Szechuan cuisine :: All Things Andy Gavin

Archive for Szechuan cuisine

Climb the Mountain

Dec03

Restaurant: Mountain House Rowland Heights 川山甲

Location: 18888 Labin Ct C101, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 986-5555

Date: June 9 & September 23, 2024

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Best new SGV place of 2024

I had to wait nearly a year for them to get a beer and license before trying!

When we arrived, there was a Chinese American street fair going on in the middle of this mall courtyard.

Mountain House was hidden away in the courtyard. Parking ringed the outside basically looking at the service entrances. Really strange mall. I’ve been wanting to come here for 10 months but they didn’t seem to want to allow wine until V “sorted it out.”

Very nice build out.

With smoking koi bath — never seen one of these — and I wonder what the koi think about it

Fish extend to the ceiling.

Great private room. A touch cramped, but very private.

Pickled Spicy Cabbage on the table to start. These were awesome actually some nice chunks of aromatics.

Very good tea.

The menu.

Bamboo Grove Trio. Three various Szechuan drinking foods (including bamboo). Duck tongue, poached chicken, bamboo shoots.

Swing Garlic Pork Belly. Basically boiled bacon with super MSG spicy garlic sauce. It was all about the sauce.

Pepper Beef Tongue. More or less the same sauce, but the tongue was so tender — incredible dish.

House Chicken. The classic poached chicken in spicy chili oil. Not super spicy, but nicey balanced and very umami.

Szechuan Numbing Chicken. Last time we had the red pepper chicken — and on the tri — so this time we had the green.

Fu-Qi Special. Couples sliced offal, aka tripe and meat. Very nice version, although not as good as the perfect one at GuYi.

Okra Salad. Slimey and delicious in the same super savory sauce.

Spicy Hairtail. Some kind of slightly spicy fried fish.

Dumplings in Chili Oil. Solid version of this Sichuan staple.

Yibin Style Ran Noodles. Cold and a touch tangy with a little bit of sesame. Very nice.

Golden Baked Corn Kernels with Salted Egg Yolk. Awesome dunked in some red sauce.

Country Style Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables. Great version of this dish. Not as salty as usual, just silky and delicious.

Ma-La Prawns. This was the hotest dish. Actually pretty spicy, but with an almost candied chili. Really fabulous.

Pepper Lover’s Frog. Very tender and only “some” bones.

Short Rib. Pretty damn good actually because of the spicy sauce.

House Ma-La Dungeness Crab. Super delicious sticky rice underneath with a very smoky flavor.

Crispy Fish with Pickled Pepper. Great fish. Tons of garlic and umami.

Red Pepper Fish Head.

Garlic Shrimp. So garlicky and so delicious. Shells perfectly crispy.

La-Zi Chicken. The famous fried aromatic chicken.

MaPo Tofu. Probably the best I’ve had in LA. Or certainly really up there. Just awesome.

Spicy Shredded Eel. Like the popcorn chili chicken — but with fried eel bits. Really great!

Crispy Tofu. Just fine.

Crispy Chicken with Chilies. Amazing version of this dish and highly aromatic with that deep chili flavor.

Western Szechuan Lamb Spine. Amazing Sichuan flavor. Not much meet, but really delicious.

Shredded Potato. Amazing dipped in the spicy lamb jus.

Green beans with pork.

Gizards with Taro. Awesome pickled pepper flavor and nice chew.

Hot and Sour Soup. Nice and silky.

Garlic Greens. Solid.

House Special Fried Rice.

Numbing Pepper Beef. So good with that green numbing factor. Very tender beef.

This was probably the best Chinese dessert I’ve had. Peanuts, watermelon, coconut, raisons, cool jelly, sweat syrup. Fabulous textures of chew and crunch. Sweet and nutty.

Chocolate Mint Gelato.

Chocolate and Arugula gelato.

Amazing meal. Not only was it very fun, but the food was really really good. And the total was all in $85/pp. Very large Sichuan menu and nearly ever dish was some of the best versions of it I’ve had. Nicely balanced and executed. Fun decor too and solid service. Plus they have the private rooms and now allow the wine. It wasn’t as hot as many Sichuan places, just balanced. And probably the menu is 2-4X as big. It’s a little fancier, but isn’t more expensive. So it’s a total win win win. Then it must be mentioned that this is a peerless Chinese food group :-).

The courtyard was empty when we left, but had this neat “not in America” feel.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, Hacienda Heights, mapo tofu, Mountain House, SGV, Sichuan Cuisine, Szechuan cuisine

Szechuan Delicious Was

Sep03

Restaurant: Szechuan Delicious

Location: 8921 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 559-9017

Date: December 29, 2023

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Very tasty

It’s been like 6 months since I was able to get out to an AFF, but the holidays provided a decent openning.

Szechuan Delicious is a relatively new addition to the profusion of often excellent SGV Szechuan restaurants.

Straightforward interior.

Good sized menu.

Salty / sweet peanuts.

Hot & Sour Jelly. Excellent version of this dish — which is always a favorite of mine.

Sliced Beef & Ox Tongue in Chili Sauce. This dish is known as Couples Sliced Offal in Chinese and delivers a very solid chili/salt flavor profile. There were some nice onions and celery underneath.

Szechuan Style Marinated Duck. Very solid duck with nice ducky flavor. Lots of bone of course.

It also came with this random Duck Fried Rice.

Szechuan Pork Slices with Preserved Vegetable. Super soft and fatty with great mustard greens underneath. This avoided either the mushy quality or over salting that some versions suffer from and instead had a lovely fat and savory quality.

Rattan pepper Live Fish. Great chili mala broth with delicate soft fish and plenty of bones. Not as hot as SI.

Sour & Spicy Shredded Eel & Vermicelli. This was a newish dish for me. I’ve had what was essentially the same without the veggies or eel, but I loved this sour/spicy sauce and the eel was soft and delicious.

Griddle Chicken. Lots of bones, but awesome depth of flavor. Really delicious.

MaPo Tofu. Very solid version of the classic. Some mala.

Dan Dan Mein. This is the soupy version. Pleasant, but I like the nuttier more intense variant.

OMG was this a deal. $35/pp all in. Szechuan Delicious is one of the better Szechuan places I’ve been to recently. Big menu and every dish was quite good. A bit on the rustic side, but very nice kitchen.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: AFF, Chinese Food, SGV, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan cuisine

Lunch Quest – Spicy Impression

Jul22

Restaurant: Spicy Impression

Location: 17110 Colima Rd B, Hacienda Heights, CA 91745. (626) 363-4948

Date: December 20, 2022

Cuisine: Sichuan Chinese

Rating: Mostly for takeout

For today’s Lunch Quest Yarom, Chevy, and I hiked out to one of our favorite “corners” in the Far SGV, close to Shanghailander, Spicy Home, and others — all to try out this casual new Sichuan place.

