My online searches for new places led me to the well reviewed Huolala, so Sebastian and I decided to give it a try.

The Monterey Park interior is pretty much the typical no frills, food on the wall type.

The menu is full of Szechuan goodies.

And they have the cold appetizer bar.

Of course we had to order Dan Dan Mein, the classic.

This was a solid version. The noodles themselves were excellent. It was a bit wet and soupy, with not quite enough nut paste or meat for my taste, but the flavor was good with some numbing heat.

Hot and spicy glass noodles. Not the best of this dish I’ve ever had, but lots of nice tangy hot flavor.

Eggplant with garlic. This is always a tasty dish, but this particular implementation was a 10. Nice soft, hot eggplant, and a tremendous garlic kick. Yum!

Sautéed lamb with hot pepper. 2-3 times fried lamb chunks with peppers, Szechuan peppercorns, and puffed rice. The lamb was full of flavor and fairly tender. The crispy rice was interesting, particularly as it soaked up the aromatic flavor of the surrounds (and the chili oil). Great stuff.

Dry Braised Yellow Fish. Never had this prep, with spicy peppers, garlic, and slices of Chinese sausage!

Kung Pao tofu. I’m not sure I’ve had my King Pao with tofu. These were great chunks of fried soft tofu, tossed with peanuts and chilis. Rather excellent actually.

Mao Po tofu. A top top notch version of the classic. Great soft texture and a rich spicy meaty sauce. Not too salty too (which is a good thing).
As this was just a pair of quick lunches, we only sampled a few dishes, but everything was really top notch in terms of flavor and ingredient quality, so we will have to come back and broaden out. Stay tuned!

Afterward, to cool down, we had to head to Salju Dessert and picked up this guava snow with passionfruit, kiwis, strawberries, and almond jelly.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: chili, Chinese cuisine, Huolala, Sichuan, Szechuan, Szechuan Chinese

Hip Hot

Sep14

Restaurant: Hip Hot

Location: 500 N Atlantic Blvd #149, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 782-7711

Date: July 23, 2015 & January 28, 2016

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Updated awesomeness

I love my Szechuan. This pepper-fueled branch of Chinese is all about flavor — and it’s certainly hot right now (and all the time). Hence the name of the restaurant.

The Atlantic Blvd interior is updated and reasonably modern.

The tables have glass tops and cool dioramas inside! Each one is different.

The menus.

Watermelon juice. Comes in it’s own “evil genius” watermelon!

Another cold Szechuan drink, the super yummy smoked plum juice.

Mung bean noodle with chilies. Love this dish as it has a tangy/hot quality to it.

Cold chicken noodles. These lovely noodles have chili oil and bits of chicken. Cold, a bit spicy, and very pleasant.

Dan Dan Mein. One of my favorite dishes. You mix it up.

This version was very tasty, with lots of pork, but it didn’t have the characteristic nutty/peanut paste richness that I really love, or much Szechuan peppercorn numbing.

Ma Po Tofu. One of my other favorite dishes. This version was excellent, with a nice numb factor, good texture, and lots of chili oil.

Sliced fish boiled with chilies. Another Szechuan classic. The fish was a little thick, but there was plenty of spice to the broth.

Chongking boiled fish. Might even be the same dish on a different day. Seemed to have different vegetables in it though and less crushed pepper.

Cauliflower with pork belly hot pot. Rather yummy. Nice crunch to the vegetables and fatty pork goodness.

Spicy chicken. Fried chicken bits tossed with aromatic peppers. Nice salty spicy version of this dish.

Lamb chops. This was a stunner. Really, really good dish with tender lamb chops and delicious spice mixture on top.

Mutton stew with buns and potatoes. You were supposed to eat the mutton in the buns. The meat was super “gamey.” The lamb cops were better. The combo was interesting, but the little rib bones in the meat made eating it like a sandwich a bit of a challenge.

Crab with chilies. The crab itself was tasty but a bit hard to get into. I loved the mixture below of potatoes, peanuts, rice cakes and the like. When the potatoes had soaked up the chili oil and peppers. Yum!

Taro toast (on left) and rice cakes (right). The taro was mild but had a nice texture like a taro stuffed spring roll. The right was a bit chewy and inaccessible.

Hip Hot is good. The style and plating are updated a lot from the likes of Lucky Noodle King and a little bit above Spicy City. The ingredients were good. The menu isn’t as big as Spicy City, but what they did serve us was very good. I wish the Dan Dan was just a bit nuttier. It’s fairly similar to Chuan’s in being a bit more modern, but I think Chuan’s is a bit better.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Dan Dan Mein, Foodie Club, hip hot, mapo tofu, Sichuan, Szechuan Chinese

Lucky Noodle King is the Dan Dan Emperor

May13

Restaurant: Lucky Noodle King

Location: 534 E Valley Blvd #10, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 573-5668

Date: March 11 & May 6, 2015

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Amazing Dan Dan

I had a craving for Chinese noodles so strong I drove 60 miles round trip by myself for them! Well, not just for any noodles, but for what Jonathan Gold describes as “the best Dan Dan in LA.”

Located in the same mini-mall as Hunan Chili King, the location isn’t much to look at.

Although I find this kind of “authentic” SGV homey and comfortable. Oh, and see those dishes on the wall? That’s about a quarter of the “decorations.” We ordered by saying, “bring us the wall.” (i.e. every pictured dish)!

Everyone gets this starter, spicy pickled cabbage with peanuts. You might say, ick, but it was actually delicious. There was Szechuan peppercorn in there and it had this delight interplay of crunch and numbing spice.

NV Camille Savès Champagne Brut Grand Cru Rosé. Burghound 93. Savès typically makes a relatively deeply colored rosé by the standards of the genre and this latest version is no exception. The cool and distinctly pinot nose also reflects notes of various red berry fruit aromas though notes of yeast are discernible. The delicious, intense and very crisp flavors are underpinned by a fine effervescence that is perfect for the mouth feel of a rosé that is actually much more vinous than most examples, in particular because there is a wonderfully savory quality to the long finish that practically begs for another sip. Lovely stuff that could be enjoyed now or aged, though it is so good presently that I doubt that a case would make it much past a year or so in my cellar

Pork potstickers. Fairly typical versions.

2003 Joh. Jos. Prüm Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spätlese. 90 points. Some spritz in the initial glass — nose of honey and peach with some sulfur. very nice palate — medium acidity — not quite enough, but almost there. honeydew melon with a sprinkle of sugar, other melon flavors, tropical fruit, peach, and red apple. i really liked the taste of this, even if the nose wasn’t anything special. shortish finish leaves you wanting another sip — at 8% alcohol.

