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Archive for Szechuan Chinese

Lunch Quest — Xiang La Hui

Feb05

Restaurant: 香辣汇Xiang La Hui

Location: 621 W Main St, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 703-4165

Date: December 21, 2019 & May 28, 2021 & January 23, 2022

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Some great dishes. Very solid modern Chengdu style joint

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Continuing the Lunch Quest series in which Yarom and I explore more casual Asian lunch spots.
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Some friend reviews and an eater article brought us to this new Szechuan entry on Main St.
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Food photos as decor — something I can get behind.
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But the inside is of that newer style appealing to the under 30 set with a touch of decor and smaller rectangular tables (as opposed to the older “palace” style places).
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The menu has most of the Szechuan classics.
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And by 5/28/21 they made one of those super fancy modern Chinese picture menus.

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Cucumber in garlic. Excellent. nice crunch. lots of garlic. only missing the spice.
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Chicken w/ chili sauce and pepper. Whole cleaver-ed chicken. Lots of bone but tons of flavor. Green and numbing and gorgeous.

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Cold Noodle (with chicken) — delicious with a nice vinegary flavor and great texture. Much better than the dan dan.
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Jelly Noodle with Spicy Sauce. I like these, but the cold noodle with chicken was the best here.

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Kung Pao Shrimp.

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Happy Chicken. Garlicky “hanging” chicken. Pretty good.

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Dan Dan Mein. Fairly typical Chengdu Style. Not that nutty or spicy though. Ok.
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Stirred up.
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Stir Fried Rabbit with Green Pepper. Super hot, lots of mala, and very very tasty. Little bones though.
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Diced Rabbit in Chili Sauce. A slightly different rabbit variant.

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Frog with Chili and Serrano. Hot and boney.

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Shredded Pork with Garlic Sauce. Classic, not bad. A bit sweet for Yarom.
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Twice Cooked Pork. A classic.
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House Special Pork Belly. Nice and fatty with a bit of preserved vegetable underneath.

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Grilled Lamb Chops.

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Toothpick lamb. One of the most flavorful and most tender versions of this dish I’ve had.
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Dry Beef in Chili Powder. This was a bit different — and good.
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Cumin Lamb. Super tender and full of flavor.
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Pork Belly with Rice Flour. Old school traditional.
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Live spicy roasted fish with Rattan Pepper. You get to pick your “add-ons” individually. We added all sorts of stuff here including crab sticks, spam, lotus root, etc.

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Mapo tofu. Excellent version. First rate really.
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Wok-Fried strong beans. Very nice version with crunchy beans.
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Grapefruit Aperol Tarragon Sorbetto — Cold pressed Fresh Grapefruit juice from my garden, Aperol and fresh Tarragon! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Unique and bracing — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #grapefruit #aperol #tarragon
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I love this flavor — Peppermint Bark Gelato — Base is pure peppermint milk (subbed the sugar with crushed peppermint candies) and it’s laced with house-made double-sided peppermint bark, Valrhona Dark Chocolate and Ivoire White! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — The Peppermint Bark recipe was developed by a famous pastry chef and author, the mum of a Naughty Dog Alum @nancy_baggett — this year I added the two layer thing which is awesome — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peppermint #bark #Valrhona #chocolate

On the first visit, I would have liked to try more dishes, but of the ones that I had, at least half of these were great and the other half were pretty good. It’s not as consistent as Sichuan Impression, but the chicken with chili sauce, toothpick lamb, rabbit, and cold noodles were fabulous.

On my second visit I found everything we ordered to be excellent, particularly the toothpick lamb, mapo, and cold noodles. I’m upping my “rating” to consider this one of the best Sichuan kitchens currently operating in the SGV. The style is quite representative of Chengdu.

On our third visit we had even more. I continue to think this is one of the better straight up modern Chengdu Sichuan places. And they allow corkage no problem. Service is a little scattered though.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

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Related posts:

  1. Szechuan Impression Tustin
  2. Noodle Harmony
  3. Szechuan Impression West
  4. Jiang Nan Spring
  5. Chong Qing Special Noodles
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dan Dan Mein, Lunch Quest, SGV, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan Chinese, Xiang La Hui

Noodle Harmony

Dec20

Restaurant: Noodle Harmony

Location: 735 W Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 656-6562

Date: November 8, 2019

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Pretty good — I love me some Szechuan

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My AFF group (Asian Food Friday) wanted to go to Korean but I steered them to the SGV to try out a new Szechuan place that’s been on my “list.”
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Noodle Harmony. I always like to try new Szechuan places.
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It’s in the mini mall at one of my favorite corners: Garvey and Atlantic. Right next to Capital Seafood.
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Decor is that new casual style. No big tables. The place was pretty empty.
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The menu.
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My “notes” for ordering. I did it in waves so we could control the order and pacing.
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Cucumber Salad. This was a nice garlicky (but not spicy) take on this classic opener. Always refreshing.
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Jellyfish Salad. Some great jellyfish with that really nice chew/bite. Tangy spicy sauce.
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Mung Bean Cold Noodle. I love this dish in general, but this version was a bit heavy and needed a more tangy sauce.
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Green Onion and Chili Paste Cold Tofu. Loved this dish. Great salty/tangy flavor and really nice silken tofu texture. TONS of garlic.
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Szechuan Spicy Chicken. Cold. Not a bad version. Lots of flavor. Bone sucking good.
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Szechuan Style Dumplings. Very nice version. Lots of tasty pork inside, a bit of chili oil outside. Good dumpling skins.

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Steamed Beef with Rice Paste. This is a Szechuan classic. Tender (I mean really tender) soft beef coated in rice paste which has this interesting carby and toasted quality. Very nice version.
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Dan Dan Mein. The classic Chengdu street food. This was one of the better versions I’ve had in the US recently. It had lots of flavor and that mixed mala, meaty, a bit of nutty taste.
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Traditional Tri-Delight (rice) Noodle Soup. Cuttlefish, pork stomach, pork, mushrooms. This soup showcases a fish cuttlefish. Very interesting. Quite delicious too.
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I brought a bunch of gelato in honor of AFF.

Cran-Cherry Cassis Sorbetto — French Cranberries and Amareno Cherries with a bit of Crème de Cassis — tart! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Currents from Avignon, blended with Creme de Cassis –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #cranberry #cherry #current #cassis

Ruby Chocolate Gelato — base made with Callebaut Ruby Couverture Chocolate and a Stracciatella of ruby chocolate mixed with berriy puree — this isn’t a flavored chocolate but a special “ruby” cocoa bean Callebaut has bred with a natural pink color and fruity finish — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Callebaut #chocolate #RubyChocolate #ruby #berry


Matcha Almond Latte Gelato – Ceremonial Matcha Green Tea and Sicilian Noto Romano Almond gelato base — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #almond #matcha #GreenTea #Sicily

A new “dessert reinterpreted” gelato — German Chocolate Cake Gelato — Valrhona Chocolate base with house-made coconut pecan praline “icing”! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #chocolate #valrhona #GermanChocolateCake #Icing #coconut #praline #pecan

Overall, service was great. We were pretty much the only people there and they were extremely friendly. Food was good, but not the best Szechuan I’ve had by any means. Menu is pretty limited. Definitely a lunch place. Everything was fine. Nothing too sloppy or anything, but most dishes just fine. A few were standouts though. Dan Dan, tofu, jellyfish, maybe the steamed beef.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Szechuan Impression Tustin
  2. Quick Eats – Tasty Noodle
  3. Không Tên – Brunch
  4. Otafuku – Carb Coma
  5. Happy Table 2X
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: AFF, lunch, Noodle Harmony, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan Chinese

Chun La Hao – Infernal Pot

Sep20

Restaurant: Chun La Hao Chong Qing Hot Pot

Location: 5701 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 766-1230

Date: August 5, 2019 & May 16, 2021

Cuisine: Chong Qing Hot Pot

Rating: Tied for best hot pot I’ve ever had

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After Yarom and I met up in March at the awesome Shancheng Lameizi for some fiery hot pot (which blows the boring mild hot pot out of… something) we decided to drag some more people to a different new, higher end Szechuan Hot Pot place.