Typical box store.

Casual interior. There was only one other table, although lots of takeout in progress.

The menu.

“Stir-fried” cucumber. I don’t think that word means what they think it means, as this was smashed cucumbers (with garlic and peanuts). It was actually an absolutely first rate version with a nice crunch and GREAT garlic flavor. The peanuts were a nice addition as well.

Stir-fried clams with Chinese pepper. Now this is actually stir fried. The flavor on this dish was awesome. The crispy green pepper corns were delicious and the flavor from the chopped chilis intense. Eating them was eye watering and they were the only genuinely spicy element at this lunch.

Spicy Soup with Sneakhead Fish Filet and Pork Intestine. Very nice flavors in this dish. The fish was oily and almost eel-like and very tasty. There was also “douchi” (fermented salted black beans) and a very flavorful broth, although it had a strong undertaste of “pig poo.” Yeah, and that was a deliberate (pig) intestinal funk. Oh yeah baby!

Stir-fried lamb belly with Chinese spices. Not sure how the belly was different from the lamb in the next dish, but the stir fry mix was a bit different. It had celery and the hot peppers again (as opposed to dried) and no cumin.

Cumin Lamb. Classic cumin lamb. Fairly “intense” lamb flavor with quite a bit of cumin. I would have liked slightly more “Wok Hei” as I’m not sure they charred the lamb on the hyper hot wok first.

Spicy Pork Feet. Pig’s feet that were braised in an interesting star anise and black cardamom broth, then stir fried with chili oil, onions, garlic etc. I don’t like flabby pig skin but the gelatinous and fatty meat below the skin was good.

Mapo Eggplant. I’ve never had this dish, basically Mapo Tofu with eggplant instead. It was delicious with a very strong flavor of Sichuan Peppercorn. It wasn’t actually that numbing as perhaps that was cooked out, but it was strongly flavored with the complex herbal-citrus notes of the peppercorn.

Chinese Spicy & Sour Cabbage. The cabbage had a nice crunch and was very enjoyable. It didn’t have that totally addictive “pork fat” flavor but I still ate at least half of this dish.

Overall, this place was tasty, but is really just a Sichuan takeout shack. Clearly people aren’t eating in here as there were stacks and stacks of takeout containers at the ready. As such, they don’t have much variety of prep. Nearly everything on the menu is wokked and most dishes are just different proteins stir-fried in a set number of preps. There are no different cooking styles like “Tea Smoked Duck” or even many cold dishes.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, lunch, Lunch Quest, SGV, Sichuan Cuisine, spicy, Spicy Impression, Szechuan cuisine

Home Sweet Spicy Home

Mar08

Restaurant: Spicy Home [Crawl: MK BBQ, Peking, Bafang, Spicy Home, Beijing Tasty ]

Location: 1635 S Azusa Ave, Hacienda Heights, CA 91745. (626) 636-1128

Date: July 31, 2022

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Great kitchen

I think we inserted this fourth stop on the crawl as well because the first couple really sucked.
I’ve been to Spicy Home a number of times, usually just for a dish or three (as they don’t allow wine). It’s a great casual Sichuan place.

The menu.

Peppercorn Sauce Chicken. Sauce was great but the chicken had a very high bone percentage.

Scrambled Egg with Shrimp. Solid version of this dish with fluffy shrimp.

Sautéed Shredded Cabbage. Really great version of this dish with a nice “oily” flavor.

String beans with eggplant. Garlic eggplant into which string beans was mysteriously thrown. Not particularly great.

Tea Smoked Duck. Awesome. Very juicy with a pastrami / ham like quality.

Sliced Pork Belly with Tofu Dry Pot. Great flavor and textures. Not super spicy but nice. Best dish so far.

Spicy Home has a great kitchen and implements solid rustic Sichuan. It’s very informal though and has no liquor license so doesn’t feel like a “proper” dinner location. But for pure tastiness of the dishes it’s extremely solid, excellent even.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: crawl, hedonists, SGV, Sichuan Cuisine, Spicy Home, Szechuan cuisine

Lunch Quest – Da Long Yi

Dec01

Restaurant: DaLongYi Hot Pot 大龙燚火锅

Location: 250 W Valley Blvd L, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 872-6690

Date: May 20, 2022

Cuisine: Chinese Szechuan Hot Pot

Rating: Very solid spicy hot pot place

Da Long Yi Hot Pot is a relatively new spicy hot pot branch of some Chinese chain, in the Chongking style, but from Chengdu specifically.

It’s located located on the second floor of this classic mall right next door to Shanghai #1 Seafood Village.

The interior has a decent but modern industrial build out.

The “snacks” are extremely minimal.

The sauce bar section is decent, totally workable, but not as good as a few other chains.

I made my usual pair of sesame and vinegar based sauces.

Fried Pork. Super nice fry with juicy pork. Great!

Half spicy, half bone broth. The bone is boring, of course.

Smooth beef. Thick slices coated in egg. Very tender and nice.

Pork meat balls. Great, not those dense packaged ones.

Luncheon Meat. Always one of my favorites.

Fish Balls stuffed with Roe. Great.

Angus Beef.

Beef Tongue.

Lamb Shoulder.

Assorted Tofu.

Assorted Mushrooms.

Lotus root. Love that crunchy texture.

Napa cabbage. Because this is always the favorite veggie, we decided to just order it.

This turned out to be a surprisingly nice spicy hot pot. It’s “almost” as good as Shancheng Lameizi or Chun La Hao, but not quite. Build out isn’t as attractive as either of those. Sauce/snack bar is a bit worse. Actual hot pot food quality was quite good, basically equal. Weirdly, they were completely empty. One employee I think and we were the only customers. Food was great though.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Da Long Yi, hot pot, Lunch Quest, SGV, spicy, Szechuan cuisine

Spicy Moment V2.0

Apr17

Restaurant: Spicy Moment V2.0

Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-4966

Date: March 1, 2020

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: check: Terrible menu, surprisingly good home-style food

Back in August we did a 6 restaurant crawl in and around the Mandarin Plaza. One of the places we visited was Spicy Moment and we agreed to come back for a full dinner, or maybe a 2-fer combined with Hunan next door.

In the meantime Spicy Moment “rebooted” with a new owner, new menu, new concept — but they kept the name, build out and sign. However, despite what the sign says, it’s no longer “modern Chinese cuisine” and is a much much smaller menu Chongqing place.

The decor is pretty much unchanged. They still have the ugly drop ceiling, but they have made a tiny effort at decorating.

My wine.

This menu set me up with low expectations. It’s basically cold apps and noodle soups. Noodle soups don’t share well and I’m not that into them anyway. There is nothing here. But Yarom never likes to give up on a plan so we went anyway — and were in for a super pleasant surprise.