Numb taste wontons. Nice soft pork wontons coated in…

Chili oil. There was some Szechuan peppercorn action here.

2007 Reinhold Haart Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese. JG 93. 85 grams per liter residual sugar. Haart reports that the grapes were picked two weeks after the Kabinett and showed higher-than-average must weight. Fine petrol and mineral aromas open into a dazzling purity of concentrated stone fruit and green-gage plum, with notes of earth and mushroom appearing on the long, refined finish.

Beef, beef tendons, tofu. This cold dish was dominated by chile and cilantro.

Stir fried shredded pork with dried bean curd. I thought I’d like this dish, and I was right. A slightly sweet savory pork with that stiff tofu, night textural counter point. Even the crunch of the celery and the chew of the greens went nicely.

2003 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Auslese. 90 points. The best parcel of Schlossberg was harvested November 19 in a single pass as an experiment in block picking, which was standard practice until recent times. “We gambled and we were lucky,” says Selbach. The varied condition of the bunches-“without any skimming or homogenization,” in the winemaker’s words-is directly mirrored in the wine’s complexity, with fresh tropical fruit and citrus notes; spiced, baked and dried orchard fruits; and honey-drenched, ennobled white raisins all taking a turn in the spotlight. That said, the overall impression, without lacking elegance, is certainly fatter and softer than the norm here this year, which may of course say as much about the lateness of the picking as it does about its comprehensiveness. The texture is also uniquely doughy, with a lovely, subtle chewiness. Potential 2 stars.

Pork intestine with pickled pepper. A spicy mix of pig guts and whatnot. The sauce was pretty good and the chitlins had this earthy flavor — not my thing.

From my cellar: 2000 Trimbach Pinot Gris Sélection de Grains Nobles. VM 93-95. Bright medium gold. Superripe aromas of apricot jam, exotic spices, honey and tobacco; just misses the clarity of the best SGN bottlings from this producer. Very dense but not hugely unctuous thanks to firm, perfectly integrated acidity. Sappy, vibrant and very long on the aftertaste.

Ma-Po Tofu. I always order this when I can. This was a nice version. Not the best I’ve ever had, but darn good. I could just have used a bit more numbing (like Chengdu — well, that’s more than a bit more numbing). And there was a good amount of SMG (probably), or at least salt. But it got my head sweating a bit.

Dan dan noodles. This is what the trip was all about. Soft noodles, lots of meat, peanuts, some peanut or sesame goop, mustard, green onions, and chili oil.

You mix it up into this incredibly savory porridge of meat, spice, and carbs. It’s super addictive, tasting just ok on the first bite and getting better and better as you work through the bowl.

Noodles with meat soy sauce. Sort of Szechuan spaghetti Bolognese. Not spicy, but rich and tasty.

Mixed up.

ChongQing sour & Spicy cold noodles. These classic mung bean noodles are covered in a tangy spicy sauce with both chile and numbing heat. Yum.

2011 Domaine Joseph Roty Marsannay. Burghound 87. A mildly toasty nose of red currant and dark pinot fruit gives way to energetic and quite fresh middle weight flavors that possess acceptably good depth on the moderately long, clean, cool and balanced finish where a bit of oak toast surfaces. This is both slightly rustic and austere though there is very solid length.

ChongQuing Spicy Chicken. Very fried chicken with aromatic peppers. This was some fabulous fried chicken — very fried — with a nice delicate pepper flavor.

Have some peppers!

2009 Gaston & Pierre Ravaut Ladoix 1er Cru Les Basses Mourotttes. I’ve never even heard of this appelation — or if I did I forgot it.

Cumin lamb. The traditional wet form of this dish. Hot with a lot of cumin.

Stir fried pork belly with vegetables. Bacon and greens?

2011 Cameron Pinot Noir Arley’s Leap. 90 points. Clear, light ruby color. Bold spice elements (tobacco, black pepper, oregano, pickled peppers) accenting the bright cranberry and red plum fruit, hints of light roast coffee. Bright acid makes this refreshing to drink, fine-grain tannins help as well. The red plum, cranberry and red cherry fruit is crunchy and fresh, gliding across the palate. This wine has a whole lot of pickling spices and mineral notes working for it, and it’s hitting all the right spots. Cool, clean, complex yet elegant. Ready to drink now but the stuffing for some near-term aging is here. From the highest vines in the Abbey Ridge Vineyard, this is a stunner for my palate.

Not sure what meat this was, beef or pork. It had a lot of flavor though and was fairly mild.

Crazy flavor in savory spiced eel. I admit, I wanted to order this dish — but I regretted it. Not only was it spicy and VERY oily, but it had this fishy flavor that made me nervous.

2009 Alban Vineyards Syrah Reva Alban Estate Vineyard. VM 93-97. Inky purple. Alban’s 2009 Syrah Reva is drop-dead gorgeous. Sumptuous, layered and absolutely impeccable, the 2009 boasts stunning depth and richness but it is never overdone or excessively heavy. Today, the aromas and flavors remain intensely primary, so readers will have to be patient. Still, the Reva is simply thrilling, pretty much as it always has been from barrel. As compelling as Alban’s higher-end Syrahs are, in 2009 I prefer the Reva, as it is the most polished, impeccable and balanced wine in the range. It will be interesting to follow the development of these wines over the next few years.

Twice cooked pork. This was some tough old pig. Very “gamey” and not in a great way.

Fish filet w/ spicy sauce. The sauce was excellent with a lot of numbing peppercorn.

Braised Beef noodles. Like a Pho basically. Quite nice.

Tomato & Fried egg noodles. Different, and not bad at all.

Contrary to internet complaints, the service was excellent. But for me, the single lady was extremely nice and friendly — and the food came out fast and hot. They were extremely on top of it (by SGV standards).

Lucky Noodle King is a homestyle place, and some of the dishes are great. Most of the noodle dishes (particularly the Dan Dan), the fried chicken, etc. Some of the dishes were fine, like the cumin beef, or the Ma Po tofu. However, their meat quality isn’t the highest, so there was a gamey factor with a bunch of dishes and they are heavy handed with the chili oil. Not that I mind the spice, but the ill feeling after Szechuan is directly related to the amount of chili oil consumed.

For most dishes, Spicy City and several other places are a bit better.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Asian cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Dan Dan Mein, Dan Dan Noodles, hedonists, mapo tofu, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine, Szechuan Pepper

Spicy City!

Apr06

Restaurant: Spicy City

Location: 140 W Valley Blvd. Ste 208. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 280-0186

Date: March 31, April 29, & May 18, 2015

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Awesome and authentic, spicy!

