Lunch #88: Sichuanese Cuisine

Hello again! We've been AWOL. Too busy eating too much good food. But we're back. Today we're at that strip mall on Jackson, right next door to our previous place Thanh Vi. This is one of our old favorites - and Rob rode his bike down to join us for some spicy food.

Sichuanese Cuisine, Seattle
Address: 1048 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Szechuan
Average rating: 4.7 chopsticks
Lunch date: 3/12/2010 @ 12:09:00
Time taken to be seated: 1 minutes
Time to take order: 5 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 5 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 51 minutes
Chopstix quality: Nice Plastic
Do they use MSG?: Saut says: "Oh yeah...a lot"
Where is the owner/chef from?: Sichuan Province
Number of tables: 12
Number of occupied tables: 12 (100%)
Number of business lunch tables: 10 (83%)
Number of "local" tables: 2 (16%)
Healthcode Score: 20
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Family Style Dishes

• Dry-Cooked Chicken - $8.95
• Sichuan Beef - $8.95
• Fried Dumplings (20) - $4.95
• Sichuanese Boiled Fish - $10.95
• Hot and Sour Soup - $4.50
• Eggplant in Garlic Sauce - $6.95

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Rating:

Geary's Review

Few other spots in the ID are more authentic feeling than Sichuanese Cuisine. No attempt has been made to try and cater this place to Americans; there are no painted lions in the entrance (How would you know it's even Chinese?); their name shows either a disregard of or a total disdain for the basic concepts of capitalism; and their storefront sign is only slightly fancier than the default yellow pages listing. It feels like this place was plucked off of the street in modern Chengdu and dropped in this aging strip mall. The interior is corporate cafeteria chic with acoustic tile ceiling, easy wipe wood paneling, plastic flower adorned sconces, and industrial tile flooring. It looked cleaner than previous visits, they must have done some remodeling recently. But we didn't come here for clean (although that's always a nice extra), we came for good food.

We sat around for a while and debated what to order while waiting for Rob. Saut recommended the Sichuanese Boiled Fish and was summarily dismissed as a loon. We knew we wanted the Dry-Cooked Chicken but the rest of the order was a crap shoot. When it finally came time to order Saut had worn us down enough that, even though we expected the worse, we relented and ordered the boiled fish.

We started with a bowl of H&SS that was the perfect blend of spicy and tangy and a huge plate of fried dumplings that were good but maybe not SNB good. The first entree to arrive was the Sichuan Beef. The tender beef was tossed with slightly crisp green onions and covered in spicy, oily and delicious sauce. It was one of the best beef dishes I have ever had at a Chinese restaurant. The Eggplant in Garlic Sauce was a familiar preparation but it's rich and tangy sauce was more flavorful than is typical. Next out was the Sichuanese Boiled Fish and as soon as it landed on the table Saut was forgiven, maybe even lauded. This is the kind of dish I want ladled over my grave when I die. I cannot overstate enough how much the name of this dish undersold its wonderfulness. The fish tasted fresh and was falling apart tender. The sauce was complex and spicy with Sichuan pepper corns that light up your mouth in the most unexpected way when chomped. And finally the Dry-Cooked Chicken was amazing. It's served with fried green beens and coated with a dry Sichuan pepper sauce with its distinctive numbing heat. No better fried chicken exists.

Don't go to Sichuanese Cuisine for healthy food or a wonderful atmosphere, but if you're looking for tasty and spicy this is the spot.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Rating:

Emmett's Review

You are in for a treat. If I want greasy delicious Szechuan (or Sichuan - spell it however you want) - this is my go-to place. Don't let your significant other read the yelp review about how scary the inside of this and that is because the food makes up for it. And besides, this place has recently (sometime in the middle of 2009) been renovated on the inside -- and it's looking good!

The pot stickers - a tad shy of the quality of that other Szechuan place but pretty good. The Sichuan Beef was loaded with onions - green and white - and had great spice. The dry-cooked chicken - no trip here is complete without - is hot, perfectly flavored, loaded with green beans, and juicy on the inside, in spite of the dry. The boiled fish was in a rich, flavorful broth, and spooned over rice was outstanding. The eggplant was saucy, tender, and garlicky sweet.

