real
"ian" > wrote in message
news:BCnYe.16464$nq.13258@lakeread05...
> Man, this review of the LA restaurant Best Szechuan Chili & Seafood makes
> me wish I lived on the other side of the continent!
>
> from
> http://www.calendarlive.com/dining/c...y?track=widget
>
> COUNTER INTELLIGENCE: CHINA
> Real Sichuan's worldly side
> After decades of wannabe fare, L.A. has Best Szechuan Chili & Seafood,
> offering the real deal in modern urban Sichuan cuisine.
> By Linda Burum
> Special to The Times
>
> September 7, 2005
>
> In Sichuan province, where the Yangtze River penetrates deep into China's
> western region, the cuisine has two faces. In the mist-shrouded
> mountainous rural villages, cooking was traditionally rough-edged and
> earthy. Of necessity, the daily fare was assembled from preserved
> ingredients — pickled greens and salty fermented bean paste added complex
> flavors to vegetables and meats. And, as chiliheads know, the dishes were
> (and are) often packed with potent hot peppers.
>
> Meanwhile, in cities such as Chengdu and Chongqing, even before the recent
> modernization, the cooking had already developed a genteel, worldly side,
> incorporating refined banquet dishes from other regions such as steamed
> sal****er fish into everyday menus and adapting favorites such as Shanghai
> meatballs to Sichuan tastes.
>
> The recent mini-trend of Monterey Park cafes specializing in Sichuan food
> has finally brought authentic Sichuan flavors to the Southland after
> decades of mock-Sichuan fare that is really Cantonese dishes with a few
> chile peppers and peanuts thrown in. And while the cooking at these true
> Sichuan places has been a revelation, the focus has been on traditional
> rustic dishes.
>
> None has represented the modern urban side of the cuisine until Best
> Szechuan Chili & Seafood opened in the former Rong Hawa space. Here,
> although the fish tanks and availability of lobster trick some passersby
> into thinking it's a Cantonese place, there's a menu that's solidly
> contemporary Sichuan.
>
> You'll find duck hot pot, chopped chicken with chiles, eel with pickled
> peppers and pork innards stewed with chiles and bean paste at every
> Monterey Park Sichuan restaurant. But at Best Szechuan, you'll also find
> golden lobster, tea-smoked duck and a delicately seasoned chicken and
> bamboo-pith soup. Here a dish may have an initial flash of heat, but the
> heat opens your palate to the clear, bright tastes that follow: the fresh
> tang of ginger or vinegar, the sweetness of garlic and the nut-like
> roastiness of sesame oil. Many dishes are beautifully seasoned without the
> use of chile at all.
>
> Best Szechuan, situated unobtrusively at the back of a minimall, is
> spacious but simple, its two dining rooms lined with dark cherrywood
> wainscoting. White cloths drape the tables. Next to tanks holding
> lobsters, crabs and freshwater fish sits a typical Sichuan-style
> mini-buffet generously stocked with appetizers: silky paper-thin slices of
> braised tongue, lightly dressed young soy beans or cucumbers and ragingly
> hot dry-fried beef slivers, cooked to an almost jerky-like texture. A
> selection before tackling the menu takes the edge off everyone's hunger as
> they ponder the meal's possibilities.
>
> Listed on a separate photocopied page that accompanies the colorful bound
> menu are what our waiter described as "popular dishes cooked by the sous
> chefs." The dishes on the main menu are said to be prepared by a chef
> schooled in Sichuan; items from either always seem to be of equal quality.
>
> Lamb dishes here are simply stunning. Sautéed lamb with chile pepper comes
> tossed with a frightening quantity of roughly cut green jalapeños. But
> while the meat, accented with fermented black beans, thickly sliced garlic
> cloves and western-style leeks, picks up the fruity perfume of the chiles,
> it isn't incendiary itself. The interplay of these elements is powerful,
> yet subtle.
>
> A sautéed dish called Ze Zen lamb with its light veil of dry cumin and
> pepper-laden sauce clinging to slices of meat tastes almost like a curry.
> One evening's special of lamb riblets came in the typical rustic style,
> fried with an equal quantity of lethally hot, tiny red dried chiles and
> hua-jiao, or Sichuan pepper. Sichuan devotees will recognize its
> similarity to a dish (also served here) made with tiny nuggets of
> marinated, fried chicken. Hua-jiao, actually a flower bud of the prickly
> ash, imparts a slight tingling and numbing sensation on the lips. The
> Chinese call this effect ma; it adds a secondary wave of flavor and a
> sensory dimension found nowhere else but Western Chinese cooking.
>
> Crowd-pleasing
>
> As with many Chinese restaurants, it takes at least a party of four or
> even six to put together a diverse meal. With its live fish, abundant
> vegetable dishes and long list of pepper-free dishes, Best Szechuan makes
> it easy to balance Sichuan's hair-raising heat with soothing, delicately
> seasoned choices. Try the crisp-skinned, lean tea-smoked duck (called
> herbal duck on this menu). Chiliheads may be disappointed, but
> connoisseurs of complex flavoring will detect the subtle smokiness and
> light herbal scent of the meat. Both the rich, ultra-chickeny soup with
> bamboo pith and the crispy rice-cake seafood soup that sputters like a
> volcano as the waiter pours the saucy stock over toasted grains, are
> terrifically palate-calming.
>
> Live seafood is what sets Best Szechuan apart and the preparation can run
> from the sweet-fleshed, barely seasoned steamed white fish to the
> tonsil-jolting chile-doused "full-house red lobster."
>
> One evening, we had polished off an order of golden lobster, a dish of
> luscious, white lobster meat coated in egg yolk, deep fried and served
> with crunchy roe strewn over. It was so good that when we'd finished the
> meat but before the platter was removed, one guest jumped up and added a
> bowl of rice to the remaining juices and roe. We blended the rice into the
> sauce to give ourselves a second round of its incredible buttery-salty
> sweetness. Inspired, we repeated the act with the peppery peanut-y sauce
> of a dish called dan dan noodles; no one wanted to waste even a drop.
>
> *
>
> Best Szechuan Chili & Seafood
>
> Location: 230 N. Garfield Ave., No. 12D Monterey Park; (626) 572-4629.
>
> Price: Appetizers, $3; entrées, $5 to $36 (family-size portions).
>
> Best dishes: Ze Zen lamb, golden lobster, herbal duck (tea-smoked duck),
> dan dan noodle, crispy rice seafood soup.
>
> Details: Open for lunch and dinner 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through
> Saturday; 11a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Lot parking. Cash only. Beer and
> soft drinks.