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Chun La Hao is located in the same Temple City mall as Grand Harbor and right across the street from Bistro Na. It hails from Chong Qing, the largest city in Szechuan and well known for its brazen, no holds barred take on spice.
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They have bar style munchies and tea in the waiting area.
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And a modern Chinese decor much like the aforementioned Bistro Na or Shancheng. It’s more spacious than either of Shancheng’s branches.
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Our table for size was still a bit tight — for us big westerners.
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The menu is the usual check sheet and with an extensive list of favorites and freakish culinary bits one can boil up. Aka duck intestine, black tripe, pork aorta and the like.
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The have the best “snack bar” I’ve yet seen at a hot pot. Extensive munchies.
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The usual kind of peanuts and crisps.
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A big assortment of pickled things like spicy cucumbers, kimchee like stuff, etc.
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And more weird crispy stuff.

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Here are some I got. The cucumbers were great. The kimchee was very hot, even by my standards.

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And some different “snacks” on 5/16/21.

 

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From my cellar: NV Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. JG 91+. As is customary with this bottling from Rodolphe Péters, the wine is a blend of fifty percent of its base year of 2014 and fifty percent from last year’s blend, which had gone into the family solera of reserve wines that dates back to 1988. The vins clairs here do not entirely go through malo as fifteen percent are non-malo wines, with the range raised in a variety of vessels, including barrels, stainless steel tanks and cement vats and the wine spend two years aging sur latte. The new release is very good indeed, offering up a youthful blend of apple, pear, hazelnut, chalky minerality, incipient pastry cream and spring flowers. On the palate the wine is crisp, focused and full-bodied, with a good core, still pretty brisk acidity, frothy mousse and very good backend mineral drive on the long and nascently complex finish. This is very good today and will be even better with a couple of years in the cellar.

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We ordered the maximum spicy classic Chongqing ox fat broth and a light mushroom broth for the losers.
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Here it is all fired up, at the end too when the spice has taken over some of the wuss side.
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Chun La Hao also has a big sauce bar. Bigger perhaps than HDL but a bit smaller than SL.
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A slightly better view. There are all the classics here and more, plenty to make a great sauce. They lack a few of the weird (and delicious) fermented options at SL, but otherwise it’s pretty complete. All the base components are here. Spices, sesame oil and paste, soy sauces, vinegars, etc.
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This is my “mild” (not really) vegetable sauce with a soy vinegar garlic base.
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And my fiery sesame flame garlic “meat” sauce.
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The presentation is cute. A red army truck brings the Veggie Combo Platter of various greens.
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Oddly, no cabbage in the combo, so we ordered some.
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Lotus root provides a nice crunch.
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Lately I’ve taken to Square Bamboo Shoot as a source of great texture and fiber.
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Mushroom Combo Platter serves up even more fiber.

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Wood Ear Mushrooms.

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The tofu combo platter brings handmade tofu, black tofu (which was kinda gross), fried beancurd and others.
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Fish Filet was marinated. It looked pretty, but was filled with bones.
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Cuttlefish dumplings look like sticks of wax, but cook up to be delectable chewy sticks with a hint of seafood.

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Crab sticks.
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Dumplings with roe — actually pretty darn good.

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Raw beef with egg (you coat it in the egg and cook it).
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Pig butt. Yup.
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Luncheon Pork is one of my favorites and I got two orders. Basically spam, this stuff is soft and delicious.
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Mini Sausage are fun.
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Pork Meatballs were clearly house-made and the best I’ve had. Really tasty.
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Fatty Beef. Delicious.
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Beef Brisket. Moderately leaner.
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Beef belly is also fatty and delicious.
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Lamb shoulder was delicious. Too bad under all that spice one can barely tell the meats apart :-).

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Probably also lamb shoulder or some other lamb cut.
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Beef Tendon isn’t a white boy favorite, and is very gelatinous when cooked up, but tastes amazing (if you can handle the texture).
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Pork is good too and needs to be cooked a bit longer.

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A leaner beef cut.

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It’s a bit crowded at the table and the uncooked food is on shelves at the edge of our alcove, a bit hard to get at.
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Sure makes a big mess.
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Check out the congealing spicy ox fat after it’s had a chance to cool down!
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They have a funny timing game you can play once per table to “earn” a discount too.

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Thai Red Curry Sorbetto — I made a version of this in 2017 and it was a dismal failure, but haunted me since and so this one is redemptive. Made a (no salt) red curry paste from scratch (chilies, lemongrass, galangal, cilantro roots, kaffir lime leaves, garlic, Asian shallots etc) and then cooked it into a pure Thai Coconut Milk base. Sweet and Spicy! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto#Thai #red #curry #spicy

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Buko Pandan Gelato — Infused the milk with fresh Pandan Leaves and then crafted it into a dairy coconut base as my take on the Filipino favorite. Unusual and soothing. — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #buko #pandan #coconut

Overall, service was great. Decor is good. Snack bar is best in class. Sauce bar is an A-, but still great. Plating is the best I’ve seen at hot pot and the flavor was spectacular. If you can handle spicy hot pot, this is one of THE places to go. Seriously it’s as good as a similar place in Chengdu or Chongqing!

It should be noted that only 2 of the six of us (Yarom and I) were brave enough to eat from the spicy side. I ate entirely spicy, consequences be damned! It’s well worth it, but part of the experience is the catharsis and adrenaline rush. Expect coughing in reaction to the toxic fumes and insanely great heat. Some intestinal distress is nearly guaranteed.

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Afterward, to cool down, we went across the street to Meet Fresh.
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Counter order Asian Shave Ice place.
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Very nice decor.
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Shave ice with various beans and taro pudding and the like.
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Super mango shave ice with sweetened milk and ice cream. Yum Yum! Plus some milk teas and the like.

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Flan shave ice with ice cream, two kinds of flan, various jellies and jiggly bits, and all sorts of other cool stuff.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Szechuan Impression Tustin
  2. Diablo 3 – The Infernal Barbarian
  3. Molten Lava Goodness
  4. Happy Table 2X
  5. Chong Qing Special Noodles
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chongqing Hot Pot, Chun La Hao, hot pot, SGV, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan Hot Pot

Szechuan Impression Tustin

May10

Restaurant: Szechuan Impression

Location: 13816 Red Hill Ave, Tustin, CA 92780. (714) 505-9070

Date: April 14, 2019

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: that dependable SI quality

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I’ve long been a huge fan of Sichuan Impression having eaten regularly at the Alhambra location and about 40 times at the West LA location. At the opening of SI West Yarom and I met one of the owners, Kelly, and struck up a friendship. She’s come to a bunch of our dinners and she invited us down to a big dinner at their flagship Tustin location.

And my commitment to Chinese is even more demonstrated by the fact that this night was the Game of Thrones season 8 premier!
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This Tustin minimall much be a hot spot for Szechuan because just like in West LA there is a mob outside waiting.
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We, of course, have our big table and owner-planned menu.
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Special salad. This is off menu, and is a cool salad of carrots, cucumbers etc.
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With a tangy soy based dressing poured over.
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Cold Noodles. On the westside, I found this dish a bit heavy, but this version was excellent with nice chewy noodles and tangy sauce.
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Juicy Steamed Chicken in Chili Sauce. This classic cold appetizer was excellent here. Not absolutely perfect. This particular night, the chicken was good, but the sauce was a little flat.
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Cumin mutton. Super tender. Awesome version of this Szechuan classic.
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Off menu, fried chicken, aromatic peppers, and crispy rice.
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Tea Smoked Pork Rib. Pork rib, dry chili, scallion, minced peanuts. This was a moderately contentious dish in the group, but I loved it as always. The meat is super tender, melt from the bone, with a dry and nutty heat.
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Spicy Crab. This was one of the best Chinese crab dishes I’ve had. Like a Chinese version of Maryland Eastern shore spicy crab. The meat was delectable and not overcooked, and the shell soft enough you could chew right through it.
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Spicy beef noodle. Very spicy with thick chewy knife cut noodles and soft beef. Like a very spicy Szechuan beef stew.
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Ginger Frog. SUPER spicy with fabulous flavor and delicate but (very boney) frog. I was addicted to this. But because it was Orange County, we only had a couple serious Chinese fans augmented by some newbies — who were a bit scared by the amphibian factor.
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Fish filet with green chilies. Really nice version of this dish. Thick soft fish and lots of green heat. Very delicate and flavorful.
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Pig trotters. Chewy, but lots and lots of flavor.
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The classic shredded potatoes. Great with sauce.
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Sweet and Sour Shrimp. Super garlicky, spicy, tangy. Really like this dish too.
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Fried rice.
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MaPo Tofu. 10 out of 10 version of this classic dish. Salty, but not too salty, with lots of mala.
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Lettuce. Also very good. Tons of good garlic flavor.
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Kung Pao Chicken. Fabulous. Very much Chengdu style with the heat, sweetness, and tangy quality.
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Of course a brought a bunch of my famous gelato, left to right:

