Hey folks! Has anyone had really great dry pot Sichuan in Manhattan lately?
If not, other picks for best Sichuan in Manhattan?
I got dry pot at Han Dynasty on 3rd Ave. recently and it was solid but definitely not the best.
Tough question for big extra credit: Great Sichuan somewhere it’s relatively easy to park! Trying to talk my dad into taking the subway but that’s a tough one. He’s cranky. I was hoping Grain House still existed but nope, it’s gone, no dice. But, we can probably just garage it.
I’ve had good food at the UWS Han Dynasty — possible that it varies by location, but you can find parking on the UWS too.
I went to Mala Project a bunch of times but it’s been a long time (pre pandemic) and it was good, but what you choose to put in determines how it is, of course.
On one of our flushing crawls we had dry pot at the place in the basement of the New World Mall in Flushing — it has other branches, so you can choose one elsewhere that has parking. Again, what goes in is by your choice, so whether you like it or not is somewhat a factor of that.
Most recent dry pot for me was at Blue Willow, also very good. I guess I have been lucky with my dry pot experiences.
Not dry pot but very good Sichuan nonetheless — Atlas Kitchen in flushing. I’ve lucked out before regarding parking right on that block, but it probably depends on the time and the alignment of the stars. There are a few reports here about it.
Thanks! I wish I could lure my folks out to Flushing tonight after we go to the Met but that is simply not going to happen with my cranky ol’ pop. (We have been there before and enjoyed Alley 41 tremendously though.)
The place in New World Mall is Laoma Malatang, I believe. That was our absolute favorite when it had a location in Brooklyn’s now-defunct Fei Long food court.
Blue Willow looks promising! Not too far from the Met either! We love Hunan as well — have you had any of the Hunan dishes there?
Mala Project was a one-and-done project for me. Mushy, meh fish if I recall. Its been a long time however, but if they are still open they must be doing something right.
Last decent Hot Pot was at Fei Long Spicy Hot Pot in Sunset Park, though our favorite in the area remains Chuan Tian Xia.
We’ve always enjoyed Han Dynasty. The wings, Dan Dan, top notch
In Hell’s Kitchen we liked the Szechuan offerings at Chi recently. Excellent Chongqing chicken. Parking in HK is problematic but we manage
Its been a while but Szechuan Mountain House is another good one.
Han UWS is right across the park from the Met too.
We had a mix of dishes at Blue Willow, all were pretty good, though the dry pot might have been my favorite. I love potato, bamboo shoots, and lotus root in there, but there’s an excellent standalone lotus root dish too. Wings were great, and chongsha chicken too. I wrote it up on the nyc thread.
We are fans of Szechuan garden around 104th and broadway. We like their cumin lamb, they fry it crispy, the sautéed string beans with pork and the Szechuan style kung po chicken. I believe they have dry pot but haven’t tried it. @DaveCook is around there, not sure where he currently stands on the restaurant. Take a look at the Szechuan menu, there are some interesting things to try.
Our office used to be on the edge of Szechuan alley, around 38th and broadway, there are several good Szechuans there but parking is a bear.
Thanks for the recs. I somehow managed to convince them to take the subway today, so we might do Szechuan Mt. House on St. Marks since that’s within easy striking distance of the 6 train. But Blue Willow might also be a contender.
I met someone from a southern state while surf fishing, when I told him we lived in NYC he couldn’t believe that we took the subway what with all the robberies, assaults and killings.
honestly - I ride the subway and have since 1969 but I dont remember it every being worse than now - there is frequently a problem person on the train to contend with.
I’ve not been back to the city since '21 or '22 (?) and took it a few times then (and have taken it since the mid-90s). You will see similar things in most larger cities in the US. It’s a combination of multiple factors that is intensified, of course, by the population density. Getting into the many reasons why one might see a “problem person” — or 5, or more — on the subway train or street or station would veer very much into the political realm.
Blue Willow was lovely and reasonably spicy and my dad was very impressed, thanks! The dry pot was perhaps our second favorite after LaoMa MaLaTang, which now only exists in Flushing as far as I know (unless LaoMa Spicy on E. 8th St. in Manhattan is the same chain?).
Dad liked that he didn’t have to walk far from the Met to Blue Willow via the M3 bus. The drinks at the bar were absurdly expensive though, but a bartender named Michael was incredibly friendly and even comped us an extra drink — he must have overheard us chatting amongst ourselves about the prices.
A bit ironically given the discussion that has ensued, my parents aren’t actually afraid of the subway; my father is simply a very slow walker at age 81 post-heart-transplant (he’s practicing a lot of yoga and some stair-climbing, but not nearly enough walking). They openly acknowledge that there’s a higher per-capita rate of violent crime in their town, Salisbury MD, than in NYC, and they reject fearmongering about cities. (Well, most cities. Philly and Baltimore really are pretty dangerous per capita.) I wish everybody had such cool parents, even though they have… other faults for sure.
in addition to the increased number messed up folks , the overall usage of the subway has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, enforcement has dropped and the sense of community on trains has been sapped by passengers being plugged into devices rather than being aware of surroundings.
Trying to talk my dad into taking the subway but that’s a tough one. He’s cranky. I was hoping Grain House still existed but nope, it’s gone, no dice. But, we can probably just garage it.
