PrintA Meal at Szechuan Gourmet: Your Weekend Eating Assignment
I have extolled the virtues of Szechuan Gourmet before, but after having another extraordinary meal there yesterday, I must implore you all over again to eat there this weekend. You do not have to go to Flushing to eat great Szechuan food and you can do better than the quite good food served at the various Grand Sichuan branches around Manhattan. Yesterday a friend and I shared three dishes, each one better than the last:
Szechuan Pork Dumpling with Roasted Chili Soy
Photograph taken by Kathryn Yu
Double Cooked Sliced Pork Belly with Chili Leeks
Photograph taken by Kathryn Yu
Crispy Lamb Filets with Chili Cumin
Photograph taken by Kathryn Yu
The crispy lamb might have been the best in show, but I would gladly go back any time for any of these dishes.
Szechuan Gourmet
Address: 21 West 39th Street (b/n 5th and 6th), New York, NY 10018
Phone: 212-921-0232
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8 Comments:
It all looks so good, I wish I wasn't at the opposite side of the state!!!
joanpieroni2 at 10:39PM on 04/25/08
I get to the city for the summer in less than 2 weeks. This is one of the first places I plan on eating at when I get there.
ChiefHDB at 6:08PM on 04/26/08
Don't forget the cold tendon, and the Chinese celery with smoked tofu. Oh, and the sesame noodles. I love 'em extra spicy, which kicks up the numbing, citrusy Szechuan peppercorn quotient to a crazy degree while still keeping the flavors in perfect balance.
I'd advise against straying far from the Sichuan stuff on the menu. Their Chinese-American dishes are average at best and their wonton soup seems deliberately awful: the good wontons are overcooked to mush and the broth tastes a little like dishwater. It's as though they so resent making wonton soup that they want to spite anyone who asks for it. I love it the way I love cold pizza and Funyuns, but I can't really recommend it except as kitsch.
hatless at 9:23AM on 04/27/08
The stir fried chicken with roasted chili and green chili is another fantastic dish amongst the many that have already been listed here. My co-workers and I have ordered from them so much now that the delivery guy says hello to me whenever I see him on the street (which is more often than you would think).
blim8183 at 9:50AM on 04/28/08
My only quibble with the post is that Grand Sichuan is no longer any good, and hasn't been in some time. They are now coasting entirely on reputation.
Sichuan Gourmet is the only place in Manhattan to make a proper Water Boiled Fish (they call it something different in English, ask for shui zhu yu), which is excellent.
Makanmata at 6:21PM on 04/28/08
Oh, cumin lamb is fantastic! I believe it is, in fact, an Uighur dish but is very often found at Beijing or Sichuan restaurants ... because everybody loves their cumin lamb.
Tam Ngo at 11:49AM on 08/26/08
"Water-boiled fish," unappetizing as it sounds, is one of the most wonderful Sichuan dishes.
John the Yum at 8:45AM on 09/13/08
The phone number listed here is the fax number. The real number (via MPages): (212) 921-0233
jigga at 7:15PM on 05/24/09