Szechuan is one of my obsessions and fellow Foodie Club founder Erick recommended Spicy City as one of his favorites — he should know too as he’s spent a lot of time in China, including Chengdu.

Spicy City is upstairs in one of those gigantic SGV mall plazas which seem to have been teleported from Asia.

Certainly not filled with tourists. We were the only non-Asians in there.

Stylish SGV decor.

They have the cold Szechuan/Hunan style apps on display.

The menu is enormous and filled with Szechuan classics — and pictures.

Sour and spicy glass noodles (they call it “hot and sour powder”). I love the contrast here of sour and hot numbing flavors. Spicy City uses a good amount of Szechuan peppercorn too. Yum!

Dan Dan noodles. Have to do it. First time at a Szechuan place, I measure them by the classics.

Stirred up, these were good Dan Dan. Not quite as good as Lucky Noodle King, but great anyway. The more you eat them, the more addictive they are.

Ma Po Tofu. Great Ma Po. Not the best I’ve ever had, but very good. Plenty of heat.

Lamb Chop with pepper. What doesn’t have pepper here? This was basically like cumin lamb chops. Really tasty — and really fried.

Cumin lamb. The classic spicy cumin crusted lamb. The cumin flavors were a bit strong here.

Chungking style hot pot. Various meats boiled with Szechuan peppercorns, chili oil, sprouts and whatnot. When they say various, they mean various. There was bee, fish filets, chicken, a delicious spam-like thing, and even pig intestines and tripe. We picked out the gross bits, but this had a nice numbing flavor.

Shredded pork with Beijing brown sauce. Pretty much says it all, but very nice version of this dish. Quite succulent.

Bubble pepper squid. No idea about the name, but this was hot!

Sizzling rabbit with chilies. Despite the annoying bits of bone on the meat, this rabbit was delicious with all sorts of spicy goodness.

Chungking style fish. A lightly breaded, cumin crusted whole fresh fish burried in potatoes, lotus root, and cauliflower. Delicious!

Fish filets and tofu in chili sauce. A classic, and delicious, with plenty of numbing peppercorns.

Spicy chicken. The aromatic variety of super fried Szechuan chicken.

Kung Pao Shrimp. Not that spicy, with that thick fry on the shrimp, but pretty delicious.

Braised Pork with fermented vegetables. A kind of thick bacon that was very tender, a touch dry, with a weird cabbage underneath. Not bad actually, very meaty.

All in all, Spicy City was really good with a lot of heat — particularly a lot of Szechuan Peppercorn, which I love. Feel the burn!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Sichuan, Spicy City, Szechuan Chinese

Palace of Pepper

Dec29

Restaurant: Chuan Ren Bai Wei

Location: 6420 Rosemead Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91775. (626) 286-5508

Date: December 28, 2014 & June 16, 2015

Cuisine: Beijing / Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Great!

Just six months ago I ate in this same space, but it was a different Chinese restaurant at the time, Beijing Duck House. Now, due to the rising popularity of Szechuan cuisine it has been rebooted. It still looks the same. It still serves Peking Duck. But there’s a lot more pepper on the menu.

2012 Gérard Boulay Sancerre La Comtesse Monts Damnés. IWC 93. Bright yellow. Spicy aromas of tangerine, lemongrass and cardamom, with a subtle floral twist. Tightly wound, offering citrus and spice flavors, with excellent clarity and finesse. The tenacious finish is long, saline and pure. This is one of the finest Sancerres of the vintage.

Boiled peanuts. On the table at most real Chinese restaurants.

Cold appetizers. Shredded potato. Cured spicy meats and cabbage. Beef tendon.

Water. The mason jar is one little tidbit of trend that has crept into this otherwise fairly old school SGV place.

2005 Gérard Raphet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques. Burghound 91-93. A gorgeous and seductive mix of red pinot, raspberry, cool minerality and a touch of earth complements to perfection the full, rich, deep, serious and intense flavors that manage to pull off being powerful and concentrated yet supple and delicious without compromising in the slightest the balance, which is not easy to do. A really lovely 1er that offers grand cru quality.

They have a real duck carver.

Peking duck. This was one of the better peking duck’s we’ve had. Maybe not quite so good as Tasty Duck, but the meat was fabulous. The skin could have been a tad crispier, but the hoison sauce was top notch.

On our second visit the duck came in this cute duck plate.

Awesome hoisin sauce.

Pancakes and condiments.

Leftover skin is for some reason placed on a separate plate.

2011 Louis Jadot Meursault Les Narvaux. 90 points. Nice strong vanilla notes.

The second of the “3 ways” for Peking duck is the duck soup.

Duck soup. A mild but pleasant broth with bits of meat and tofu.

Duck lettuce cups. The third of the ways. Not really that exciting.

House pancake. A nice fluffy bit of fresh bread with a little sweetness.

2004 Newton Chardonnay Unfiltered. 90 points. Well integrated with pear and apple notes and overtones of oak and vanilla, but not cloyingly so… Great body, mouthfeel and smooth finish.

Bean noodles. This is mixed up and the mung bean noodles are coated in a peanuty/spicy/tangy sauce. The sauce was awesome, with a bit of a mustard component. The tofu had a spongy texture, but the dish was overall quite nice.

Pork fried rice.

It’s evil cousin, chicken fried rice.

Spicy and sour glass noodles. I love this dish, with it’s heat, both hot and numbing, and strange vinegar tang. Not for the mild mannered or uninitiated.

You can see the noodles here. And the pepper!

2013 Errazuriz Chardonnay Wild Ferment Aconcagua Costa. 90 points. On the nose, a bit of young Burgundy-like tar on the nose in addition to some lively tropical fruit. Rich fruit on the palate, along with the aforementioned tar in the background. Nice acidic foil that is approachable now but should contribute to aging this a bit. Very approachable and enjoyable now, but I suspect better and more integrated in 2+ years.

Sweet corn. Pretty much what it looks like.

Cumin lamb. A really nice version of this dish. A lot of good lamb flavor.

Sizzling beef. Isn’t the animal-shaped dish cute?

2007 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Felsentürmchen Spätlese. 91 points. Ripe apples, nectarine and slight tinned peach aromas dominating. A slight struck flint quality and also some creamy notes. In the mouth the flavours of ripe, but slightly tart, red apple is to the fore – on this tasting the acidity is a little spiky for the residual sugar but it really is very good. Fresh and lovely, I think this wine has a long life ahead of it.

Whole fish in peppers. The last part of the name is true. There wasn’t so much fish, even if the pan was huge.