At night the hot pot is a good choice for sharing. N.B - everything is kind of spicy. Enjoy your trip.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Rating:

Adam's Review

Sichuanese Cuisine is now my gold standard for which to judge Chinese food on. Every time I tell someone about the concept of the MSG150, about 50% of 'em will say: "oh em gee! have you been to Sichuanese Cuisine?" And now I get to reply with a gushy: Yes!

This is the first time in a long time where I can actually remember everything we ate. And I think it's because it was all so delicious:

• First off, someone had told us that we were required to order the Dry Cooked Chicken. I'm not exactly sure what "Dry Cooked" means, but it tastes friggin' delicious. It comes with dry cooked green beans too, so it's healthy.
• Sichuan Beef - exactly what you've always wanted in a chinese beef dish. Great beef flavor with some spice. The garlic, scallions, and onions just accent the amazing flavor.
• Sichuanese Boiled Fish - We never would have ordered this had Saut not been there. Delicious. Don't let the name "boiled fish" let you think: "flavorless." This dish is popping with flavor and sichuan peppers.
• Eggplant in garlic sauce - none of the eggplant bitterness; all of the garlic deliciousness. Great.
• H&SS and Dumplings - Solid but only a prelude to the amazing food you're about to enjoy.

I can't wait to get back to this place. But you don't have to take my word for it.

Luncher: Saut

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Rating:

Saut's Review

Best Sichuanese (is that how you spell it?) Restaurant in Town! This was probably my 5th time to this restaurant. As always, food is always good and spicy.

The dry-cooked chicken with green bean is my all-time favorite dish. But then, I like everything else… I had the eggplant dish for the first time there and it was really good.

In summary “SPICY, HOT, REASONABLE PRICE, and DAMN GOOD!”

Luncher: Ken

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Rating:

Ken's Review

First off, I'm giving this place 4 stars because "Sichuan Cuisine is my new definition of Asian comfort food." I am utterly certain that almost nothing about this food is healthy. MSG makes it yummy, fat is flavor, and this food had TONS of flavor.

This place is a little strip mall restaurant, with limited parking, and tight seating. It's so nondescript I think if I had driven to it, I would have missed it. It was loud and very well trafficked at lunchtime. That being said, the staff were friendly, fast, and efficient, got our orders right, and our food came out hot and delicious.

The food, quite frankly, was just fabulous. The dry cooked chicken was so flavorful it makes my mouth water just writing this review. The 20 fried dumplings were the perfect appetizer for a big table, and were delicious, plentiful, and cheap. The Sichuan Beef was hearty, spicy and delicious. The Sichuanese Boiled Fish was also incredible, tasty, rich and delicious. Some of the best fish soup I've ever had.

However, the huge surprise for me was the Eggplant in Garlic sauce. I actually don't care for eggplant, and actively lobbied against ordering this dish, but boy was I wrong! They could have called it Eggplant in Awesome Sauce and it would have still surprised you by how awesome it was. Rich, flavorful, with an excellent texture for eggplant.

I will definitely be returning here.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Rating:

Rob's Review

I think the last time I was here was five and a half years ago. Don't know why I waited so long. I remember loving it back then, and, thankfully, it was just as good this time. The H&SS lived up to its name -- quite spicy and quite sour. After countless bowls of generic H&SS at other restaurants, Sichuanese Cuisine's was a welcome shock: after an initial, stick-in-the-mud thought of "Wait, this doesn't taste like the other hot and sour soups!" I took a few more spoonfuls and then began to think, "Wait, why don't other hot and sour soups taste like this?" Sort of liberating, in a way. My first bite of the eggplant in garlic sauce tasted a bit too sweet, but I soon got used to it. Not as spicy as expected, but I had a second scoop of it anyway. The Sichuanese boiled fish was awesome. Tender chunks of fish (Good Fish, I assume) in a spicy broth with some veggies, and sichuan peppers. I love those little peppers, with their tingling/numbing effect on your tongue and lips when you eat them. And the portions were huge. I felt wonderfully stuffed all afternoon. Yum! I'm not going to wait nearly so long before I come back here again.