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Salty Pistachio Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Sicilian Pistachio to produce a pistachio base with a slight saltiness — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #salty #pistachio #sicily #nuts

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Caramel Nocciola Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Piedmontese hazelnut to produce a hazelnut base, then adding in house-made caramel and chopped up hazelnuts — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #hazelnut #Nocciola #caramel #nuts

Testing out a new Italian nut source — Salty Pistachio Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with the new Almond to produce the base, then weaving in Italian apricot variegate — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #nuts #almond #apricot

Very Cherry Gelato – a super intense amarena cherry gelato topped with candied amarena cherries — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #amarena #cherry

Traditional Cassata di Siciliana Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Sicilian Christmas cake as a gelato, with a ricotta almond base mixed with candied fruit and dark Valrhona chocolate chunks — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Cassata #Valrhona #CandiedFruit #fruit #chocolate #ricotta #almond #RicottaCheese #cheese #CassataSiciliana

Like all of the SI branches, this is excellent. As this was the flagship, and the owners bringing out the dishes, everything was really on point tonight. The only (slightly) off dish was the cold chicken which was a little flat. It was fun too to try some new (off menu) dishes like the “salad” and chicken with crispy rice. The crab is on menu and I was particularly spectacular.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!
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Related posts:

  1. Szechuan Impression West
  2. SGV Nights – Seafood Palace
  3. Capital Dim Sum
  4. Marino Ristorante Back Room
  5. Best BBQ Ever?
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Gelato, GYOG, hedonists, Sichuan, Sichuan Impression, spicy, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan Impression, Tustin, Wine

Q by Peter Chang

Jan04

Restaurant: Q By Peter Chang

Location: 4500 East West Highway #100, Bethesda, MD 20814.  (240) 800-3722

Date: November 20, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Great food, but flavors not as strong as in Szechuan

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Any excuse to go to a Chinese restaurant is a good excuse in my book — and that goes doubly so for Szechuan Chinese.
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So back in DC visit my parents and friends we were drawn to “famed” (in Washington) chef Peter Chang’s flagship: Q.

Peter Chang is an award winning chef specializing in Szechuan cuisine who has cooked for restaurants throughout cities in the American southeast and the DMV area. Chang was born in Hubei Province and trained in China, and cooked a meal for former Chinese president Hu Jintao. He moved to the United States to work as the chef at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. In the past, Chang has disappeared and left restaurants, inspiring a group of fans to follow his movement in Internet discussion boards, such as DonRockwell.com and Chowhound.
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The interior has a decidedly nice build out in the modern Chinese style — done in a way that doesn’t look garish to Western sensibility.
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From my cellar: 2011 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett. VM 87. Fresh bouquet of pear and apple blossom. Delicately sweet on the palate, offering a nice interplay of apricot flavor and luscious citricity. A lovely kabinett to drink now.
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The menu. Authentically long.
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Vegetable Dumpling (steamed).
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Flounder Fish with sour cabbage soup. My mom didn’t “trust” that I had over ordered and got an extra soup for herself. Lol, we had at least two dishes barely touched.
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Dipping sauces.
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Scallion Bubble Pancake. A unique and delicious take on the standard scallion pancake — basically crossed with one of those puffy Indian breads.
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Fresh Lily Dan Dan Mein. Had a touch of numbing flavor, and actually fairly authentic in taste profile. Not the super nutty kind. More like a typical Chengdu dan dan.
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Sichuan Chili Wonton. The typical “numb taste wonton”. Flavor was pretty typical, not super spicy. Wonton type was a bit different than usual, closer to a dimsum.
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Bought this champagne off the list.
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Dragon eggplant with spicy garlic sauce. Pretty much eggplant in fish sauce — which is a dish I love. This version had good flavor and really lovely plating. The eggplant was cut in this interesting spiral. Disadvantage was that it was hard to get just some out, as the vegetable was all connected. It also emphasizes the slippery texture of the eggplant — I like it better mushed up. But still a nice dish.
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Jade shrimp with crispy rice. Gluten free rice dome.
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I think this dish might be related to the Westlake style tea shrimp? Not sure. Very unusual. The sauce was pesto-like, but with a cilantro flavor. The crispy rice was neat too. Never actually seen this combination.
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All their rice is pink rice (with the red bean).
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But we didn’t realize that it came with, so we also ordered egg fried rice with green onion.
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AND Emperor’s fried rice. Alaska king crab leg with shredded scallop. So we had a LOT of rice.
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Mapo tofu. An okay version of the classic. Needed more mala and maybe some more meat. Maybe it didn’t even have meat.
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Braised kale noodles with lobster. Unusual too. Very mild in flavor.
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Peking duck. A couple people at the table had never HAD peking duck. They loved it of course. Everyone does.
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The traditional condiments plus a red horseradish sauce that was unusual.
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Hot and Spicy Fish in Clay Pot. The classic fish filet in chili oil. Pretty nice version of the dish.
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Cumin Lamb Chop. A more modern lamb chop version of regular cumin lamb. Excellent.
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Plain lo mein.
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Green pepper beef with leek. A sort of cross between the green pepper fish (but with beef) and the fatty beef in golden sour soup dishes. Very hot actually and quite good although we were all very full by the time it came.

I was surprised to find actual Szechuan food in Bethesda — and fancy at that! There are a lot of classic dishes here and somewhat updated takes on others. Decor and service are very updated. The modern updates on the dishes are mostly good (like the cumin lamb chops). But I would like slightly stronger more brazen Szechuan flavors — the elements are there but they are toned down a bit for the setting. Still, quite excellent.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Chang’s Garden
  2. Hop Woo is Hop New
  3. Huolala Hot
  4. Hip Hot
  5. Spicy City!
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bethesda Maryland, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Peter Chang, Q, Q By Peter Chang, Sichuan, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan cuisine

Chong Qing Special Noodles

Dec10

Restaurant: Chong Qing Special Noodles

Location: 708 E Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776.  (626) 374-1849

Date: October 20, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Good Chong Qing style casual place

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I’ll take any excuse to head out to the SGV — and next to no excuse to head out to the SGV for Szechuan.

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Most of the Szechuan places I go to have their culinary roots in Chengdu, but a few, like this one, in Szechuan’s larger, less iconic city: Chongqing.
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Clearly this used to be a KBBQ or something because it has hoods over all the tables.

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The classic Chinese joint Menu.
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Watermelon juice. Pretty much just blended watermelon.
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Smoked plum juice. Love this stuff!
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They have the cold bar. We ordered pretty much all of it.
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Salty/sweet garlic cucumbers.
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Shredded potato. These I like with some spicy sauce.
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Peanuts.
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Wood ear mushrooms with celery. Aka “black fungus”.  Love ’em.
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Pastrami like cured beef? Or maybe pork. Either way a bit spicy and really good.
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Pork intestine with bean curd. Not my fav.
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Pig ear with chili oil!
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Cold steamed chicken with spicy sauce. Chicken itself was good, but didn’t like this version of the sauce (more BBQ like).
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Spicy wonton with “soup.” Delicious little spicy pockets of yum.
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Spicy fried chicken with aromatic peppers. Love this salty dish.
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Ma Po Tofu. Just a so-so version of this dish. Not much mala and not that spicy.
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Chongqing noodle. Noodles with pork, fried egg, and spicy goodness.
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Dan dan mein. The nuttier other classic Szechuan noodle dish.
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Mixed up this was fairly accurate to what I was getting in Chengdu. Quite good.
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Noodle pull!
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Shredded pork with green chilis. Quite hot and very tasty soft pork.
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Cumin lamb. Good too.
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Repulsive liver soup. This stuff was gross. The broth was that tasteless pork bone broth and the liver… ick.
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Greens. Colon sweeper again. Maybe mustard greens.
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Matcha White Gelato – ceremonial matcha green tea gelato base with white chocolate stracciatella layered in — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #Matcha #GreenTea #WhiteChocolate #Stracciatella

Overall, we ordered a LOT for 4 people and enjoyed most of it. This is an older style SGV place, VERY casual, friendly but slightly indifferent service, excellent value, tasty food, average ingredient quality, authentic. They have a lot of dishes. And some are excellent and some are just okay. As someone who has eaten a lot of Szechuan food I tend to prefer places with a slightly tuned up kitchen, better ingredients, etc — but still, no serious complaints.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

Related posts:

  1. White Guys Can Cook Noodles
  2. Eating Chengdu – Alley Noodles
  3. Eating Beijing – 3.3 Noodles
  4. Hip Hot
  5. Night of the Whirling Noodles
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chong Qing Special Noodles, noodles, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan cuisine

Hop Woo is Hop New

Jul11

Restaurant: Hop Woo

Location: 11110 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064. (310) 575-3668

Date: May 30, June 3 & July 25, 2018 and January 6, 2022

Cuisine: American and Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Surprisingly excellent Szechuan!