But there sure were a lot of peppers, peanuts, lotus root, garlic and the like. The sauce was actually pretty darn good (and hot).

Fish with two chilies. Under that mound of tangy chili sauce (in green and red) is another fish. It was pretty darn good.

1998 Nikolaihof Riesling Federspiel Steinriesler. 93 points. Light on its feet, pure, focused with bright citrus and pear fruit, a stony mineral undercurrent, and gentle floral and high toned herbal accents. Seamless and very polished on the palate.

Kung Pao Chicken. This slightly unusual take on the classic was hot AND sweet. Very interesting, and delicious!

Spicy chicken. This classic triple fried dry woked chicken was amazing. It was hot in both ways, and full of intense fried flavor. Very salty.

Have a few peppers!

Sweet and sour spareribs. Bony, very fried, and quite tasty.

2005 Faiveley Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Chaignots. Burghound 88-91. Strong wood influence currently dominates the dark berry and black raspberry-infused nose that precedes the somewhat woody medium weight flavors that are round and sweet with fine depth and complexity but the wood is not subtle and it causes me to question whether it will cause the finish to eventually dry out?

Spicy noodles. Kind of a pepper noodle soup with bacon.

Dan dan mein. Tasty, but way way too soup to really be proper dan dan. The sauce on the mung bean noodles was closer.

2011 Faiveley Monthélie Les Champs-Fulliot. IWC 89-91. Good bright red. Vibrant aromas of cherry and pungent minerals convey a strong limestone character. Then sappy and serious on the palate, richer and deeper but less open than the Duresses. Finishes with big, rich tannins and noteworthy persistence. Very suave and structured Monthelie with good mid-term aging potential.

Shredded potato. The more or less typical Hunan / Szechuan version of this dish.

Vegetable dry hot pot. Mostly cauliflower. Nice spicy flavor. Similar to the dish (and only dish) served at Tasty Dining.

More peppers! Perhaps you sense a theme.

2007 Domaine de la Mordoree Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de la Reine des Bois. Parker 97. Evolving beautifully, the 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de La Reine des Bois has shed some of its crazy tannin and is showing a more layered, voluptuous profile. Possessing beautiful kirsch, blackberry, candied licorice, flowers and lavender, it offers knockout richness and decadence to go with brilliant purity of fruit, superb concentration, and a full-bodied, layered mouthfeel. While I don’t think it matches the ’01 or ’10, it’s an incredible bottle of wine that can be consumed anytime over the coming 10-15 years.

Lamb skewers. Nice cumin flavor.

MaPo tofu. One of my favorites in general. This was a fine rendition. Not the best I’ve ever had, but certainly still had that nice soft texture and gradual heat.

2010 DeRose Zinfandel Dryfarmed Old Vines Cedolini Vineyard.

Dumplings. Very nice straight up steamed potstickers. No sauce was in evidence, so we made due with Hoisin.

Kung Pao shrimp. Same sauce as the chicken above. Fabulous dish actually, even if not totally typical (with that spicy sweet vibe).

Fish filet boiled with green peppers. I couldn’t resist photoing this at a neighboring table. This is a Szechuan classic, with more of an emphasis on the numbing peppercorns (see them floating in the broth?).

Mixed Szechwan skewers. Little random bits in hot sauce.

Morning glory / Ong choy. Or some similar colon sweeper.

Overall, another highly enjoyable Chinese meal. The duck was on par with Tasty Duck and the other dishes were arguably better. This place was good before, and it’s even better now. Really, this was some very enjoyable food. A number of dishes were off the charts like the “spicy chicken.”

It should be noted that service was very good. On our second visit, our server Lulu did a fabulous job handling our “chaos.” She helped out with the ordering, managed the pacing well (not always the case at Chinese) and along with the other staff really were on point replacing plates, providing napkins, and the like. At one point when I was hunting for toothpicks she even went and brought some on a plate!

After all that heat we felt the need to cool off with a pair of massive shave ices:

Mango shaved ice with almond jelly, mango jelly, strawberries, and vanilla ice cream.

Strawberry shaved ice with almond jelly, vanilla ice cream, and honey boba.

Rose tea.

Then finished off with a nice foot massage next door. Ah, the SGV.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chuan Ren Bai Wei, hedonists, Hoisin sauce, mapo tofu, Peking Duck, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan Chinese, Wine

Szechuan Everywhere

Oct23

Restaurant: Chuan’s

Location: 5807 Rosemead Blvd. Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 677-6667

Date: October 21, 2014 and January 4 & 12, 2016 and March 6, 2016

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Great flavors, not ultra hot

I love me some Szechuan, and surprisingly, so do a lot of others because Szechuan places have become all the rage lately. This is a composite meal built from 2 Hedonists dinners and several casual lunches.

Chuan’s is the latest Chinese chain to open a Southern California output, like Meizhou Dongpo in the Century City Mall.

The interior is actually styled and casual but cute. They have a private room too which we ate in.

The menu is super glitzy with big clear pictures of every dish (oh so helpful!). This is the 2014 edition, as it has changed slightly since then.

Spicy peanuts. With celery. These do have a mild kick.

Vinegar peanuts. King of like a tangy Kung Pao without the meat!

Cold appetizer plate. Cured beef, beef tripe, and firm tofu.

Coated Lima Beans. Delicious actually. A kind of sweet and salty vibe.

Chuan’s didn’t offer liquor on our first visit, and we couldn’t bring ours in really either. But they did have this (non-alcoholic) Sour Plum Juice that was quite delicious. It had a smokey rich flavor. Really smokey — the most like bacon of any juice I’ve ever had.

Cold eggplant with preserved green chilies. A bit funny looking, but pretty damn good, and that’s even with this being the style of steamed eggplant I usually don’t like. The chilies were excellent.

Spicy avocado. Never had this one. Maybe a Cal/Chinese hybrid, but pretty good.

Chopped Chicken with Fresh Peppercorns. The menu version had a lot more peppercorns. This is always a good dish, and this example was no exception. There was the “boney chicken bits” problem, but, hey, this is authentic Chinese food. It wasn’t that hot.

Bean Jelly with Preserved Soybean and Peppers. A fabulous dish (even if the bean jelly noodles were a bit thick) as it had a delicious tangy, salty, hot flavor that was nicely in balance.

Another Bean jelly. There are two versions of this dish, with slightly different sauces on the menu. Very slippery!

Dan Dan Noodles. The Szechuan classic. Both times we came for dinner the dan dan was a tad bland, although the noodle texture was nice.