Luncher: Jared

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Rating:

Sichuanese Cuisine Photos

Sichuanese Cuisine


Sichuanese Cuisine Menu


Fried Dumplings


H&SS


Sichuan Beef


Eggplant in Garlic Sauce


Hot sauce


Sichuanese Boiled Fish


Dry-Cooked Chicken


Interior

Lunch #8: Szechuan Noodle Bowl

We headed out, again, for the Szechuan Noodle Bowl and this time it was open. The window lures were faded, but were enough to build a some excitement in the MSG150 group as we entered. We were a large group for such a small place, but got there early enough that they were able to seat us all at one table without a wait.

Szechuan Noodle Bowl, Seattle
Address: 420 8th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Szechuan
Average rating: 4.1 chopsticks
Lunch date: 11/28/2007 @ 11:45:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 12 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 60 minutes
Chopstix quality: Smooth Wood
Do they use MSG?: No
Where is the owner/chef from?: Husband is from Chongqing and wife is from Shanghai.
Number of tables: 9
Number of occupied tables: 7 (77%)
Number of business lunch tables: 4 (57%)
Number of "local" tables: 0 (0%)
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Original Beef Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Adam's Review

I finally found one: I'm going to rate this place a 5.

The atmosphere here is stunning. I grew up in rural eastern Washington, so I'm no newbie to plastic horsies (90% of the girls in Deer Park are "the crazy horse girl" from your high school). Apparently the owners of Szechuan Noodle Bowl aren't newbs either. The pictures on the wall of plastic horsies really class the joint up.

The starters: Green Onion Pancakes. There were eight of us, and the pancakes were cut into six slices... therefore we had to order two of them. This was a $3 treasure. I sacrificed myself, and decided that I wouldn't eat a piece of the first pancake. When the second pancake came out, I ate my piece like an addict eats crack. I'm recalling all of the flavors right now. Flaky and savory dough. Fresh from the pan warmness. Mild but "present" onion flavor. I'm pretty sure that the next time I go to Szechuan Noodle Bowl, I'm just going to order a short-stack of these.

After devouring through our first appetizer, we were all thanking our respective gods that we had also ordered the Dumplings with Hot and Spicy Sauce. The filling in these dumplings was p-e-r-f-e-c-t. Firm enough maintain its shape, but soft enough that you don't feel like you're eating Pb (Thats lead). On the second bite of my dumpling, I scooped some of the Hot and Spicy sauce into my dumpling. Jackpot. The sauce is tangy, spicy, and all sorts of awesome.

Because almost everyone else was ordering the Szechuan Beef Noodle, I decided to get something different: Original Beef Noodle with Soup. Basically, a less spiced version of the Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup. The most obvious difference between the two is the color of the broth. Mine is mostly clear with a yellowy-brown tint. The Szechuan version was so dark that you couldn't see the bottom of the bowl. The bowl the soup comes in is kind of small, but amazingly filling. What I found most amazing about this soup was the tenderness of the meat. The meat was soft and completely not stringy!

.

Awesome atmosphere. Amazing food. Low Prices. Nice Service.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Geary's Review

The Szechuan Noodle Bowl is not much to look at, but what it lacks in atmosphere, it more than makes up in tasty goodness. The small restaurant has very basic furnishings and decor including, oddly, large artful photos of plastic toy horses.

In addition to each of us ordering a noodle soup, we also ordered Green Onion Pancakes and Won Ton in Hot & Spicy Sauce for the table to share. Both were exceptional. The pancake was rich and flavorful and served just seconds after it was pulled from the griddle. The Won Ton were outstanding. The dough was meaty (in a good way) and clearly handmade. The filling was well seasoned and firm. The dumpling trinity was rounded out with a tangy and spicy sauce that brought the tastes and textures together in delicious harmony.

I ordered the Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup which came out of the kitchen first. I could hardly contain myself trying to be polite and wait for others to be served. The broth was amazingly rich. It was like liquid spicy pot roast. The beef chunks were tender and not at all stringing. The bok choy was fresh and crisp. It was a perfect beefy concoction.