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Incredible as it sounds, just a few days after hitting up new Brentwood Szechuan GuYi Erick and I explore another new westside Szechuan. Plus, this is a composite posts with returns on my own and a Hedonist visit.
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This time disguised as venerable American Chinese Hop Woo, which has been serving a big menu of Cantonese inspired classics for years — but it turns out they have a new Szechuan chef and a secret Szechuan menu!

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The space is vintage LA Chinese.


At night, it’s packed with us Hedonists taking up 3 tables!
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Here is the special Szechuan menu. You have to ask for it. Some of the more challenging items they didn’t even bother to translate!
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The big regular menu has a few gems too, but everything here from my first two visits is from the Szechuan menu.
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Cold Szechuan Noodles (June 2018). Not even on the Szechuan menu, but they can make them. Basically nice wheat noodles with a tangy/spicy Szechuan chili oil sauce.
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You mix them up and they are quite addictive. But the third time I had them (7/25/18) they were different, heavier, not as much chili, and not nearly as good.
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Toothpick lamb (June & July 2018). The classic cumin rubbed lamb nibblettes. Quite nice.
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Griddle cooked Bullfrog (June 2018). Very nice sauce and flavor. Mind the little kermit bones.
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Griddle cooked lamb (June 2018). Somewhere between a griddle and a cumin lamb.
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Garlic Shredded Pork (June 2018). Big dish, full of flavor, and nice texture.
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MaPo Tofu (June & July 2018). Really a 9 or 10 out of 10 version of this favorite of mine. Tons of mala (numbing Szechuan peppercorn), you can see it dusted on top. Eaten over rice this is just so good. I have had this every-time I have been.
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Hop Woo Signature Fresh Rock Fish with Hot and Spicy Flavor (June & July 2018). A very nice white fish smothered in delicious chilies (and chili oil). Some good vegetables like lotus leaf are hiding in there too. Could use more veggies though.

Slightly spicy fried calamari (7/25/18). Not bad. Very fried.

Cold chicken in chili oil (7/25/18). Delicious dish of boneless white meat (and skin) with a tangy spicy Szechuan chili oil.

We liked the sauce so much we ordered some Hainan chicken (boiled chicken, ordered 7/25/18) to dump into the extra sauce. Tasted the same but had bones.

It came with this bagna caulda (aka garlic oil).

Spicy lobster (7/25/18). Salty and full of flavor. Excellent lobster actually, if perhaps very slightly over done.

Garlic greens (7/25/18). Typical greens and garlic.

Shrimp with chilies (7/25/18). This is normally chicken with chilies, but we got it with shrimp. Basically salt and pepper shrimp (you eat them whole) with dry aromatic chiles. Pretty good.

Cauliflower with bacon (7/25/18). Awesome dish. Nice crunch to the vegetables and made 10x better with the soft pancetta like ham/bacon.

Panda Express Fried Sesame Pork Balls (7/25/18). Someone wanted a “white guy dish” and this fit the bill perfectly. Tasty enough, but REALLY fried.

Fish filets with green peppers (7/25/18). A savory mix of regular green chilies (Jalepenos or Serranos) and Szechuan peppercorns. Nice flavor and burn and numb.

Braised eggplant (7/25/18). This might be their take on “fish flavor eggplant.” Hard to tell, but it was tender and had lots of garlic. Not that spicy.

Below is a return post pandemic 1/6/22 meal:

1A4A1005BBQ Pork (1/6/22). A bit chewy and overly sweet.
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Cold chicken with chili sauce (1/6/22). Great sauce. Chciken itself was a little big on the tendon factor.
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Garlic cucumbers (1/6/22). Pretty good.
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Jellyfish (1/6/22). A bit chewy.
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Honey Walnut Shrimp (1/6/22). Very tasty. Not the best ever version of this dish, but quite good.
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Sichuan Garlic Scallops (1/6/22). A bit sweet and cloying.
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Clams with garlic and scallions (1/6/22). Not bad, but not amazing either. Not so much clam meat.
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Whole fish with Rattan Pepper (1/6/22). Awesome broth. Fish was very tender. Lots of numbing. Bones, yes, but delicious. DOTN.
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“Peking Duck” (1/6/22). Not bad, but huge chunks of Southern Chinese style roast duck.
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Thin sweet hoisin.
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Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (1/6/22). Very salty, but quite tasty.
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Mooshu Pork (1/6/22). Extremely mushy and not very good.

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Mexican Tortillas instead of real spring pancakes. Not kidding, just el patio.

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Orange Beef (1/6/22). Super sweet and fried. Kinda delicious in a dessert sort of wait.
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Cumin lamb (1/6/22). Pretty decent.

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Fried Rice Cake with Brown Sugar (June 2018). The owner gave these to us on the house. Very interesting Chinese dessert, all about the texture as usual. Chewy inside and dusty sweet on the outside.

Mandorla Tostata Stroopwafel Gelato (Toasted Almond) made by me for Sweet Milk Gelato (7/25/18) — toasted Sicilian almonds and Dutch Stroopwafel, because, why not?
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Classic oranges and Fortune Cookies.

Overall, I was very impressed with the Szechuan items. It’s not a huge menu of them, and they aren’t quite Szechuan Impression or anything, but a few of these dishes, like the MaPo Tofu and the fish were absolutely first rate. Nice balance of tangy, hot, and numbing. It’s great to have a few real Szechuan choices on the westside!

Given my repeat and must larger visit with a lot of dishes I actually think the Szechuan here is on par with a second tier SGV Szechuan like Lucky Noodle King or maybe Spicy City. Some dishes better, some worse. It’s not the BEST Szechuan in the city by any means, but it’s the real deal and surprisingly very good for Westside. The even have really legit dishes like MaPo tofu with pig brains!

On our 1/6/22 visit a certain spice hater forced us to order about 3/4 from the regular menu. It was pretty consistent that almost everything from the regular (Chinese American) menu was very mediocre while stuff from the Szechuan menu was pretty good.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Random wines, only a few of the ones we brought:









Related posts:

  1. GuYi — Szechuan in Brentwood?
  2. Cui Hua Lou – Szechuan Shed
  3. Hunan Mao
  4. Huolala Hot
  5. Hip Hot
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Gelato, Hop Woo, mapo tofu, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan, Szechuan Chinese

GuYi — Szechuan in Brentwood?

Jun29

Restaurant: GuYi Restaurant

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

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I was stunned when I learned from a friend (Sklar) that they had opened a Szechuan place in Brentwood!
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Yeah, Brentwood.
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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.
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In fact, GuYi is right on top of CPK and looks like… well a newish SGV place with a view.
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I ignored these boring white bread lunch specials. Forget about ’em!
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The usual large menu, featuring Szechuan and Northern dishes — but oddly very few noodles.
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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.
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Boiled dumplings with pork and cabbage. They were light and delicate, tasted mostly like cabbage, but were actually rather excellent.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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).
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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.
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Fried Sweet and Sour “Squirrel” Fish. The squirrel refers to how it looks, all fried and fluffed up like that. Nice fish.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.

Related posts:

  1. Cui Hua Lou – Szechuan Shed
  2. Spice Up Your Life Szechuan Style
  3. Serious Szechuan
  4. Szechuan Everywhere
  5. Katsuya Brentwood
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brentwood, Chinese cuisine, Gu Yi, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan Chinese

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Related posts:

  1. Chengdu Taste – Power of the Peppercorn
  2. Spicy City!
  3. Spice Up Your Life Szechuan Style
  4. Hip Hot
  5. Serious Szechuan
By: agavin
Comments (1)
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

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

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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.
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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.