Here they are mixed up. On my several lunch visit (pictured) the dan dan was great, with a lovely complex nutty undertone. Small portion though (perfect for 1-2 people).

Chengdu Sour and Spicy Vermicelli. A bit more flavor than the Dan Dan, but still maybe a little bland on the first visit. On the second dinner visit this had been punched up with a lot more sauce (below).

And this version was great, with that sour/numbing vibe.

Chili slathered Pork Dumplings. These were great. Better than Chengdu Taste, not as good as this mall food (lol).

Sweet and Sour Herba Houttuyniae. Never heard of this herbal green. But it was delicious.

Sesame lettuce. A really nice salad, with a very strong sesame dressing.

Crispy Duck Drenched in Oil. The name about sums it up. This had a nice pastrami-like tea-smoked flavor.

Ma Po Tofu. A delicious take on the classic. This version had a nice tang, great texture, and a bit of heat. It didn’t really have enough peppercorn numbness for my taste, but it was still probably the dish of the night in October 2014. In March 2016, it was a little salty and the tofu a little soft.

Combination fried rice. Solid fried rice.

Fish with Pickled Cabbage from Hometown. The “green chili” version of the boiled fish dish typical in Szechuan. This one was moderately mild. Fine, but not exciting.

Cherry Braised Pork. Fatty, but absolutely delicious. Like melt-in-the-mouth bacon cubes.

Fish filets boiled in chili sauce. The classic Chungking dish. Not bad at all. Nice soft/fresh filets of fish.

Boiled Beef with Chilis. This was a hotly debated dish at the table. I thought it was very tasty, although on the mild side. Some others didn’t love it.

The sauce was incredibly delicious over rice. Have a bit of chili oil!

Shredded chicken and glass noodle with chilies. This third boiled chili dish was fabulous with soft strips of boneless chicken and glass noodles buried in all that red.

Dry cooked string beans with potatoes. The classic Szechuan green beans + french fries in spicy sauce!

Corn with pork belly. Insanely good. The lardon-like pork served as the fat in place of the butter and made for one tasty corn dish!

Suicide potatoes. Sliced potatoes with a fabulous spicy Szechuan rub. Fairly spicy for this meal, but not really that hot on an absolute scale.

Eggplant. A version of the garlic eggplant dishes, this one with soy beans. Quite tasty, if mild.

Special Lobster. This wasn’t on the menu, and it cost a bundle, but it was absolutely scrumptious — although the meat was a bit hard to get at.

Chili crab. Great Szechuan dry-pot like vegetables below, and fried crab that was cooked until the shell is soft.

Kung Pao Shrimp Balls. AKA Kung Pao Shrimp. Nice pungent ginger/scallion flavor. Not that hot either but tasty.

Squid with chilies. Nice chew and flavor. Just a touch of fishiness.

Fried scallops. Spice in the batter, and VERY fried, with a nice tempura crunch. A little like the Nobu tempura popcorn shrimp.

Dry spicy fried chicken with chilies. Also a classic Szechuan dish. The chicken had ALL the bone bits. Almost every piece was filled with bone. Despite this, or perhaps owing to this, the taste was amazing. You just crunch through the bone and it tasted great with chili aromatics, fat, and a bit of numbing Szechuan peppercorn.

Crispy Beef. Basically, chicken fried steak nuggets! Probably really should have been a lamb dish traditionally, but was beef here. Tasty though. The meat was soft and flavorful. So soft, and so pare, that we were joking about it not being beef.

And the pepper/peanut mix fun to pick at.

Twice cooked pork with buns. Super tender flavorful meat with soft buns. Awesome combination too. Really tasty together.

Cumin lamb. The classic, but a very good version with tender lamb.

Chicken with green chilis. A bit of heat here, and a different style of chili heat than most of the dishes with their red chilies.

Shredded potatoes. Fine, although I’ve had better versions of this dish.

Special Seafood Dry Hot Pot. Like a Wuhan dish, a mix of dry hot shrimp, potatoes, veggies, fish balls, and the like.

Fried pumpkin and bean cakes. Greasy, but pretty good for fried Chinese desserts. These had that mochi like consistency with the bean paste inside. VERY fried and greasy.

Overall, Chuan’s was extremely tasty. The service was great, and they seemed to use fairly high quality ingredients, on par with Szechuan Impression and better than at Chengdu Taste. The flavors were good too and there is a lot of variety on the menu. But it isn’t that spicy. Really, afterward I was thinking it was about right because the through the night burn was fairly mild, but during, I missed that searing/numbing heat that is found at the hottest examples of Szechuan cuisine. Most dishes were well executed. Almost no bombs. Weakest probably was the fish filets, dan dan (both evening visits — although they have been great at lunch), and maybe the duck (a lot of others liked the duck), but there were a lot of very strong dishes too: Ma Po Tofu, dumplings, the meats, Lobster, dan dan (second visit), shredded chicken with noodles.

On our second dinner the young lady above helped us out and she did a great job. We ordered in flights and she kept everything straight and changed out the plates fast.

Chuan’s is one of my favorite Szechuan places for a combination of atmosphere, service, and dish execution. It’s not as “home style” as one like Cui Hau Lou, but they use very good ingredients and I never get the MSG headache.

The Ladies Room included this amusing public service notice!

During our March 2016 visit it was close to Chinese New Year and there was a show given by this character in costume — actually pretty cool and certainly mysteriously Chinese.
Afterward (on our October 2014 visit) we went around the corner in the minimall to Guppy’s a strange kitchy Taiwanese place for some shave ice.

Taro/Red Been Shave Ice. This, by the way, is the “to go” a size smaller than the small!

Strawberry shave ice with mango ice cream. This is a small! Notice the cup of sweetened condensed milk on the table, in case it isn’t sweet enough!

Taro, Red Bean, Strawberry, Banana, Shave Ice with Mango ice cream. This gives a better sense of the scale of these monsters!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

For our March 6, 2016 dinner at Chuan’s we brought wine (they had no liquor license when we first came). They did charge $15 corkage. Here is the lineup of mostly sweet stuff.

NV Paul Bara Coteaux Champenois Grand Cru Bouzy Rouge. 92 points. Nice rose.

NV Jean Josselin Champagne Brut Cordon Royal. 92 points.

From my cellar: 2008 Pierre Morey Meursault Les Terres Blanches. 92 points. Bright yellow. A musky quality blew off to reveal strong nutty notes of macadamia and almond, plus a whiff of iodiney oyster shell. Densely packed, tactile and serious but with a light touch. More rocks and flowers than primary fruit here. A precise, persistent, rather grown-up style of Meursault, and serious for village wine.

