An intrepid team of eight people gathered together to try this Maryland outpost of a Sichuan restaurant from Brooklyn which has made Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list. It is the new kid on the block with a pedigree.
We didn’t need much of a strategy to tackle this menu of very high prices that went along with some very large servings. A couple might have a harder time deciding. The result was an order of five dishes that made the cost reasonable with more than enough food.
This was an excellent meal by any standards. We had:
Paper Wrapped Fish served with a pickled pepper sauce.
Sour Soup with fat beef slices
Griddled Cauliflower
Chonqing Chicken
Fragrant Thousand Page Tofu
All dishes had gorgeous flavor. All winners.
We were served a BIG striped bass that came with a fairly light sauce and sliced potato, bean sprouts, and cabbage. The texture of the fish was an A+.
The soup came in the largest serving bowl I’ve ever seen. I didn’t realize they made them that big. This was the one thing we didn’t / couldn’t finish. It was both very salty and very delicious. Like the fish, not so sour as the name implies. The beef was sliced very thin (think bulgogi) and had a good deal of bean sprouts as well. All vegetable here are cooked just enough so the freshness shines through.
Griddled caulifower and the tofu were served in woks with a burner underneath. Both exceptional. The tofu dish featured firm tofu cut in medium slices. The caulifower had crispy burnt edges to it. I am guessing that happened before the thick slices got tossed in the wok.
And finally the Chongqing Chicken was true to its origin, heavily ma la, dry fried, with a load of dried red peppers. Instead of the chicken coming on the bone in small pieces, these tiny bits of chicken were boneless, but deep fried to a crackle.
Good stuff. We frequent the Brooklyn location. Love it, but its not super consistent. We actually prefer the Kung Pao chicken over Chongqing here. The latter chicken is diced too small for our liking, but we enjoyed it everywhere else. The cauliflower and string beans are usual musts. So is the dry fish filets, but last time they were overbattered. Mapo Tofu is good too. I like the cold jelly noodles, but problem is I’m the only one who likes it. We normally order grilled fish elsewhere in the area, so not so much here. But I may try the paper wrapped one next
For me, the small dice of the chicken makes up for the fact that it’s boneless, though I prefer on the bone. Makes it as much a sport as it is food.
Will try the cold jelly noodles next time. It’s a good thing to order in a group. Safety in numbers. That way, no single person’s commitment is all that much.
We may have been the only people in there at lunch.
Jealousy rears its ugly head! I left NoVA to come home to Montana and I am going to be missing restaurants like this!
I have had so many so-so versions of striped bass, I would like to enjoy one where it is prepared as well as this one! The sour soup and the Chonquing Chicken sound excellent as well!