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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.

Related posts:

  1. Spicy City!
  2. Posh Spice
  3. Chengdu Taste – Power of the Peppercorn
  4. Silk Road Journeys – Shaanxi Gourmet
  5. Palace of Pepper
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Dan Dan Mein, Foodie Club, hip hot, mapo tofu, Sichuan, Szechuan Chinese

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!

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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.

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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.

Related posts:

  1. Century City Heat
  2. Chengdu Taste – Power of the Peppercorn
  3. Waterloo & City
  4. Waterloo & City – Fat=Flavour
  5. Waterloo & City is Victorious
By: agavin
Comments (2)
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!

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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!

Related posts:

  1. Chengdu Taste – Power of the Peppercorn
  2. Spice Up Your Life Szechuan Style
  3. Century City Heat
  4. Revenge of the Han Dynasty
  5. Serious Szechuan
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

Century City Heat

Sep26

Restaurant: Meizhou Dongpo

Location: Century City Mall Dining Deck. (310) 788-0120

Date: September 9 & 18, 2014 and October 27, 2017 and March 8, 2020 and August 15, 2022

Cuisine: Beijing/Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Good to have on the westside, and now as good as some in the SGV

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My faithful readers know I frequently venture out to the SGV for great Chinese, but I’m always looking for a fix closer to him. So when I heard (back in 2014) there was an actual Szechuan place in the Century City mall I went right on over. I’ve been a couple of times and more recently for a 6 person dinner in March of 2020 (on the eve of the pandemic) and a big gang dinner in August of 2022.


Yeah, it’s a big premium American mall!


Meizhou Donpo (sure doesn’t roll off the Western tongue). I’ve been told this is a high end (like Houstons) chain in China that has opened a branch here. This must reflect the influx of Chinese tourists into LA. All good in my view.

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The interior is sort of new Chinese mall-swank.
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They also have a huge patio (where we ate in 2020 and 2022).
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Smashed cucumber with garlic (3/8/20 & 8/15/22). This was an excellent multi-dimensional cucumber salad. A bit of tangy, lots of garlic, and a little spice.
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Sausage plate (3/8/20 & 8/15/22). Four different types of pork sausage. Some spicy. All very tasty.
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Chicken potstickers (3/8/20). Pretty much as you imagine.
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Cold chicken with ratan pepper (3/8/20). Very delicious boiled chicken with that numbing and bright green flavor.
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Cold mung bean noodles with chili (3/8/20). This was a spectacular version of this Chengdu street dish. Tons of flavor and a hot of heat.
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Cold noodles with spicy chicken (8/15/22). You mix it up and douse in the sauce. Quite nice cold noodle dish with good texture and flavor.

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Beef tendon soup (3/8/20). I didn’t try it.


The lunch special comes with hot and sour soup (2014). I’m always a fan and this was a straight up classic version, with more heat than most American ones normally have.


Then I had to try all the Schezuan classics: Dan dan noodles (2014). Not your totally typical take on it, as it’s fairly wet. Most authentic ones I’ve had you mix up and are a tad drier. Still, this had a nice chili + schezuan peppercorn taste. It was hot, but not really hot. Just a mild burn. Not so much of the nutty flavor.


Cold Szechuan Noodles (2014). These are closer to what I usually think of for Dan Dan noodles. They had a nice chili oil spice, but maybe no meat.
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Sweet potato glass noodles in hot and sour sauce. (10/27/17). In general, I love this dish because of its spicy/tangy balance. For example at Beijing Tasty. This version, unfortunately, looks ok, but has no balance. It wasn’t that hot. Wasn’t that tangy. Mostly it was just salty. This seems to be a problem at MZDP.

Numb taste wontons (2014 and 10/27/17 and 3/8/20). They just called these Szechuan Wontons, but they’re supposed to be numb taste. Great flavor. Sauce was a little sweet but boy was it tasty.


Not too hot, and a really savory pork filling.


Ma Po Tofu (lunch special) (2014). Also on the plate: rice, string beans, squash, spring roll. The beans were great, but the tofu was a bit salty (MSG I think) and not too hot or numbing. Okay flavor, but the most disappointing of the dishes, particularly given how when done right this is one of my favorite dishes ever.


Peking Duck (2014). Because peking duck is so important, I’m going to SEPARATELY write up my thoughts in 2014 and 2020. This duck is expensive compared to the SGV, although they do sell a half duck (which is what we got).


The usual condiments.


And pancakes.


The meat in 2014. This duck looked great, but the hoisin was a little salty and lacking in that plummy punch and somehow the meat felt a little flat or flabby.


Duck soup (2014). Comes with the duck (optionally). Very straight up and dull.
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Peking Duck (3/8/20). We ordered two whole ducks for 6 people! They carve it tableside.
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This is half a duck (2020). We had four of these plates. This was some of the best peking duck I’ve had in a while. About the same quality as the excellent NC Peking Duck. It’s cut in the modern style with much of the meat combined with the skin. It was super succulent and juicy. The skin could have been just a touch more crispy. But the pancakes were great and the overall combo delicious.

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Peking Duck (8/15/22). Skin was very good and the meat was a tiny bit dry but tasty. Pancakes are perfect. Biggest problem is that the hoisin isn’t quite sweet/strong enough. But still in the top five ducks. Tonight they cut it for us the “meat and skin” way (because Yarom requested it), but he can also cut it together which I think I prefer. The duck itself is from long island and isn’t as fatty as a Chinese duck (not available). A detailed discussion of Peking Duck can be found in my Ultimate Peking Duck Guide.
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Condiments for the peking duck.
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The duck here comes with ultra-thin pancakes — as always much better than the buns.
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Bones (3/8/20) from the duck meat.
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Duck bones fried with garlic and cumin (3/8/20 & 8/15/22). This was a stunning dish. There was a lot of bone, but the crispy fry was amazingly tasty.
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Stir fried shrimp (3/8/20). This may look simple, but the shrimp was super succulent and well cooked. Delicious.
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Sole Filet with green onions (3/8/20). Very lovely as well with nice thick filets. Lots of “flavor” (MSG).
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Sole filet with pickled cabbage (8/15/22). Dish of the night. The spicy/numbing/tangy “soup” with pickled chilis was first rate. Lemony flavor.

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Scallops with vermicelli (3/8/20 & 8/15/22). A nice dish, but not my absolute favorite of the night. Interesting. Scallops maybe a touch overcooked but the sauce was very good.
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Live lobster with secret house sauce (8/15/22). It included garlic, ginger, butter and a touch of cheese. Very silky and light with extremely well cooked lobster you could actually taste.
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Aromatic fried chicken with chilies (10/27/17). Another typical Szechuan dish. This version wasn’t that spicy (despite all the peppers) and was notably sweet. It was still pretty good though, but the balance was off.

Szechuan green beans (2014). Tasty rendition of this dish.
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Bacon brocollini (8/15/22). Not very good at all, mostly because of the American brocoli.
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Garlic Eggplant (10/27/17 & 8/15/22). A 7/10 version of the dish. Not as much super garlicky flavor as there should be, but good nonetheless. In 2022, nice but a little sweet. Texture was very good though.

Kung Pao Shrimp (2014 or 2017). Very nice. A bit of heat and lots of peanuts.


Boiled beef in chilis (2014 and 3/8/20 & 8/15/22). A classic Szechuan type dish. While this wasn’t inferno hot like the best ones in the SGV it did have a bit of Szechuan peppercorn and a nice flavor.
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Sautéed Chinese Tomahawk (8/15/22). A bit weird and overcooked, but tasty enough with the sauce.
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Braised pork hock with special sauce (8/15/22). Super delicious umami/msg/savory sauce. Rocked. “Special” obviously means MSG.
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Fried rice with chicken (3/8/20).
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Fried rice with shrimp (3/8/20). Slightly more moist than the chicken dish.
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Mango Passionfruit Sorbetto – 56% mango, 44% passionfruit, plus a bit of Amaro to offset the mango — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #mango #passionfruit #amaro

Overall writing in 2014 and 2017, I’m psyched to have Meizhou Dongpo, despite it being a bit blander, saltier, (and more expensive) than the SGV Szechuan places. It’s tasty enough and close. Too bad it’s inside the mall, because parking and getting into that beast is a nightmare. I hate that parking lot. It’s the biggest most confusing mall parking I’ve ever been too. Every direction looks the same. Ditto with the mall. I’m always getting turned around in there. Too bad the balance is off on the dishes. Service was a little slow/sloppy too on 10/27/17. The very first time I was here it was very nice, so maybe it’s just hit or miss.