2013 Desparada Sauvignon Blanc Borealis.1.E4 McGinley Vineyard. VM 88. The 2013 Sauvignon Blanc Borealis.1.E.4 is an intriguing wine made in amphora. Lemon, grapefruit and white flowers meld together in a bright, nicely balanced wine. The 2013 was made from McGinley Vineyard. As so often happens wines made in amphora, the vessel and elevage dominate the wine’s personality. It will be interesting to see where future vintages go.

2012 Herman Story Tomboy. VM 89. Lemon oil, white flowers, mint and jasmine meld together in the 2012 Viognier Tomboy. Floral notes add lift in an oily, textured Viognier built on raciness and persistence. The 100% new French oak is evident, but nicely balanced at the same time. The 2011 spent 12 months in 100% new French oak.

agavin: too heavy for my taste.

F.X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Dürnsteiner Hollerin (don’t remember vintage). VM 93. Medium green-yellow. Dark wet slate dominates the nose initially, with mandarin orange, vineyard peach and anise coming up with aeration. The fruit is sweeter and more opulent in the mouth than the nose suggests, but limey acidity gives shape and lift. Salty minerals linger on the very long finish. This already offers outstanding drinking pleasure, but will continue to improve and should hold well until 2014.

2002 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese. VM 92. A bouquet of lily and narcissus is both sweet and musky. A coulis of red raspberry and molten minerals flows over the palate, but the sheer intensity here is matched by an elegance and lightness of touch. You might say this has the concentration of other recent vintages of Brucke Spatlese but not the weight, a perfect illustration of Donnhoff’s characterization of 2002 as “playful and light even though dense. ” The balance of acid and sugar is perfect, so that the sweetness drops away completely in the back. Red fruit, citrus and devilishly diverse expressions of salt and stones hang around for a lot longer than you can wait before taking the next sip. 2 stars.

agavin: I thought this might have been 5% corked, very light.

2005 Weingut Keller Westhofener Morstein Riesling Auslese. 91 points. A light, almost Spatlese style, but very nice.

2005 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. VM 92. Pale golden yellow. Musky peach, a floral nuance and a hint of licorice on the nose.Smoke and honey give way to a spicy acidity on the palate. Well-balanced, vivid auslese, showing an almost salty minerality on the finish.

agavin: 94 points. We thought this was awesome.

From my cellar: 2000 Trimbach Pinot Gris Sélection de Grains Nobles. VM 93. Bright medium gold. Superripe aromas of apricot jam, exotic spices, honey and tobacco; just misses the clarity of the best SGN bottlings from this producer. Very dense but not hugely unctuous thanks to firm, perfectly integrated acidity. Sappy, vibrant and very long on the aftertaste.

1999 Domaine Philippe Delesvaux Coteaux du Layon Sélection de Grains Nobles. 94 points. Served lightly chilled as a mid afternoon refresher. Medium amber color, delicate botrytis aromas and flavor notes of apricot, honey, pineapple, brown sugar, and a hint of oranges. This seemed a little less intense than I remember the prior bottles being but it had a delicate, crisp feel that I found delightful on this occasion. Perfectly balanced with a lingering finish, really a delicious drink.. Served lightly chilled as a mid afternoon refresher. Medium amber color, delicate botrytis aromas and flavor notes of apricot, honey, pineapple, brown sugar, and a hint of oranges. This seemed a little less intense than I remember the prior bottles being but it had a delicate, crisp feel that I found delightful on this occasion. Perfectly balanced with a lingering finish, really a delicious drink.

1988 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey. VM 91. Good pale color. Fresh, flinty aromas of apple, fresh herbs and dried fruits. Very rich and pliant in the mouth, with a strong resiny/spicy flavor. Strong for the vintage, and very well balanced. Quite powerful and long on the finish, with complex flavors of honey, earth and tobacco.

2011 Herman Story Syrah Nuts and Bolts. VM 93. A vivid, multi-dimensional wine the 2011 Syrah Nuts & Bolts bursts from the glass with the essence of blackberry jam, melted road tar, graphite, incense and licorice, all in a rich, broad-shouldered style that is immensely appealing. Vibrant mineral notes underpin an exciting, full-throttle Syrah loaded with personality. This may be one of the very finest Herman Story wines I have ever tasted. Readers will want to give the 2011 at least a few hours of air, as the wine really needs time to open up.

2007 Alban Vineyards Syrah Reva Alban Estate Vineyard. VM 94. Inky purple. Black and blue fruits on the nose and in the mouth, with smoke and Indian spice nuances adding complexity. Densely packed and forceful, with building notes of candied licorice and mocha. This very rich, seamless wine shows very good energy in the mid-palate. A candied violet quality comes up on the finish, which clings with impressive tenacity.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chengdu, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, hot pot, Pork Dumplings, shave ice, Sichuan, Szechuan

Posh Spice

Sep19

Restaurant: Szechuan Impression

Location: 1900 W Valley Blvd. Alhambra, CA 91803. (626) 283-4622

Date: September 14, 2014 & April 6 & May 6 & May 24, 2016 & June 19, 2017 & February 5, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Red sauce for the win

Szechuan is among my favorite Chinese sub-regions. It’s also, somewhat mysteriously, a really hot genre. Chengdu Taste is so hot (haha) that the line rolls around the corner. The Sept 2014 diner was organized by Skylar. Also included are dishes and impressions from a April 2016 lunch.

As of 2014, Szechuan Impression was brand new, just a couple of weeks old, but it too was mobbed and doesn’t take reservations.

The display out front shows off all sorts of peppery goodness.

The decor is a notch more modern and upscale than the usual SGV spot.

The menu.

Sweet bean and lychee tea. A pretty and unusual beverage.

It should be noted that SI doesn’t have a liquor license, even as of April 2016, so bringing wine wasn’t really an option.

Rose Honey Tea. Tasted like turkey rosewater sorbet! Very sweet too. (5/16)
Smoked plum juice. They do have the classic Szechuan plum juice, which I do love.

Vegetables in Chili Oil. As you’ll see, red chili oil is the rule more than the exception with this cuisine. This appetizer is a bunch of vegetables and weird chicken parts (gizzards or hearts?) skewered in hot (two types of hot) chili oil.

Impressive Cold Noodle. There was debate as to whether this “noodle” was dough or in fact intestine or jellyfish. Anywhichway it was delicious. Nice slick texture and a mild heat. (9/14 & 4/16 & 5/16)

Hou (Honest) Dao (Authentic) Dumplings. Simple but tasty dumplings in chili oil. (9/14 & 5/16)

Wontons in Chili. Better than the Honest Dumplings, although similar. They had more meat (pork presumably) and hence more flavor. Very good. (5/16)

Smoked Pork Ear. Eeew. Looks like something my Labrador would’ve liked. Kind of hammy and leather textured.