They have Chongqing crispy duck — we’ll come back to that later.

And an array of “attractive” cold apps. But we love cold apps. Serious, they maybe a touch scary but we love them.

Smashed garlic cucumbers. Nice and crunchy, but could have used a stronger garlic flavor.

Cold marinated pig ear and sliced pork or beef parts.

Savory sweet peanuts with little fish (delicious), pulled spicy pork, and crunchy celery with tofu.

Chongqing special tofu pudding. Soft homestyle tofu.

Spicy sauce for the tofu.

You take a scoop of tofu and add sauce — we also added peanuts. The tofu had a fascinating smokey wood-fire flavor. The chili sauce was salty and had a ton of flavor. Really interesting and great combination.

Chongqing crispy smoked duck. Very crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Tons of flavor.

I have a feeling this duck is made more or less in this manner. Check out this video — and the cook’s adorable dog!

Noodles with beans and pork and egg and veggies.

You mix it all up with the sauce and it was quite delicious.

Chicken cold dry noodles.

These had a thinner noodle. You mix it all up and it had a great texture and a wonderful slightly tangy texture.

Overall, we were blown away considering the expectations from the limited menu. Just a terrible menu that looks like all of one thing. But this was some delicious stuff and really different. Hadn’t had this exact sort of duck before and everything we tried was pretty delicious. Plus that tofu pudding was totally unique and I could just imagine eating it in some dirt floor ancient Chinese farm hut! That dish has to be like 1,000 years old!

This place was like teleporting to China. Super interesting and a whole lot of fun. Very nice people too with great hospitality.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chongqing, duck, Mandarin Plaza, Rowland Heights, SGV, Sichuan, spicy, Spicy Moment, Szechuan cuisine, Tofu, Wine

Malubianbian Spicy Stick Pot

Apr08

Restaurant: MaLu Bian Bian Hot Pot

Location: 18194 Colima Rd Ste A, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 820-9206

Date: February 23, 2020

Cuisine: Chengdu Szechuan Chinese Hot Pot

Rating: 12/10 for experience

I’ve been on a bit of a Szechuan style hot pot kick for the last year. For those of you know don’t know, “hot pot” is the classic Chinese homestyle food which is super popular as a restaurant type in recent years. The most “classic” form is “Mongolian” like Hot Pot Hot Pot or Little Sheep. Then there are hybrid more modern joints like Hai Di Lao. And even the cheap student pre-prepped version like Boiling Point or Flaming Pot. But my favorite is the ultra spicy Chengdu or Chongqing style. I’ve had this in Chengdu and last year several opened in the SGV including Chun La Hao and Shancheng Lameizi.

So bringing us to tonight, Malubianbian represents a new style of skewer oriented Chengdu street hot pot. This is one crazy experience so I’ll detail it.

This is in the “Yes Plaza” in Rowland Heights. It’s like teleporting to China because everyone here is Chinese and at the restaurant everyone is about 23.

If you can see, there are about 20-30 people waiting outside.

Inside it’s sort of industrial new Chinese style. Small tables. Uncomfortable chairs. Ineffective hoods. As part of the “experience” a few minutes after we entered I started to cough uncontrollably. Something was just making my throat and eyes itch. I thought something was wrong with me until I noticed everyone else doing it. The server came by to apologize as the chef had just fried up a new batch of chili oil. Lol. I should have known. The place already smelled like chilis, so you couldn’t really smell it, but when you make Szechuan style chili oil (which I do myself) you have to dump 350deg oil over chilies and it releases a ton of pepper compounds into the air which are very “irritating.”

In any case, we didn’t have to wait too long (only 20 minutes) as we had a “reservation” for the “private room” which was this super cute painted closet with a two burner little table. Supposedly it sat up to 12 — but really 8 max. I mean max.

Very cute though.

Wine was a whole saga too. Only Jefferey brought some, but no one, including the restaurant had a corkscrew. He wandered the mall but no restaurant was willing to help him open his bottle (and walk out with it). Eventually we managed.

Like many new hot pot places Malu has a “sauce bar.” This isn’t as extensive as at Chun La Hao or Shancheng Lameizi but was sufficient. It was, however, pretty messy.

This was one of the main sauces I made. They didn’t have the sesame paste or all the fermented stuff I really love at Shancheng Lameizi.

They do have these traditional dry “powdered” sauces. You grab one and then add some broth from your pot to make up a sauce. It congealed very easily and didn’t really work for me, but the sauce bar version was decent.

We got all the broths. On top here is the lame tomato broth and below is the series traditional super-spicy ox fat (those big rectangles that haven’t melted yet) and blend of peppers and 18 spices.

Below is the other lame broth, the “mild” mushroom broth. Above that is the “classic” spicy Szechuan broth that doesn’t use the heavy ox fat.

I exclusively used the fully leaded traditional gut cleansing medicinal purgative spicy ox fat broth — as should anyone who isn’t a wuss.

But what, you say, does one do with these punishing broths? You cook stuff in them. But the format at Malu is interesting. Out in the dining room are about 10 refrigerators filled with skewers and boxes of food. You just wander over and grab the stuff (which seems a touch “unsanitary” but never mind). The staff count your skewers and containers at the end to calculate your bill.

Malu’s particularly unique bit is the whole skewer thing. These cost about $0.35 each and you just shove them in your pot and easily withdraw them. But for some reason I found this a bit awkward and preferred the plates of stuff.

There are a lot of skewer types including nearly all the vegetables, tons of marinated meats, the usual meat/fish etc balls and whatnot. Each bit on a skewer is pretty tiny. Often even half a meatball or the like.

They also have a bunch of plates with more meats and various other “exotic” stuff like duck blood or duck intestine (anyone want a whole bowl of raw duck intestine? we did!). I mostly ate off these because I found it easier.

Fried pork. This is a menu order item. It was just okay.

Spicy beef stomach. This was quite delicious — and chewy.

Special house spicy beef. This was amazing. Tons of flavor (and heat).

Spicy glass noodle. Really mung bean jelly. It was actually warm, which is unusual for this type of typical Szechuan street food.

Crab sticks. Imitation crab. Tasty, but they come apart in the pot.

Luncheon meat. This is always one of my hotpot favorites. Pure pork and fatty goodness. We went through at least 3 orders of this!

Beef. A Staple.

Lamb.

Weird spongy shrimp rolls. I don’t know what to call these, but they actually cooked up as delicious things.

Shrimp balls with actual shrimp and row. These also cooked up great.

Skinned frog. This was just too sad.

Noodles, lotus root, and strange veggie cake.

Pig ear on a stick.

Plus tons of things I forgot to photo.

Odd rice jelly. This was like water jelly. It had a jello texture and was totally clear and absolutely zero flavor. The brown stuff was some kind of syrup and very mildly sweet. You could barely taste it. I suppose it was meant to cool the palette after the inferno.