Coming back for a 6-7 person dinner on 3/8/20 I had a vastly improved experience. Almost every dish was very good, some great. The peking duck was first rate. Really really good. Many of the appetizers were awesome too like the green chili chicken and cold mung bean noodles. Flavors were far less salty and much more balanced. Service was fairly good too and we had a nice large table outside on the terrace. They were super nice to us too, particularly about the corkage. I’ll have to try again to see if this is consistent, but I am raising my overall opinion substantially. On this particular night at least, this was as good as many SGV places (but certainly not as good as the best). Really a great option. The menu is nice, but not super large either.

Continuing in 2022, standards were pretty close to that of 2020. Our duck wasn’t quite as good because Yarom “made them” cut it with the skin all separate, which usually makes the meat dry. And they keep altering the menu slightly and some favorite dishes have gone away. But overall quality was very high, certainly great for the Westside. Dish consistency is just a bit random as they are a big place and probably have several chefs.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

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The mall is also home to a mini Grom, which is a solid chain gelato place. I reviewed one in New York here.
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Hazelnut on the left, cafe expresso on the right. Texture was perfect. Flavors were about 8/10. Very good gelato for America. I wish they had more flavor variety in the store though.

Wines from the 3/8/20 dinner:
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Related posts:

  1. Waterloo & City – Fat=Flavour
  2. Waterloo & City is Victorious
  3. Waterloo & City
  4. Book Review: City of War
  5. City of Bones
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Gelato, Grom, Meizhou Dongpo, Peking Duck, Szechuan Chinese, Tofu, Wonton

Chengdu Taste – Power of the Peppercorn

Oct07

Restaurant: Chengdu Taste

Location: 828 W Valley Blvd. Alhambra, CA 91803. (626) 588-2284

Date: October 2, 2013 and October 17, 2016, April 21, 2017 and August 31, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Face Numbing!

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Chengdu Taste, is a Chengdu style Szechuan restaurant, it’s the first to feature this regional cuisine that Jonathan Gold recently raved about and still one of the best.


Obviously, i’m not the only one that feels this way…


Because even on a Wednesday night there are about 20-30 people waiting for tables. Our big party even had a reservation, but they still made us wait for 45 minutes. Plus — the horrors — they wouldn’t allow us to open our wines. They don’t have a liquor license and they succumbed to the common misconception that us opening our own could get them in trouble — which it won’t.

Anyway, after much debate about the ordering the food began to pour out (in rapid succession unfortunately, often multiple dishes at once):


Mung bean jelly noodle. Very interesting. An unusual sweet and sour taste with a little bit of heat. Refreshing and spicy at the same time.


Cold garlic noodle. You mix it up yourself, to give:


These were delicious. A nice vinegar tang and a considerable amount of heat, but a lot of flavor.


Look at all that chili oil!


Diced Rabbit with younger sister’s secret recipe. The tangy spicy flavor on this was nice, but the rabbit has been diced (as promised) into tiny morsels bone and all. Each bit is sharp and requires nibbling at to get fragments of meat out of the spiky little bones.


Fish and tofu pudding in spicy sauce. There are mild boiled filets of fish and generous cubes of soft tofu under all that pepper. The “sauce” is nearly liquid, almost solid chili oil with a sea of peanuts, heavy facing pepper, and tons of little Szechwan peppercorns. They included the real deal Szechwan Peppercorn which has only been allowed in the US for about 7-8 years (for strange political or environmental reasons). Wow did it have an “impressive” breath and depth of hotness. I mean serious existential hotness of a new type. Not an inedible heat (which I’ve had in China), but this weird numbing effect that is a feature of the genuine Szechwan peppercorn (the little brown black pepper-like balls floating in the dish). Woah!


Every table had several bowls like this. Look at all that chili oil. There must be 57 gallon drums of it in the back.
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The contents in a bowl.


Vegetable hot pot. This was a similar dish, but without all the peppercorns it was hot, but not as numbing. It also had a surprisingly nice array of vegetables in there, particularly the potato and lotus root. It was many people’s favorite dish.

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Fish boiled in chili oil (8/31/18). Pretty much the same as the one with “tofu pudding” but without the tofu. Feel the garlic!

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Boiled beef in chili sauce. Sauce red sauce, different protein.


Toothpick lamb. These little bits of lamb are covered in cumin and skewered. It was a nice break  from the heat, but the lamb bordered on mutton. It could have been far more tender.

NOTE: In October 2016 I had this dish again and it was fabulous with very tender and flavorful lamb bits.


Boiled Fish with green peppers. This is the house signature dish, and it was on nearly every table. It’s similar filets of white fish boiled in a “broth” of oil and peppercorns. This has an interesting vegetable herbaceous heat. In some ways a mild and pleasant flavor, but with a broad numbing quality.


Numb taste wontons. Tasty little pork wontons in a searing chili oil. My first one, looking as it did like above was very tasty. But after they soaked up the chili oil they lost their flavor behind all that spice.


Chicken in mother’s preserved chilies. By far the worst dish of the night. The chicken was mostly chicken necks and the sauce was hot and not so tasty.


Ma Po Tofu (aka Pocked Faced Old Lady Tofu). This was a wonderful dish, probably my favorite. The soft tofu was embraced with really serious heat, a nice vinegary flavor, and a bit of porky goodness.


Pork shank. This huge hunk of pig leg was braised and covered with chilies. Comparatively, it was actually a very mild dish. The meat was juicy and tender. There was a lot of fat around it too. Yum.


Duck tongues. This still fry with onions and peppers consists entirely of duck tongues. Yes, every one of those little meaty things is an individual bird tongue. Pretty tasty actually, although the texture was very rubbery (as I’m sure duck tongue always is).

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Eggplant in garlic sauce. An excellent, and very garlicky, version of this dish. The intense sauce was amazing.
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Kung Pao shrimp. Classic.
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Griddle (dry hot pot) chicken (8/31/18). Really nice flavor and spice. Had the bones, but of course.
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Grandmother’s beef with preserved chilies (8/31/18). This was the first time I’ve had this style of dish. It had a tangy/spicy thing, quite sour actually. Very soft generous slices of beef and crunchy cucumber. Really interesting and delicious, although the sour quality might be weird to some westerners.


Tan Tan Noodles. This classic of Szechwan cuisine features noodles, pork, sesame, peanuts, green onion.
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You mix it up. And while it doesn’t look lovely, it tasted great, with a really wonderful sesame nut flavor, some noodles, and a bit of sweetness (some spice too — of course). One of our favorites.

Overall, Chengu Taste offered up great authentic fare. The above feast was a mere $30 per person with tax and tip. The service was nice, but there were several practical issues: 1) long wait 2) no wine allowed 3) they brought everything out too fast. This significantly marred the experience (particularly the wine and rapid delivery). We had brought some great sweet wines and they would have calmed the inferno. Plus, by delivering 4-5 dishes at once, the enormous heat of some of them (fish and tofu hot pot!) swamped out the flavors of others (the peppercorn fish). So I’d like to go back if we can arrange for them to deal with those problems.

Still, a delicious and unusual meal, and it was interesting and fantastic to get such a bracing introduction to real Szechwan pepper (I’ve had it before, but not in this quantity). The face numbing effect was dramatic and the flavor complex. The only problem is that the spice kept me up half the night!

October 2016 recap. 3 years and a LOT of Szechuan later I still think Chengdu is a great place. If anything the ingredients seemed to improve. It didn’t feel nearly as hot — I mean it was still hot — but not mind warping. I think that’s just me having “acclimated” to Szechuan food. I have it a lot. I cook it at home! But the flavors were great. Maybe not quite as complex as Szechuan Impressions, but I didn’t get CRS afterward (with SI gives me). The menu is improved and has pictures. There was no wait at lunch although it was reasonably crowded. If you want serious Szechuan classically and well executed you could do far far worse that Chengdu Taste. In fact, it’s pretty darn great.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Spice Up Your Life Szechuan Style
  2. A Taste of Taos
  3. Hunan Chili Madness
  4. Revenge of the Han Dynasty
  5. Shanghai #1 Seafood Village
By: agavin
Comments (5)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chengdu, Chengdu Taste, China, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, Ma Po Tofu, Sichuan, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan Pepper

Spice Up Your Life Szechuan Style

Sep23

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

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

Date: September 20, 2013

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). Yarom (the leader of my Hedonist group) invited me out to try some spicy Szechuan and a totally undiscovered place he found while wandering around. 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.