Impressive Cold noodles. They are fairly impressive. Not meaty or that nutty like Dan Dan, but a really nice chewy noodle with a tasty chili sauce.

Mapo Tofu. A nice, salty, broad bean dominant version of the classic. (5/16)

Boiled fish Fillets in Chili sauce. A classic dish. Not as incredibly spicy as at Chengdu, but very tasty. The sauce particularly over rice.

Rice Noodle Lamb. The usual broth with lamb and rice noodles. Tasty, but perhaps not the most exciting of the dishes. (9/14 & 4/16)

Chicken in Chili. With peanuts. The sauce here was even better and there was actually some chicken breast (along with all sorts of weird other parts). (9/14 & 4/16)

And when Yarom “complained” that things weren’t spicy enough, we got this version: Those red chilies on top — hot!

Spicy Bullfrog Pot. Some bones, because it is frog, but very tender meat. At least they cut it up. I hate whole frog! (5/16)

Fresh squid dry hot pot. It might actually have been octopus. The flavor on this dish was great, with a TON of cumin. It was also hot hot hot. Hottest dish I’ve had here by far. Really quite a slow punch. The sauce soaked potatoes well great too. The squid/octopus maybe a little chewy (cooked), but fresh and tasty. (5/16)

Toothpick lamb. Tender meat of a higher quality than some places. Really tasty.

Tea Smoked Duck. Cold. Really good. Tasted like ham.

Looks like ham too.

Tea smoked ribs. These had an amazing “forest floor” like smell and fragrant meat that just fell off the bone. (4/16 & 5/16)

Cumin Lamb. The classic cumin woked lamb. Fairly spicy. (5/16)

Special garlic shrimp. This wonderful dish is a Szechuan “original” version of a dish I frequently get at Chinese American restaurants. There it’s sometimes like tomato soup with shrimp, here it’s a goopy spicy/garlicky wonder. (4/16)

Steamed Taro Chicken Pot. Like many of the other dishes. Just the chicken was even weirder less identifiable parts.

The usual sauce. Have some chili oil!

Golden Soup with beef (6/19/17). A sort of yellow sweet and sour soup with light noodles and boiled beef. Very nice actually and different. I would get this again.

Golden Soup with lamb (2/5/18). The same basic soup, but with lamb.

Fried chicken with chilies (2/5/18). This is the typical aromatic Szechuan dish. Nice version with a thick fry.

Street Vendor Potatoes. Spicy Szechuan french fries. A little oily. Not as yummy as those shredded potatoes a lot of Szechuan/Hunan places have. (5/16)

A choy with garlic. Fairly typical Chinese greens with a nice crunch to them. (5/16)

Pumpkin cakes. Nice mochi texture and vague sweetness.

This was someone else’s dessert, a kind of sticky rice.

Overall, Szechuan Impression was very tasty. The ingredient quality and presentation was a notch or too up from some of the other valley Szechuan places. The flavors are complex and the ingredient quality significantly above some of the more “OG” places.

Service was great for SGV Chinese. At my April ’16 lunch a friend of mine was gluten free and they did an excellent job (particularly considering the language barrier) in sorting that out.

Like Chengdu Taste they didn’t allow wine (bummer), and they show no interest in getting a liquor license.

At the Sept ’14 dinner, I think we also could have done a better job ordering, mixing it up a bit to have more different proteins and less wall to wall red sauce. This particular sub-group we were with likes to keep the cost down, but this is a place where cheap is $25 a head and “going nuts” is $35. There are interesting crab dishes and the like on the menu.

I was even more impressed at my April ’16 lunch, having eaten at many many Szechuan restaurants in the 18 months between. Plus, one of my initial gripes with SI was that the menu didn’t feature some of the Szechuan greatest hits but they seem to have expanded the offerings. Because of the wine thing this is more a lunch place for me, but I want to head back and sample a wider portion of the menu.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chili oil, hedonists, Sichuan, Szechuan, Yarom

Serious Szechuan

Jan29

Restaurant: Cui Hua Lou [1, 2, 3]

Location: 920 E Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91755. 626-288-2218

Date: January 26, 2014

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Awesome!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

The storefront, as usual, isn’t much to look at.

A menu with fairly literal translations.

And the usual minimalist decor.

From my cellar: 2001 Ulrich Langguth Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese. 90 points. Quite ripe – more Auslese in style – with a typical Mosel flavor profile. Enjoyable, and a good value for an ’01 Spatlese.

This warrants opening what I might call the “great foodie wine pairing debate” as I find people at my dinners fall into two camps: the “a good wine is a good wine” camp and the “food and wine complement” crew (of which I’m the later). Chinese in general, and Szechuan in particular, is a tricky match as it’s full of vinegar, soy and fermented flavors, and bracing heat. I happen to think Riesling generally pairs well with Chinese, but spicy foot demands a certain sweetness — the more spice the more sugar. However, those in the first group often “don’t like sweet wines.” Interestingly, I’ve noticed that my camp tends to line up with the Burgundy drinkers and the first group with the fans of massive (over) extracted wines.

Bean curd tofu with scallion. Soft silken tofu with scallions and salt (MSG?). Being a lover of this kind of tofu I very much enjoyed this dish — although it was a little salty.

Cucumber with Jelly Fish. Not bad for jellyfish. The cucumber had a nice marinated crunch.

2003 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese. 89-94 points. Beautiful, lush Mosel Riesling. Light straw-brilliant in the glass. Nose of an integrated bouquet of stone, ripe pineapple, mandarin orange, young leather (fleshiness), and light metallic petrol (light). The attack is not tart: it has enough acid to be propped up, but not an awful lot more. A little fatness to the palate even. Yet, it seems a balanced, delicious wine that is in a good spot. Yum, yum. Nice length too. Thumbs up!

BBQ Mushroom. Lots of cumin, chewy mushrooms, and some gradual but significant heat. Pretty delicious.

Beef Tendon in Xiang Ziang style. Lots of cumin. The idea of tendon is a little disturbing, and this has an unusual (for westerners) texture, like a root vegetable (almost), but more chewy. Still, it’s pretty good considering.

BBQ Lamb. Others might call this cumin lamb. A bit dry, but very flavorful.

2009 Bodegas Vinicola Real Rioja Vina Los Valles Crianza. 86 points. Nothing really wrong with this value Rioja (at the price point), except it’s a total fail as far as pairing with Szechuan cuisine. It would be nice at a Madrid Tapas joint.