Fried rice cakes. Another typical Szechuan dessert.

Overall, this was a great experience and TONS OF FUN. The broth is awesome. The format is weird, but fun and flexible because you can get your own stuff. The problem is that the ingredient quality isn’t quite as good as at Hai Di Lao, Chun La Hao and Shancheng Lameizi. Also the sauce bar is only adequate.

Service was fabulous though. Usually hot pot service isn’t the greatest, but it was here. They kept checking on us and the owner came over and was super nice, the manager was super nice. Really friendly and helpful.

It’s very inexpensive too. A skewer is only $0.35!

So I highly recommend if you are adventurous and into new things. Mind your bottom.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chengdu, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, hot pot, Rowland Heights, SGV, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan cuisine

Eastern Heat – DJ Kitchen

Jan22

Restaurant: DJ Kitchen

Location: 4040 City Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19131. (215) 586-8888

Date: November 29, 2019

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Surprisingly good

For “Fat Friday” — the official Friday dinner after Thanksgiving, we broke with the tradition of another house meal and headed partially into center Philadelphia to:

DJ Kitchen — a surprisingly authentic Szechuan place.

Typical modern interior of the newer more casual Chinese joints.

Part of our giant 20 person table.

The kid corner.

The auspiciously colored menu.

From my cellar: 2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. AG 94+. The 2006 Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is powerful, intense and also classically austere in its make up. Crushed flowers, mint, red berries and cranberries are all finely sketched. The 2006 finishes with striking mineral-driven precision, and while it doesn’t have the opulence or exuberance of the 2002, it is still a very pretty and appealing Champagne. The Elisabeth Salmon is 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay, with about 8% still Pinot Noir. Dosage is 6 grams per liter. (Drink between 2018-2031)

Scallion pancakes for the kids. Certain adults, even certain adults who are supposed to be avoiding carbs, felt compelled to gobble these as well.

Spicy crispy cucumber. Solid (and garlicky) version of the classic cucumber opening.

Chicken in chili oil. Classic Szechuan appetizer of cold chicken in chili sauce. Not a bad version.

More bubbly.

Cumin fries (again mostly for the kids).

Pan fried pork dumplings. Pretty generic.

Dan Dan Noodle.

Mixed up. Not bad, but lacked the complex nutty flavor I like in great dan dan.

Dumplings in chili oil. These were delicious.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls with sweet sauce.

XLB (Xiao Long Bao). Always great little steamed pockets of delicate dough filled with pork.

From my cellar: 2017 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. 92 points. Orange, pineapple, graphite and earth. Step up in weight here on the palate but has superb acidity that cuts through and drives onward. Great length and detailed layers give this excellent palate presence.

Homemade egg with tomato for the vegetarians. We had too many people with dietary restrictions tonight — always a touch difficult at real Chinese food.

Chinese cabbage with dried pepper. I love this dish. Really nice texture. Somehow makes cabbage delicious.

Mapo Tofu. Pretty good rendition — and one of my favorites.

Kung Pao Shrimp. Okay, but not a fan of the bell peppers (too Chinese American).

Tea Smoked Duck with hoisin and buns. More like Cantonese roast duck.

Dry pepper Chicken. Always a super delicious pile of crunchy fried chicken. This particular one was very spicy. Often it isn’t.

Not bad for 20+ people!

Overall, while not as good as a place like Sichuan Impression, pretty real Szechuan Chinese. About as good as a second rate SGV place — and for a city like Philadelphia that’s excellent. I enjoyed my meal a lot. The kids and vegetarians maybe a bit less so!

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese Food, Fat Friday, Philadelphia, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine, ThanksGavin, ThanksGavin 2019

Chef Yu Bo & LQ Foodings

Jan02

Restaurant: Laurent Quenioux / Yu Bo [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Location: Korea Town

Date: November 15, 2019

Cuisine: Modern French & Modern Szechuan Chinese!

Rating: Maybe the best LQ yet!

Six and a half years ago Foodie Club co-organizer Erick and I put together one of our more legendary dinners, the Bistro LQ Trufflumpagus. Ever since then we periodically trek out to visit our friend Chef Laurent for some kind of extravaganza — and tonight he’s hosting a special two chef dinner in Korea Town with Chengdu Chef Yu Bo — one of China’s most famous and avant-garde chefs.

Chef Laurent Quenioux grew up in Sologne, France, where he developed a passion for food. As a young boy, Quenioux and his father would hunt duck, partridge, and rabbit. Then, he and his mother would prepare her favorite recipes in the kitchen. Eventually, Quenioux left home to embark on an apprenticeship where he trained in some of Europe’s finest kitchens. Quenioux spent time at Maxim’s, Bistro De Paris and La Ciboulette in Paris, before moving on to Negresco in Nice and LaBonne Auberge in Antibe.

In the early 1980s, Quenioux made a move to the United States with a team from L‘Oasis at La Napoule to open The Regency Club in Los Angeles. In 1985, he introduced the celebrated and award-winning 7th Street Bistro in downtown Los Angeles. In the early 2000s, Quenioux debuted the cozy Bistro K in Pasadena and in 2009, Bistro LQ in Beverly Hills. At Bistro LQ, Quenioux set new standards for cuisine in Southern California with his Farmer’s Market-driven kitchen and an emphasis on value and fun.

For this particular dinner, LQ and Bo have set up shop in the Hotel Normandie in Korea Town, which is one of those cool, old school LA buildings.

Check out the old pre-war style.

Our actual dinner was in the middle of this big (banquet?) room.

The menu tree.

The intro to the food.

The chef’s offered a decent looking wine pairing option — but we never like wine pairings — so we brought our own as usual.

From my cellar: 2010 David Leclapart Champagne Premier Cru L’Artiste Blanc de Blancs Pas Dosé Trépail. 92 points. Just a stunning nose with soft white flowers, citrus, a bit of toasty oak. The bubbles were soft and gently lifted the flavors: more floral notes on the palate, with lemon and lime and fantastic acidity. Seemed like it might have been less pressurized than some of the other champagnes.
The amuses are so elaborate they have their own menu page! There are, in fact, 13 of them!

Chef Bo’s amuses were all laid out in advance, a bit like a Chinese version of banchan. Mostly (but not entirely) the dishes were served in pairs with both chefs riffing on a particular ingredient.

Bitter Melon with Litsea Oil (Bo). This really showed off the “bitter” aspect of bitter melon.

Bitter Melon Grecque Style (LQ). The bitterness was a bit more offset by the sweetness of the tomatoes in this preparation.

Silk Ribbon Snake Bean in Ginger Sauce (BO). Tastier. Interesting twisted shape too. Beans were a bit spicy.

Blue Crab Gingered Achard (LQ).

