Slid on into chef zhao’s in Mt View. Long referenced by at least one CH’er, I have been reading/cooking/eating through some of Fuschia Dunlop’s books, which caused me to want to revisit some Sichuan places.
Ate:
Twice cooked pork. BANGIN. Often the dish is too fatty ( for american tastes ), but this is fatty but sliced so thin. Heavily spiced. A little greasy but soooo good.
Sichuan Wontons. Best I’ve had in a while. Pungent spices, funny orange-citrus taste, more filling than some.
Lamb with black bean. Slightly less spiced but still the basic heavy sichuan favorite flavors. Interesting use of celery, which Ms Dunlop talks about frequently. Yum.
Sichuan potatoes. As a simple dish, this is closer to the dishes in every grain of rice, and I could see the brilliant simplicity.
Most of the chinese tables had hot pot or boiled beef or similar.
I’m a little worried about the place. They only take cash now (“broken” machine), they are out of to-go menus. OTOH, they have the second restaurant, but the owner was making wontons at the strange counter so he’s still there. And - the place has super easy parking because it’s not on castro.