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


A menu with fairly literal translations.


And the usual minimalist decor.


1999 Joseph Phelps Sauvignon Blanc. IWC 87. Expressive, floral aroma combines melon, grapefruit, mint, licorice and fresh herbs. Supple yet tangy and firm, with nicely focused flavors of lemon, grapefruit, licorice and fresh herbs. Slightly elevated alcohol leavened by brisk acidity. Nice combination of texture and brightness.


Seaweed with chilies. Very pleasant, with a firmness and just a bit of heat.


Jellyfish heads and cucumber. More a texture dish, but it had a bit of a vinegary tang.


2011 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett. IWC88. Aromas of passion fruit and nut oil. The creamy tropical fruits flavors are light, well-balanced and elegant. Certainly fun to drink.


Cured beef shank. Like Chinese pastrami, with a bit of a smokey flavor.


Shredded stomach with scallion. Pork stomach really. I’m not an offal fan, but this was as good as stomach gets.


2007 Lamborghini (La Fiorita) Era Umbria IGT. 88 points. Good dark fruit and cherries on the nose. Significant fruit in the taste along with some herbal notes and good acidity. Medium length with some good tannins at the later part. May need more time to develop.


Stewed lamb in casserole (house special #1).


Inside the hot pot. This stuff was awesome. Probably the best dish (of many). Tasty tender lamb and this amazing hot chili sauce that really had a nice flavor.


Skewers of lamb on the left and Chinese hot dog on the right. Both were rubbed with cumin, making the lamb classic cumin lamb. The sausages were amazing, like sweetish hotdogs rubbed in cumin.


Some more skewers, lamb and chicken wing.


2009 Kongsgaard Syrah. Parker 97. The 2009 Syrah Hudson Vineyard is simply breathtaking. White flowers, spices, savory herbs, licorice, graphite and new leather are some of the many nuances that add complexity to a core of deeply expressive dark fruit. The 2009 impresses for its stunning textural elegance and sheer brilliance.


Cured beef shank in sesame bun. Basically Chinese pastrami sandwich!


Sweet and sour fish. Nice tender Tilapia with a flavorful sweet sauce.


1996 Lanessan. Parker 88. A sleeper of the vintage, Lanessan’s 1996 boasts an impressively saturated dark ruby/purple color, and knock-out aromatics of melted chocolate, asphalt, and cassis. Deep, rich, and medium-bodied, with excellent concentration and purity, this impressively-endowed, flavorful, well-structured wine should be at its finest between 2004-2016.


Beef tendon Xing Ziang Style. Unusual but pleasant texture in a tasty spicy sauce.


Potato with chili. Basically shredded potato with a slight vinegar and oil tang.


2011 Joh Jos Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. Parker 94. A yeasty, smoky prickle as well as the effect of dissolved CO2 causes the nose to wrinkle from a glass of Prum’s 2011 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese A.P. #18, but behind that are heliotrope and lily-of-the-valley along with ripe apple, pear and melons that in turn inform a delicate, subtly creamy palate of striking transparency to stony, crystalline, alkaline and smoky black tea and liquid floral nuances. This shimmers and excites even as it soothes in a lingering, uplifting, glowing finish. It will certainly merit attention for the better part of a half century.


Kung Pao Chicken. One of the best versions of this classic dish I’ve ever had. Lots of very flavorful Szechuan peppers.


1999 Guiraud. Parker 90. Tasted as part of a vertical held at the chateau. There is a sense of conservatism to the Guiraud 1999, but it still retains attractive scents of dried honey, marmalade and a touch of chlorine. The palate is actually better than the nose, with a lovely seam of acidity and effervescent marmalade and quince-tinged fruit that is very precise toward the long finish. The ’99 should be looked back on as a success in an oft-forgotten vintage.


Pork XO sauce fried noodle.


You mix it up like this and there is lots of pleasant heat to go with the al dente noodles.


Check out that chili oil left in the bowl!


Twice cooked pork. Another fabulous dish. The pork had some heat and sweetness, with a whole lot of flavor.


Ma Po Tofu. One of my favorite dishes. This classic Szechuan dish was the spiciest of the night. The pleasant soft tofu is just on fire. The name literally translated as “Pocked Marked Old Lady Face Tofu” which is quite amusing.


Fried corn. Slightly sweet and passed for a dessert. But afterward,  we went down the street to a shaved ice place, which I’ll blog about seperately.

In conclusion, Cui Hua Lou, while apparently totally undiscovered, offers up some fabulous traditional Szechuan fare. If you like spicy, this place was really very good. Cheap too as this feast, including tax and tip, set us back $21 a person!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Related posts:

  1. Hedonists Hunan Style
  2. Birthday Party, Hedonist Style
  3. Sicilian Style – Drago
  4. Food as Art: Chanukah in Style
  5. Life of Pi – part deux
By: agavin
Comments (6)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Cui Hua Lou, hedonists, Hot Sauce, Joh. Jos. Prüm, lamb, Ma Po Tofu, Monterey Park, san Gabriel valley, Sichuan, Szechuan, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan Pepper

Tasty Dining – Wuhan Dry Hot Pot

Feb13

Restaurant: Tasty Dining

Location: 301 W Valley Blvd, Ste 101. San Gabriel, CA 91776

Date: February 10, 2013

Cuisine: Wuhan Chinese

Rating: One Note

_

We Hedonists venture out again into the San Gabriel Valley for some more regional Chinese, this time to the heartland province of Wuhan. Like nearby Szechuan and Hunan this area of China is known for its chile-dominated heat. This particular place specializes in “dry pot” which is like a stir fry / hot pot hybrid that is sizzled table-side.

2012-12-29

The usual unassuming San Gabriel storefront.

This page shows the dry pots.

And the things here aren’t really sides, but are options you can add to the dry pots. There is very little on the menu that isn’t a dry pot.


This last page are the few non dry pot options.


A dry white went well with the sesame noodles below. This was the only dish before the heat set in.


Dry noodles in sesame sauce. These tasted as they look, like noodles in sesame sauce. They aren’t spicy, and are VERY sesame.


A very old (1962) Spatlese riesling that had actually been open for 3-4 days. Considering, it was impressive that it was still drinkable, if considerably oxidized.


Wuhan sui mai, stuffed with rice, meat, and with a bit of a vinegar tang.


1969 Coteaux du Layon illustrates the striking combination of mineral and nobly sweet characteristics that were possible, though its notoriously high acidity is scarcely noticeable thanks to the balance lent by high sugar and the harmony conveyed by time in bottle. Alkaline and wet stone aromas here approach the effect of sticking one’s head down a moss- and algae-covered cistern, accompanied by scents of lily, narcissus, quince preserves, stale bread, musk, and sweat. The rich quince character is carried and complimented by a juicy and not at all heavy palate impression, and this finishes with remarkable refreshment and pronouncedly alkaline and stony minerality, as well as snuffed candle wick smokiness and bitterness of quinine. Mature nobly sweet Chenin, although it had also been open for a couple days and was beginning to oxidize.


Our first Wuhan dry pot (this will soon look familiar). This one was chicken wings, yep, the central Chinese equivalent of hot wings. They’re in there with mountain potatoes (french fries), celery, hot peppers of several type, cauliflower, garlic, and lots of chili oil.


Displaying an expressive, candied green apple-scented nose, the profound 1992 Quarts de Chaume is intense and massively ripe. Citrus fruit and apricot-flavored, this wine is powerful, thick, and yet focused and delineated.


Dry pot number two, shrimp and we threw in some “lobster balls” (those vaguely round things).


Parker 94, “Quince preserves, baked apple, lily, gardenia, and hints of caramel and vanilla mark the nose of the Prum 2007 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. With richness yet delicacy and lift it saturates the palate with rich fruit, liquid flowers, vanilla cream, and savory, saline, shrimp shell reduction-like mineral essences. This intense, pure, subtly and truly nobly botrytized Auslese has umami with a capital “U.””