Snow White Coral Roll (Bo). Lots of vinegar flavor and very tasty. Like a pickle essentially.

Pate Croute Grouse (LQ). This one didn’t match and was a prep of grouse liver.

From my cellar: 2012 Veyder-Malberg Grüner Veltliner Hochrain. 90 points. Poured a light golden yellow to the stem. Fresh nose of honeydew, smoke, cantaloupe, and lemon oil. Medium and refreshing on the palate with hints of grapefruit, green melon, hazelnut, and diffuse citrus nuance. A slight spritz on the back end characteristic of some Gruners. Very adept and precise winemaking here with a convincing vein of acidity. Paired with fresh line caught Snapper with basmati rice and cornbread.

Sparrow’s Wing Broccoli (Bo). Never had this vegetable before — that I know of — but Bo was showing off his knife skillz because it’s cut to look like a Sparrow’s Wing!

Petit Gris Snail Anticucho (LQ). Escargot skewers!

Pickled Endive Sprout (Bo).

Braised Endive Chipotle Cotija (LQ). Fried!

Tomatoes with Aged Mandarin Peel Powder (Bo). Pretty good for tomatoes.

Mandarine Truffle Honey (LQ). Sweet.

Smoked Haddock Potatoes, Black garlic congee (LQ). Sort of a marriage of both Chinese and Western. Vaguely like a croquetta in form factor.

Dried mandarin peels. This was largely aromatic.

The menu.

One of the wine pairing wines.

Mapo tofu, avocado, abalone (Bo).

With truffles too! I love Ma Po, and this was certainly the fanciest version I’ve had, and maybe one of the best. It was quite spicy, which I loved. Not so great for the wines, but tasty dish.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this <em>cuvée</em>, but with no lack of vivacity.

Abalone, Arborino Rice, Uni (LQ).

Truffles here too. Nice risotto.

Fish Fragrant Lobster (Bo). Spicy also, and look at the interesting vegetable carving.

2016 Pierre Boisson Bourgogne Blanc. 92 points. Lovely Bougogne Blanc. Fleshy but still has some ‘zing’ to it. Wonderfully pure and clean.

Pacific Lobster, Mango, Ginger, Avocado, Yuzu Vinaigrette (LQ). Very nice lobster/avocado prep.

Black Cod, Pickled Mustard Greens (Bo). Lovely little soup. Very delicate cod. If I remember correctly, it was super spicy.

From my cellar: 2012 Prager Riesling Smaragd Wachstum Bodenstein. 91 points. More rounded and more fragrant on the nose than the Klaus, with white peaches and a bit of pear nectar. Slightly muted at first on the palate, but opens up to coat the roof of the mouth. Seemed initially to tail a bit on the finish, but leaves a longlasting impression in the lower register. A wine that creeps up on you!

North Sea Yellow Cod, chicken broth, fennel two ways, crosnes (LQ).

Chicken Tofu (Bo). With truffle. Tofu texture, chicken taste. Interesting. Perhaps weird for those who don’t like unusual textures.

DGR Quail, Persimmons Chutney, celery root slaw (LQ). LQ excels at game birds.

Portraits of both chefs (Bo on the left, LQ on the right).

2002 Jean-Pierre Mugneret Echezeaux. 93 points. Initially baking spice and cherries, pretty but somehow reticent, youthful and inexpressive. After 4 hours slow ox a real powerhouse of weightless complexity. Rose, violets, complex perfume scents on the nose. Quite a saline, savoury palate, beef stock, soy, hoisin, seaweed, iodine, Yuzu, very intense and long. But the nose is truely amazing.

Wild Wood Pigeon with Sweet Paste (Bo).

The meat was inside the orange. Very unusual presentation and highly aromatic. Sort of vaguely sweet too.

Scottish Wood Pigeon, huckleberry, chanterelles, fig tatin (LQ). Lovely, and very gamey (in a good way).

Steamed Pork Belly, Jasmin Rice (Bo). A truffled modern version of the classic pork with rice.

DGR Braised Pork Shank, sweet potato, pomegranate, Tokyo turnips (LQ). This was a great dish. Super meaty and tasty. Sort of springroll like.

From my cellar: 2003 Gros Frère et Sœur Grands-Echezeaux. BH 89-92. This too is very toasty but the spicy black fruit nose manages to transcend the wood and complements powerful, dense, borderline massive flavors of superb depth, all wrapped in dusty, firm and ripe tannins. This is a big wine and while it’s no model of elegance, one has to admire the muscle and sheer concentration. This will take its time coming around. (Drink starting 2011)

Sautéed A5 Wagyu Beef (Bo). Outside was crunchy with a beefy soft interior — like a Chinese taquito?

Flannery Wagyu Rib Cap, Torchon, Leeks (LQ). Pretty classic.

Cabbage Heart in Clear Broth (Bo).

Actually kinda lovely.

2 Vacherins, truffle brioche (LQ). Vacherin is always a great cheese.

Truffle Cremeux, Sichuan Peppercorn Ice cream (left).

Chestnut Fontaine Bleau (center).

Rose Mountain Apple, Apple Mousseline (right).

The two chefs, LQ (far right) and Chef Bo (to his left in the blue chef’s jacket).

This was another seriously epic night, probably my favorite LQ meal yet — maybe because I love Chinese food the mix added a lot. I loved many dishes from both chefs, but I probably leaned a little toward Chef Bo’s on this particular night because of the increased novelty factor. I’d wanted to go to Chef Bo’s place last year when I was in Chengdu but didn’t want to drag the whole family to a huge modernist Szechuan dinner, so I was very grateful to try it here in LA. His knifework is pretty crazy as you can see.

This was a big meal with a lot of courses. The pacing was good though and I wasn’t completely stuffed — merely quite full. Not on the scale with our LQ Seafood Tower over order! Just about right. Great stuff and extremely creative work from both chefs.

For more LA Foodie Club dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: French Cuisine, Laurent Quenioux, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan cuisine, Wine, Yu Bo

Mandarin Plaza Crawl

Sep18

Earlier in the year, Yarom and I hatched and plotted this particular all afternoon mega crawl at the Rowland Heights Mandarin Plaza — partially at least while sucking down some serious hot pot in said plaza. This place is far from LA proper, way out 40+ miles to the east but is in the heart of the “new Chinatown”.

Restaurant: Leung Kee

Location: 18908 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese BBQ

Rating: check: roast pig before noon

We start at 11am, “meating” (haha) up at the former Sam Woo BBQ, now Leung Kee Chinese BBQ.

It’s right smack in the middle of this huge mall that contains tons of Asian restaurants, including Chinese, Korean, Thai and more.

They do a lot of takeout biz, pigs and ducks and the like.

The space is typical old school SGV.

Boba must be a new thing.

The menu.

Tea comes in a mug!