The Szechuan Noodle Bowl is #1 for me so far in the MSG150 quest and I am torn between giving it four or five chopsticks. If we allowed half ratings I would split the difference. I am tempted to hold out five chopsticks only for perfection, but I fear if I do that I will never rate anything a five. So the Szechuan Noodle Bowl earns from chopsticks from me.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Emmett's Review

I was pleasantly surprised Szechuan Noodle Bowl. Both the exterior and the interior are very unassuming, so at first glance, there's not much to talk about. They have pictures of fake horsies on the wall. They claim all their food is made fresh and from scratch. Their menu is also short and with a limited set of options.

We ordered the green onion pancake and 10 dumplings in hot and spicy sauce to share. The pancake was good, the dumplings were out of this world. They were piping hot, spicy, flavorful, and awesome. I think next time I might make a whole meal of the dumplings. For the main course I went with the Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup. The broth was dark and rich with beefy flavor. The beef itself was like pot roast, and was very tender. The noodles were roundish flour/egg noodles, and had a nice flavor and consistency. They added some hot to the soup so it had a nice spicy tasty, but not overwhelming. The spicyiness mixed with the beef reminded me of pepperoni, in a good way.

Overall, very good lunch. I'll definitely be back.

Luncher: Dave

Lunch: Szechuan Beef Tendon Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Dave's Review

this place is a definite keeper. the appetizers were very good. the pancakes were thick and savory, and the sauce on the dumplings had a nice tanginess that was a good foil for the pork filling. we made a rookie mistake: finishing the pancakes before the dumplings came meant that we didn't have pancake left over to sop up dumpling broth. never again!

the bread-and-butter here is clearly the szechwan noodle bowls. which if you think about it is a pretty convenient coincidence, given the name of the joint. mine, the szechwan beef tendon version, was spectacular. the broth was unbelievably rich and beefy, and the spiciness was spot-on. i'm a sucker for thick flour noodles, and these were fantastic, soft like udon; they were almost more like dumplings. last but certainly not least, the tendon was soft, rich, and gelatinous.

for me the bottom line is this: if you're going for noodle soup in the ID, pho is the default choice. but as of now, as much as i love Pho Bac, i'm thinking i'm going to be heading for szechwan instead.

Luncher: Erin

Lunch: Shredded Chicken Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Erin's Review

Given the dingy, cafeteria setting, I did not expect much. I was wrong. Our table shared Green Onion Pancake, Pork Wontons, and I had the shredded chicken noodle in soup. The Green onion pancakes were the best I’ve had, crispy fried on the inside and soaking up sauce perfectly. The wontons were flavorful and the wrap was fresh. My soup was in a tasty chicken broth, not spicy, with fresh steamed baby bok choi and chicken breast with the round buckwheat noodles. It was warming and delicious and I could only eat half. I will more than likely go back to have this soup again. Four Chopsticks.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Vegetable Noodle with Soup - $5.00
Rating:

Rob's Review

I'm torn on Szechuan Noodle Bowl. On the plus side, their green onion pancake was quite good and when I ordered the vegetable noodle with soup they asked if I wanted veggie or meat broth, which is always a good sign to me. On the minus side, the soup turned out to be just noodles and bok choy and broth; everyone else's bowls consisted of noodles and bok choy and broth and meat -- it would've been nice if they'd swapped in something else for the meat, like mushrooms or tofu. I did think that, by themselves, the noodles were chewy goodness and the bok choy was fresh and the veggie broth was pretty solid, but all together the dish didn't add up to something greater than the sum of its parts. The veggie broth didn't have much kick to it, either, but spooning in some hot sauce fixed that. All in all, I don't feel particularly compelled to order the vegetable noodle with soup again, but there's at least one other main veggie dish to try, as well as the veggie dumplings (which, I suppose, could be a main dish in and of themselves -- 10 pieces per order!). So, if some other dish clicks for me, I'd easily bump my rating up to 4.

Luncher: Al

Lunch: Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Al's Review

I need a ghost writer if you expect me to contribute to this blog.

Luncher: Jeff

Lunch: Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Szechuan Noodle Bowl Photos

Szechuan Noodle Bowl


Window Lures


Green Onion Pancake


Won Ton with Hot and Spicy Sauce


Swallowing Clouds of Goodness


Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup


Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup in action


Szechuan Beef Tendon Noodle with Soup


Shredded Chicken Noodle with Soup


Vegetable Noodle with Soup