And number three, with squid. You’re starting to get the picture! The sauce/flavor is basically identical on all of these.


Schonleber’s 2002 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Kabinett smells alluringly of ripe red raspberries and strawberries. Quite honeyed and creamy for a Kabinett, yet both juicy and delicate, this is a bit superficially sweet in the finish, even though undeniably delicious.


Number four was duck, bone in. Lots of bone in. Meat was fairly tasty, if you didn’t break a tooth on it.


The Schonleber 2001 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Spatlese features honey-glazed nectarine and red berries in a seductively creamy, subtly caramelized and bitter-sweet melange. Rich nut oil and saline and wet stone mineral notes emerge in the long, refined finish. There is no significant sacrifice of clarity or purity to the wine’s evident botrytis.


And number five was mutton, also very bone (and gristle) in. The meat was fairly tasty, but there was very little of it. But this time were were pretty sick of potatoes and cauliflower.


Soft buns, like the white fluffy stuff surrounding bork buns, but without the pork. The sauce in the center is sweetened condensed milk. Nicely cooling after all that Wuhan heat.


And the exact same buns straight out of the deep frier!


For “dessert” we have some unique (but somehow typically Chinese) mild flavors like these pumpkin buns covered in sesame and pan fried.


And these fried bean paste buns.

Tasty Dining was interesting because I’ve never had Wuhan dry pot before (actually I think I have once, but I didn’t know it). And presumably, it’s well executed. However, this is very much a one trick pony restaurant. There isn’t much but dry pot and every dry pot essentially tastes the same, dominated as it is by pepper, garlic, and oil! The noodles were interesting too, but I’ve had better of this type. The Szechuan meal I had in November in Philly was about 100x better with much more variety.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Revenge of the Han Dynasty
  2. Hunan Chili Madness
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, hedonists, san Gabriel valley, Szechuan Chinese, Tasty Dining, Wuhan, Wuhan Chinese

Revenge of the Han Dynasty

Nov30

Restaurant: Han Dynasty

Location: 3711 Market st, Philadelphia PA. tel. (215) 222 3711

Date: November 21, 2012 & November 26, 2014

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Spicy Goodness

_

Every year, we Gavins converge on Philadelphia for the annual ThanksGavin, and every year it starts out with the “Wednesday night dinner.” This time around, we ended up at Han Dynasty, a downtown Szechuan Chinese restaurant. I love Szechuan, but rarely see it. In China, I’ve had meals that were so spicy delicious that your life flashed before your eyes.


Han Dynasty is a new breed of American Chinese restaurant, more hip by far than your typical Chinese eatery.


The menu. The red border is not only auspicious, but prognostic — of the heat!


Knowing we were up for some Szechuan, I dragged some Riesling across the country in my handy winecheck bag.

Parker 92, “The detail, refinement, and lift that characterize the best of 2007 were reason enough, Rebholz said, for him to essay some residually sweet Riesling, otherwise, I’d rather leave that to the Mosel vintners. The 7.5% alcohol of his 2007 Riesling Spatlese Vom Buntsandstein indeed puts one in mind of the Mosel, as well as on notice that this will be wine of delicacy and very high residual sugar. It is also impressively endowed with ripe quince and wafting lily and gardenia perfume, and manages to keep its sweetness balanced so as not to tip into sheer confection, but instead to exhibit seamless purity and nectar-like lusciousness. It should be worth watching for a dozen or more years, and in fact I would personally not even care to revisit it for 6-8 years.”


Not your usual Chinese chinz.


Even the tea comes in stylish (probably Japanese, from the look of them) teapots.

We ordered up a deluxe ($30 a person) tasting menu for 16.


Vegetable fried dumplings. The vegetarian variant of your standard potsticker. These were probably the most disappointing dish, but then again, these puppies are always better with pork.


Spring Rolls.


Chinese hot wings, ordered off the happy hour menu.


Double Dragon Punch. Brandy, rum, amaretto, homemade orgeat, orange, pineapple & lemon juices. The ultimate Scorpion Bowl!


Champagne (style) wine also goes great with spicy Chinese.


Spicy Crispy Cucumber. Beware anything at Han Dynasty that has “spicy” in the name. These were delicious and crunchy, but drowned in chili oil — not that I minded.


Dumplings in Chili Oil. Even hotter. These fiery little fellows burn straight down the gullet.


Scallion Pancake. Not spicy, but observe the lovely red tint to the sauce!


This super sweet Auslese from my cellar went perfectly with all the chili. Quince preserves, baked apple, lily, gardenia, and hints of caramel and vanilla mark the nose of the Prum 2007 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. With richness yet delicacy and lift it saturates the palate with rich fruit, liquid flowers, vanilla cream, and savory, saline, shrimp shell reduction-like mineral essences. This intense, pure, subtly and truly nobly botrytized Auslese has umami with a capital “U.”


Wonton soup. Not hot, but had a little bit of peppery kick.


Rice helps cool the palette.


Little clams in spicy black bean sauce. Yum. This wasn’t too spicy, although you can see those Szechuan peppers hiding in there.


Dan Dan Noodles. This isn’t the crazy hot traditional version of the dish. Sure, it had plenty of heat, but it also had a nice sweet nutty sesame taste.


Another view.


We had the pork on the side, like high end baco-bits.


Sesame noodles. Same noodles as the dan dan, without the pork or chili sauce. Much nuttier in flavor.


Smoked duck. The duck was probably tea smoked duck, as it had that pastrami-like flavor. Controversial, as some didn’t like that vibe. I did.


Han Dynasty’s take on Honey Walnut Shrimp. These generous shrimp were crazy tempura fried and then glazed with a honey sauce and walnuts. Great rendition of the dish.


Hot shrimp with asparagus. Not a ton of shrimp, but some heat.


This was a special. Lobster in garlic sauce. Yum yum delicious. The lobster itself was perhaps a hair overcooked, but the sauce was amazing and the crustacean was perched on a bed of rich noodles…


Which allowed them to be soaked by the sauce. Yowzie!

Ma Po Tofu. One of my favorite dishes in general, and while this rendition was a touch too salty, it was still fabulous.


Eggplant w/ Garlic Sauce. These were not only very spicy, but had a delicious smokey garlic taste.


String Beans w/ Minced Pork. Fantastic version of this classic.


Pea Leaves w/ Garlic. Another great classic vegetable treatment.


Hot sauce style beef. Stir fried with cabbage and celery in an authentic Sichuan chili oil hot sauce!


Kung Pao style chicken. Peanuts, celery, and chili peppers. Excellent version of the classic.


Scallion Style chicken. Stir fried in hoisin and oyster sauce with onions and scallions. Not so spicy.


Cumin style lamb. Cumin-crusted and stir fried with bell peppers, dry peppers, and onions. Strongly flavored of cumin as you’d suspect with a nice heat. This was excellent, although it wasn’t as good as a cousin of the dish I once had in western China that was drier, on sticks. That one was bright red and relentlessly, throat burningly hot. It was also one of the best lamb dishes I’ve ever had.


Scallion Style beef. Mild and tasty.


Salt and pepper style chicken. Delicately battered and served on a bed of minced pepper and onion.


Salt and pepper fish. Also good, with a bit of heat.


This unusual white wine from Campagnia went pretty well too.


Another special. Whole stripped bass in sweet and sour chili sauce.


The sauce was, you guessed it, hot! But amazing.


Another special, dry fry style shrimp. These puppies were heavily fried (yum) and doused in a healthy dose of chili oil, then stir fried (again).


Spicy Hot Pot. Beware, like most Han Dynasty food, it was hot two ways (temperature and spicy). There was all sorts of goodness in there. Mostly chicken and a bit of seafood. This had some schezuan peppercorns.


The chefs at work: playing with fire!

This was a fantastic Chinese feast. Sure, it burned through my whole GI for 36 hours, but it was worth it. A worthy addition to the catalog of great Wed night ThanksGavin openings. Commenting two years later, and many many great Chinese meals under my belt, I’d have to say this is solid Schezuan style food, a tad modernized, and good stuff. One complaint on my second go (2014) was that they brought all the food in two giant waves, an “appetizer” and “entree” wave. The first time each item came out more or less on its own. This is way too many dishes for a big barrage.

See the rest of the ThanksGavin here.

For more Philly dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese Food, Han Dynasty, hot pepper, Sichuan, Szechuan Chinese, ThanksGavin, Wine
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