And there is free eggdrop soup — which was pretty darn good.

Macau style roast pork. Must have just been reheated as it landed on our table in 2 seconds, but pretty tasty.

Crispy beef. Very fried, but very delicious.

Peking Duck. It wasn’t the best peking duck, maybe a bit soggy, but peking duck is always pretty good.

Buns instead of pancakes.

And sketchy extra duck meat — that was actually pretty good.

Overall, just fair. Pretty much what you’d expect. But I like pretty much all (real) Chinese food at a good bit.

Restaurant: Mandarin Bay Seafood

Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 839-7738

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: check: Just ok

Next up, we leave the actual mall and cross the street on foot to:

Meet up with more people at noon at:

Cantonese Mandarin Bay Seafood Restaurant.

The gang (minus yours truly).

The takeout menu.

It’s noon, by 1 minute or so, so time for wine.

From my cellar, a touch too dry — bone dry rose sparkling from France.

Nice.

Second free soup of the day, hot and sour — this was not good hot and sour. I saved the stomach space.

Marinated Jellyfish. Vinegary and chewy good.

Salt and Pepper Shrimp. Salty, crunchy, very tasty.

Salt and pepper squid — somehow we ended up with the same prep twice. These were good too.

Ginger and Green Onion frog. Kinda fried, but the sauce was great.

Overall, Mandarin was fine too, but nothing super exciting.

Restaurant: Spicy Moment

Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-4966

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: check: Surprisingly good, big menu

Next up we walked 2 doors down.

To a new style Szechuan place.

This is what I mean by new style. They still have the ugly drop ceiling, but they have made a tiny effort at decorating.

The menu is gargantuan.
This is a great wine on any day, and particularly great on a hot day with Chinese.

Recycled from the Vietnamese crawl.

Grilled pork jowl with Yunnan sauce. Delicious.

Fish in pickle pepper soup. This wasn’t spicy, but it was amazing. Really, really delicious. Soft tender fish and very distinct and lovely sour flavor.

Dry pot pork rib and shrimp. Also filled with potatoes to sop up the sauce. I generally like dry pot and this was particularly delicious. Lots and lots of flavor.

Black pepper lamb shoulder. Not spicy, but very tasty with a strong onion flavor.

Eggplant with garlic sauce. Fine rendition.

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by Spicy Moment and would totally go back for a full meal. Plus they let us drink our wine on the down low. Menu is huge and execution was good — and interesting. It should be noted, that as of Feb/March 2020 Spicy Moment “rebooted” into a totally different, more homestyle Szechuan place with the same name. I have, of course, already eaten there.

Restaurant: Hunan Restaurant

Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 964-8458

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Hunan Chinese

Rating: check: Solid

Then we popped back to this spot:

Located in between the Mandarin Bay and Spicy Moment.

Hunan is more old school than Spicy Moment, but it also has a vast menu:

Vast menu.

More sweet wine.

And a rhone blend.

Peanuts.

Shredded minced pork with corn and pickled vegetable. Super tasty — pork really helps a veggie. Sure to make things really move along later.

Sautéed lamb. Tasty.

Crispy pork ribs with garlic and chilies. Lots of flavor, not so much meat.

Fish filet with fire cracker salt. Very delicious boiled fish with garlic and chilies.

Spicy pickled cucumbers. Also delicious. Generally a fan fave.

Overall, Hunan was also very good. Sort of a blend of (more old school) Szechuan AND Hunan, but who cares. It was excellent. While the pictures above cover what we ate during the crawl, I’ve also been to this place my specifically, and a more detailed write up can be found here.

Restaurant: Happy Tree House BBQ

Location: 18904 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-9886

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese Skewers

Rating: check: hmmm

When I was spotting during the hot pot night, this place seemed intriguing.

Happy Tree BBQ. It’s a new style skewered meats place.

Very snazzy new interior.

Real coals.

And this warmer thing on the table where they put your skewers.

Powders.

Seaweed salad. Tastes like it looks.

Spicy octopus salad. Ok, but the sauce tasted a lot like Sriracha.

Beef skewers. Not bad.

Shrimp skewers. You eat shell and all.

Hot dogs. Well they didn’t call them that, but they basically are.

Chicken skin skewers. Crispy!

Lamb skewers. Pretty good too.

Chicken wing skewers. Just so so.

Overall, we were kinda disappointed in Happy Tree. Chinese skewers aren’t nearly as good as good Yakatori. They’re fine, but not super exciting. This place looks good, and is probably packed with young people on dates in the evening, but it just doesn’t feel as “Chinese” somehow. I’m not really sure where in China this kind of food is actually from.

Restaurant: Silk Road Garden

Location: 18904 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-9886

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Uyghur Chinese

Rating: check: great

So our final place is all the way west.

And merely across the parking lot next to the first spot.

It’s Uyghur Chinese like Dolans and has the decor to match. Very cute and intimate.

Being Uyghur doesn’t mean their menu is any smaller! They have skewers here too — I bet they would be better.

Garlic pickles. Nice crunchy garlicky cucumbers.

Yellow noodle with cumin lamb. Delicious tender cumin lamb on top of spaghetti-like noodles.

Meat and Vegetables in Homemade pastry. A giant golden meat pie. Extremely hot on the mouth, but tasty.

Special homemade noodle with minced beef. A western Chinese bolognese — tons of flavor. Nice thick al dente noodles.

Manti, meat and onion filled dumplings. These were superb, with really delicate skins. They could have used a dipping sauce though.

They had a little freezer of ice cream macarons.

Overall, I was also very pleasantly surprised by Silk Road. First rate execution. Small, intimate, and clearly cooked with precision. The dishes are typical of the region — half way between Shaanxi and Afghan — focused on lamb, and delicious.

In Summary, we only hit 6 of the perhaps 20+ restaurants in Mandarin plaza, and we “only” had 8 people, but we dined like Emperors on a cross China trek! Seriously, so much variety of style. The far SGV (aka Rowland and Hacienda Heights, Dimond Bar, etc) is where a lot of exciting culinary growth is.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Chevy and Mary may have skipped the first place (the BBQ) but they made up for it by getting shave ice and boba tea!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, crawl, food crawl, hedonists, Hunan Cuisine, Mandarin Plaza, Rowland Heights, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine, Uyghur Cuisine, 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

Any excuse to go to a Chinese restaurant is a good excuse in my book — and that goes doubly so for Szechuan Chinese.

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.

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.

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.

The menu. Authentically long.

Vegetable Dumpling (steamed).

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.

Dipping sauces.

Scallion Bubble Pancake. A unique and delicious take on the standard scallion pancake — basically crossed with one of those puffy Indian breads.

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.

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.

Bought this champagne off the list.

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.

Jade shrimp with crispy rice. Gluten free rice dome.

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.

