Comments on: Pork Belly w/ Chili Leeks Still Good at the New Szechuan Gourmet

By: adamprato

adamprato — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:51:17 +0000

I finally made it there. The pork belly with chili and leeks lived up to Zach’s hype. The beef tendon was interesting in a good way.

However, we decided to go all out and try the Bass in a Lake of Fire (as my friend put it). “Braised Whole Bass with spicy hot hot chili & scallion” ($21.95), which came with a 5 pepper warning. I think they must tame this stuff down for americans because the 5 pepper warning is probably on a 1-10 scale. I was afraid because of the comment Zach made about the Ma Paul Tofu, but even with the 5 pepper warning, the heat was “just right” (for someone who likes spicy food and for someone else who was from New Mexico).

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs142.snc1/5252_100108957110_505662110_2645798_1387697_n.jpg

By: jwalker

jwalker — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:48:57 +0000

aaaand some discreet editor just excised the nastier comments on the Chowhound page. Nice to know there are still teachers on the playground…

By: jwalker

jwalker — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:57:57 +0000

Speaking of the Chowhound post, it’s rather a nasty thread once you read down… I appreciate the moderated version over here where posts get closed when the sharper knives come out and people can talk about porking with impunity… thanks for protecting us “lay” folks Zach.

By: wayne

wayne — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:18:24 +0000

Tun in again next week sports fans when we bring you Round 3 of Mistress Yvo vs. The Underhung Men of The Pacific Rim

By: niu yorker

niu yorker — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:44:09 +0000

someone on chowhound posted some more inside dope on the links among szechuan gourmet, grand sichuan, and wu liang ye, along with a write up of a meal at the new place:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/627314

By: Yvo

Yvo — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:04:49 +0000

Mamacita, I’m currently an Italian sausage only kind of gal. Szechuan pork is not too filling from my impression during past meals.

By: jwalker

jwalker — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:58:31 +0000

Mattpol, yo, I bet we sat right next to you… and I forgot!! We put a twenty down for a $16.15 tab and they chose on their own not to bring us change. Always frosts my nutcakes when they take it on themselves to tip themselves… and they thanked us profusely as we left! I guess they liked our (their) tipping… grrrr…

By: jwalker

jwalker — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:51:53 +0000

Had the pork belly with leeks and string beans with “yiban buds” off the lunch menu. The pork was perfect, no problems. Slightly greasy, spicy, salty, peppery, and the pork not overly fatty. Just right. The string beans were interesting as they didn’t come with a crappy sauce, just a slight amount of ground pork and some dark and salty vegetable matter. Really good. The wonton soup was dishwater and the wontons overcooked and falling apart. I asked about the Szechuan pickle lunch is supposed to come with and the VERY nice and helpful waitress said it was a misprint and was very very apologetic.

I don’t mind the slightly smaller portions, most good chinese places are starting to do that, as I don’t need gigantor portions of food. Just the right amount for us. I’m going to hit it up later next week a couple of times when hopefully they’ve got everything a bit more ironed out.

I find the proprietors of the the 39th street branch as well as the help to be pretty closed mouth and somewhat cranky. Perfectly normal behavior in an authentic chinese restaurant, they don’t waste time with niceties, they get right to the food part of the program. But these folks were downright friendly all the way round. When we left three of the cooks were squatting outside smoking and THEY said good-by and thanks. I spoke to them in my awful broken chinese and they laughed and thanked us again. I think they’re putting their best feet forwards.

I asked the kind waitress, her english is impeccable, about the genesis of the restaurant and she told me one of the chefs from the old Grand Szechuan on 9th and 50th was a co-owner. I described the head chef from there, we used to nod and say hello, and she said indeed that’s who it was and that he’s in and out but usually there at dinner. A good omen.

Didn’t get a look at the second floor dining room, the first floor is configured oddly with some wasted space and am curious as to their thinking. But aside from all that, they’re off and running and I couldn’t be happier. More later.

By: b-eats

b-eats — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:31:50 +0000

Had the braised fish with chili miso today and the chicked with roasted and green chilies yesterday. Chicken was excellent, but portion too small and was a tad too salty (and I’m a salt fanatic)-heat was perfect though which made up for it all – would order again. Today’s fish was better portion size and tasty, however almost no heat -and it should have been a 2 star spicy dish… I though the hot/sour soup was pretty decent. Very good overall.

By: Dan L

Dan L — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:28:19 +0000

Had a delicious lunch there today, but I don’t think they are on their A-game just yet. The wonton soup broth was flavorless (whereas 39th has a nice little kick); it was just bad. The Szechuan pork dumplings were smaller and more numerous and arguably slightly less good than at 39th. But the biggest problem was that the braised fish filet (my favorite) was definitely just wrong and inferior to 39th. I thought that maybe I ordered the wrong dish. Stir fried chicken with chilis was pretty much right (though possibly on the salty side).

I expect/hope them to get straightened out over the next couple weeks. While food memory can be an unreliable thing, I can testify beyond a reasonable doubt that the wonton broth was way different than at 39th, which suggests that other (presumably more complicated) recipes haven’t been perfected yet, to say the least.