Potato with Chili. Looks and tastes a bit like al dente noodles. A nice subtle flavor too.

Stewed Lamb in Casserole. This is one of the house special dishes. It comes like this and then heats to a boiling (and spicy) temp.

Below the mutton (the meat is incredibly tender, although on the bone) is a seething pit of chili sauce, cabbage, soft tofu, and glass noodles.

The sauce has an incredible flavor with a good bit of numbing Szechuan peppercorn. It’s incredibly delicious and unique to Szechuan cooking.

2003 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri Sassicaia Sassicaia. IWC 93. 80% cabernet sauvignon and 20% cabernet franc) Dark ruby-red. Appealing smoky, minerally aromas of red cherry, blackcurrant and plum, with a hint of truffle. Quite suave on entry, then smooth and fine-grained, with good mineral lift to the decidedly sweet red fruit flavors. This broad, rich and supple wine boasts tremendous length and silky-sweet tannins. A great Sassicaia that falls roughly between the ’88 and the ’85 in style at the similar stage of development, although I’m not sure the new vintage will attain the heights reached by those earlier wines.

This was a gorgeous wine… between courses… because as soon as that Szechuan heat kicked in, particularly the numbing effect of the peppercorn, all the fruit was stripped out left only tannins on the palette. Now the pacing of the meal allowed me to enjoy it, just not exactly with the food.

BBQ Chicken Heart. This is a lot of chicken hearts. They taste like chewy liver. I could have done without.

Chung King twice cooked pork. Very tender and flavorful, and not as spicy as most of the dishes here.

Tilapia with Bean Sauce. Not my favorite this time around. The fish might have been a hair overcooked and the goopy gelatinous bean sauce is a hair off-putting.

1997 Sean Thackrey Orion Rossi Vineyard. Rhone Report 96. Immediately identifiable as syrah, the nose was bursting with blueberries, blackberries, and a hint of eucalyptus. The blue and black berries continue on the palate, adding a little bit of leather/tobacco on the mildly tannic, medium to long finish.

The bigger is better camp loved this wine. It’s not really my cup of tea though, and certainly not with Chinese. With some lamb chops, sure. And we had lots of lamb, but it was covered in cumin and Szechuan pepper!

Scallion Noodles. A boring version of the noodles (those black things are charred scallions) for the vegetarians.

Kung Pao Shrimp. As good a version of the classic as you can find.

Szechuan style bean curd. This is known as Mapo Doufu. It is a combination of tofu (bean curd) set in a spicy chili- and bean-based sauce, typically a thin, oily, and bright red suspension, and often cooked with fermented black beans and minced meat, usually pork or beef. Ma stands for “mazi” (Pinyin: mázi Traditional Chinese 麻子) which means a person disfigured by pockmarks or leprosy, the latter is also called 痲 má or 麻風 máfēng. Po (Chinese 婆) translates as “old woman, grandmother, crone”. Hence, Ma Po is an old woman whose face was pockmarked. It is thus sometimes translated as “Pockmarked-Face Lady’s Tofu”.

It’s one of my favorite dishes and features a wonderful texture, bright taste, and a searing numbing heat.

2002 Sean Thackrey Orion Rossi Vineyard. IWC 92. Red berries, Grand Marnier, Thai basil, geranium, eucalyptus, bitter lime, quinine and resiny oak on the nose. Then thick and dense but penetrating in the mouth, with primary raspberry and strawberry flavors complicated by an exotic apricot note and framed by lively acids. A fascinating, firmly built wine that showed a compelling sweetness as it opened in the glass. Finishes with very sweet tannins and impressive persistence. My score is intended for the initiated: you know who you are.

Same big wine, but younger, and from a somewhat inferior year.

Dan Dan Noodles.

You mix it up. One of the biggest challenge is getting only part of the noodles and an even distribution of the chopped meat at the bottom. Clearly, when Marco Polo brought noodles back to Italy this became the seed for Bolognese sauce, as aside from this being quite spicy, there is a definite similarity. This particular version wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, and doesn’t have the nutty sesame quality the dish sometimes does, but it was certainly enjoyable.

2009 Domaine des Sabines. 90 points. Ruby color with just a slight tinge of blue remaining, surprisingly almost opaque. Nose has peat moss, dirt, wild mushrooms, roasted coffee beans. A hint of licorice with savory notes, plus some dried tobacco. Something sweet here too on the nose – perhaps a touch of bret? On the palate – black cherry, blackberry, roasted or grilled plums. Truly though, this wine is all about the earthy notes and the wood – roasted espresso, caramel, hazelnut, dried leaves and a bit of burnt toast. A minerally, gravel note pops up on the finish too. Chewy mid-palate texture. Tannins are moderate for Bordeaux, and nicely ripe. I know it is 2009, but for LdP, the density is impressive. Medium body. Give it an hour of air and the tight tannins round out and shows off a lovely soft supple quality. Heat shows up a bit on the finish, weight of fruit almost carries it off. I can see this wine with slow roasted braised beef short ribs and caramelized onions. Or a wild mushroom risotto – thinking chantrelles.

About 10 years too young.

Chung King Spicy chicken? I’m not sure which dish this was, but there are little DEEP fried and very dry chicken nuggets in there dry-tossed with long red peppers. It was actually quite tasty.

Hot braised eggplant with garlic sauce. Awesome garlicky flavor, with some significant heat (of both sorts).

Boiled beef and fish. Along with the Mapo tofu, this was my favorite dish of the night. The “broth” is very similar to the lamb casserole and features a tremendous heat born of both red chilies and Szechwan peppercorn. The meat and the fish were both tender and full of flavor. Really quite wonderful (if intense).

BBQ Garlic. Another fabulous dish. Now, eating a whole skewer of this might get one kicked out of bed, but it’s worth it!

Boiled peanuts. These are cold and a bit slimey. I have read that eating lots of boiled peanuts (instead of roasted) avoids peanut allergies for some reason. The roasted ones taste better, but there is nothing really wrong with these.

Kung Pao Chicken. Pretty much the same as the shrimp, but a wonderful version of this Chinese American classic that has real heat and puts PF Changs to shame.

Our table was so overloaded with dishes that we had to stack them!

In conclusion, Cui Hua Lou, while apparently totally undiscovered, offers up some fabulous traditional Szechuan fare. For this second visit we went crazy overboard and ordered up about 50% more food than we needed, still this feast, including tax and tip, only set us back $31 a person! If you like spicy, you should try this place. Just don’t tell too many people!

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!