All their rice is pink rice (with the red bean).

But we didn’t realize that it came with, so we also ordered egg fried rice with green onion.

AND Emperor’s fried rice. Alaska king crab leg with shredded scallop. So we had a LOT of rice.

Mapo tofu. An okay version of the classic. Needed more mala and maybe some more meat. Maybe it didn’t even have meat.

Braised kale noodles with lobster. Unusual too. Very mild in flavor.

Peking duck. A couple people at the table had never HAD peking duck. They loved it of course. Everyone does.

The traditional condiments plus a red horseradish sauce that was unusual.

Hot and Spicy Fish in Clay Pot. The classic fish filet in chili oil. Pretty nice version of the dish.

Cumin Lamb Chop. A more modern lamb chop version of regular cumin lamb. Excellent.

Plain lo mein.

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.

By: agavin
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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

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

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.

Clearly this used to be a KBBQ or something because it has hoods over all the tables.

The classic Chinese joint Menu.

Watermelon juice. Pretty much just blended watermelon.

Smoked plum juice. Love this stuff!

They have the cold bar. We ordered pretty much all of it.

Salty/sweet garlic cucumbers.

Shredded potato. These I like with some spicy sauce.

Peanuts.

Wood ear mushrooms with celery. Aka “black fungus”. Love ’em.

Pastrami like cured beef? Or maybe pork. Either way a bit spicy and really good.

Pork intestine with bean curd. Not my fav.

Pig ear with chili oil!

Cold steamed chicken with spicy sauce. Chicken itself was good, but didn’t like this version of the sauce (more BBQ like).

Spicy wonton with “soup.” Delicious little spicy pockets of yum.

Spicy fried chicken with aromatic peppers. Love this salty dish.

Ma Po Tofu. Just a so-so version of this dish. Not much mala and not that spicy.

Chongqing noodle. Noodles with pork, fried egg, and spicy goodness.

Dan dan mein. The nuttier other classic Szechuan noodle dish.

Mixed up this was fairly accurate to what I was getting in Chengdu. Quite good.

Noodle pull!

Shredded pork with green chilis. Quite hot and very tasty soft pork.

Cumin lamb. Good too.

Repulsive liver soup. This stuff was gross. The broth was that tasteless pork bone broth and the liver… ick.

Greens. Colon sweeper again. Maybe mustard greens.

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.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chong Qing Special Noodles, noodles, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan cuisine

Eating Chengdu – Szechuan

Sep26

Restaurant: ? in Chengdu

Location: ? in Chengdu

Date: August 5, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Solid Szechuan, but not the best we had

After our day baking in the 100deg heat at Leshan it was late enough that we didn’t have time to go back to the hotel before dinner — Chinese restaurants all closing quite early.

So instead we headed to another of Chengdu’s many lovely restored alley streets for more crowds and dinner.

Again, if any of my Chinese reading friends can translate this name so I know where we ate, I’d be grateful.

Cute interior.

More beer to sooth the heat.

Plain noodles for my son.

Plain noodle soup for another kid wary of the red.

A Szechuan pupu platter of sorts — or a selection of (mostly) cold plates.

Spicy vegetable.

Smoked beef or ham, again like pastrami.

Spicy beef. I get this cold dish all the time in LA and love it.

Another (delicious) kind of spicy vegetable.

Mysterious sauce.

Mung bean noodle with spicy sauce. One of two variants. I think this one was hot.

Cold Mung bean noodle with tangy/spicy sauce. I love this one.

Sweet rice cake. One of those weird chewy-sweet Chinese desserts.

A single hot wonton.

Two slightly less lonely non-spicy wontons.

Baby dan dan mein.

A few random dim sum.

Mapo tofu. How could we not order it again? This one was saltier, not as spicy, and with less depth than the one we had our first night in Chengdu. It was fine, but not nearly as good.

Rice for the mapo.

Pork belly with preserved vegetables. I really enjoyed this dish. Rich fatty meat offset by the salty/funky vegetables underneath.

Weird spongy mushrooms and bock choy. Not bad for a vegetable.

Cabbage and lotus seeds in egg yolk sauce. Pretty good actually. This is a combo I’ve only had once, at Duck House in the form of a crab, egg yolk, and cabbage dish.

Crispy beef with crispy rice and a whole lotta-chilies. I loved this dish. The beef was nice and chewy with a delightful hot aromatic quality. Not actually that spicy.

Fresh flounder in chili oil. Lots of oil. Lots of chilies. Lots of bones. But tasty.

Pan fried rice cakes with Szechuan peppercorns. The peppercorns were a surprise to the kids who otherwise wanted the rice cakes. Gave it a bit of a tingle!

Sesame eyeballs. Gooey rice with sesame inside. Actually one of the best Chinese desserts.

Overall, this place was solid. Flavors weren’t as complex as at Chen Mapo Tofu but we had some interesting dishes and they were quite good.

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

Afterward we took a walk done the large and deserted alley — not, it was the usual Chinese mob scene.

There was all sorts of street snacks, and pretty much only traditional Chinese snacks like these mooncakes and jellies.

Fruit with dry ice.

More ear cleaning.

And even panda dumplings!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chengdu, China Cuisine, Eating Chengdu, Eating China, mapo tofu, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan cuisine

Eating Chengdu – Fiery Hot Pot

Sep22

Restaurant: ? Hot Pot

Location: ? read the Chinese card below

Date: August 4, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Hot Pot

Rating: Stomach of Ox in Chili Oil says it all

A visit to Chengdu wouldn’t be right without some fiery Chengdu Hot Pot to cleanse the GI.

Nearby was another of those restored streets that looks like the China you wish was still around.

Replete with pole toting vendors.

And giant gates.

This is our hot pot. It was recommended to us because they have individual pots and actual vegetarian broth — something we needed with our diverse party.

Now the actual name remains a mystery to me. Maybe one of my Chinese reading friends will translate and tell me.

Inside.

And our private room equipped with individual inductive pots.

Some actual alcoholic beverage — almost a week into the trip!

Steamed buns with condensed milk — guilty pleasure.

Scallion pancake.

Meanwhile we have the hot pot sauces. I think there might have been a sauce bar downstairs which I would have liked, but I made due with the fixed sauces.

And some condiments to jazz them up like chilies, garlic (my favorite), and green onion.

Then the spicy hot pot. I forgot to photo the kid’s tomato broth, the non-spicy chicken broth, and the vegan mushroom broth.

The spicy one is an ass busting mix of rendered ox fat, chili oil, chilies, and Szechuan peppercorns!

All of the following stuff is intended to go into the pots, cook to your personal taste, then be sauced and eaten.

Homemade meat balls, not frozen like you usually find in the states.

Tomatoes.

Wontons.

Mixed mushrooms.

Sliced potatoes.

Fish (mackerel?).

Glass noodles.

Green colored wheat noodles.

Greens.

Beef slices.

Lamb slices.

Stomach of ox. Yep, ox tripe. Only for those with strong stomachs! This stuff was so chewy — with a texture exactly like a really thick water balloon — that I was chewing it for 3-4 minutes straight before I thought it was safe to swallow.

Fresh bamboo.

Fish balls stuffed with pork. Yummy!

Lotus root. I love this stuff for the nice crunch.

Tofu.

For those of you who dream of making this kind of Szechuan hot pot at home, I saw the above home starter kit in many Chengdu stores. You take this brick of chillies and ox fat and plop it into the chicken or pork broth of your choice and melt, therefore rendering it all into a fiery pit of stomach hell.

This was a fine hot pot place, and we had to do it — and definitely I prefer the spicy Chengdu style to any other. It’s just that hot pot isn’t my favorite Chinese meal as it’s sort of monotone. You only really have one “sauce” / style of prep for the night. Just lots of ingredients. We do have pretty good hot pot in LA — and it’s very popular.

All I can say is that it’s a good thing that the Chengdu Ritz Carlton bathrooms come equipped with state of the art Toto “auto washing” toilets!

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

Szechuan face changing at the Chengdu Opera

Acres of Lotus at a nearby public park

By: agavin
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Tagged as: beer, Chengdu, China, Eating Chengdu, Eating China, hot pot, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan cuisine

Eating Chengdu – Alley Noodles

Sep19

Restaurant: Somewhere near the Kuanxiangzi Alley

Location: ? Central Chengdu

Date: August 4, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Noodle House

Rating: OG dan dan

Chengdu has a couple areas now of older style buildings that have been restored and turned into pedestrian streets filled with different mixes of stores, restaurants, and vendors.

This one, apparently Kuanxiangzi Alley (someone who reads Chinese can confirm), is very popular and upscale.

And crowded!

Among other Szechuan delicacies they offer spicy fried rabbit heads!

And ear cleaning!

We asked our guide to bring us to the most authentic dan dan mein possible and he took us here. I have no idea what it’s called.

They double as a vendor out front. Or maybe there just is a vendor out front.

The food appears to be made right in the lobby.

And the decor is definitely not aimed at the western crowd.

We split into two tables and ordered everything on the menu.

Like non-spicy pork (spam?) and mushroom and bamboo noodles (thin).

Or the same thing with thick noodles.

And the main event, dan dan mein, one of the world’s greatest noodle dishes — which I even make at home.

This is Chengdu-style where it’s not very soupy, has less sesame/peanut and is spicer. You mix it up to experience the really complex savory/spicy/numbing flavor. There was a good bit of preserved mustard greens in here for that unusual umami crunch. Excellent!

And the spicy (beef?) and bamboo noodle.

Plus two kinds of dumplings. This numb taste dumpling which was awesome — not that you can really taste what’s inside under that chili sauce.

And the same non-spicy pork dumpling in the non-spicy broth (same as above with the non-spicy noodles).

Chopsticks you help yourself to.

Good place. Not a big menu, but I could certainly lunch off top notch Chengdu style dan dan mein and numb taste dumplings often enough!

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

New and old – east and west!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: China, Chinese Food, Dan Dan Mein, Dan Dan Noodles, Eating Chengdu, Eating China, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan cuisine

Eating Chengdu – Chen Mapo Tofu

Sep14

Restaurant: Chen Mapo Tofu

Location: 197 W Yulong St, LuoMaShi, Qingyang Qu, Chengdu Shi, Sichuan Sheng, China, 610000. +86 28 8675 4512

Date: August 3, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Most balanced Szechuan I’ve had

Being an obsessive lover of Szechuan food I’ve been wanting to go to Chengdu for years.

It’s really quite a neat city with both modern…

And “antique” buildings — something you don’t see as much of in many Chinese towns. It also has A LOT of crowds having grown in the last 20 years from about 3 million to over 16 million people!

For our first night we arrived late from the train and rushed around the corner from our hotel to this recommended classic Szechuan place named Chen Mapo Tofu. The downstairs part looked hipped and was MOBBED. The guy at the front barely talked to us but basically told us that there were more people waiting than were going to eat tonight so he sent us upstairs to their less crowded area — we think.

The upstairs was through this portal.

And here is the menu.

I took a picture of the first page of the huge menu. Wish I had the patience to photo 20 pages, but alas I did not.

Signature mapo tofu. I’ve had a lot of “pocked marked old lady face tofu” and even make it myself. This might have been the best I’ve had, certain was great. Look at all that Szechuan peppercorn on top for the extra numb effect — love it!

We had to get some rice, of course, for the quintessential combo.

Mapo over rice.

Had to try some Kung Pao Chicken at the source. Really nice. Not too spicy, but with a complex savory/sour kind of flavor that was really good and much more lively than the bland American versions.

Tofu and mushrooms. Very nice mild yellow broth type of tofu. The chewier more fried kind.

Clams and chicken with chiles. The chicken had all the bones, beak, feet etc. Very tasty sauce though with all the pepper. I really enjoyed this dish.

Fresh whole fish boiled with chilies. Really nice version of this Szechuan classic soaked in chili oil and oozing with peppercorns and chilies. The only problem was all the bones.

Greens.

Overall, this was a great meal, best we had in Chengdu. I’ll have to go back because I know the city has so much good stuff to offer. I really enjoyed the complex spicy, numb, tangy, sour flavors.

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

The face of a (bamboo eating) angel

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chen Mapo Tofu, Chengdu, Chinese Food, Eating Chengdu, Eating China, mapo tofu, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine

Cui Hua Lou – Szechuan Shed

Jun16

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

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

Date: May 13, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Awesome!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

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

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

A menu with fairly literal translations.

And the usual minimalist decor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turtle foot!

Lamb and gizzard skewers. Both good.

Szechuan chicken wings!

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

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

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

Shredded potatoes.

Lobster. Not usual at Szechuan places.

Beef with green onions. Very tasty.

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

Kung pao chicken.

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

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

Noodle pull!

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

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

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

Black Madeira – Blackberry Madeira sorbetto

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

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

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

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

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Wines pictured below:

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

Noodling About – Mian

Sep20

Restaurant: Mian

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

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

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Salty but good

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

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

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

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

And they serve sweet mung bean tea.

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

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

Zoom in on the custard.

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

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

All mixed up for better coverage.

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

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

Extra side of minced pork to mix into the noodles.

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

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

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

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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

The Legendary Restaurant

Aug01

Restaurant: The Legendary Restaurant

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

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

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

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

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

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

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

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

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

Short menu with nice pictures.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pancakes to go with the duck.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The gang on 1/6/19.

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

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

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

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Wines from dinner visits:

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

Szechuan (second) Impressions

Apr20

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