Just a garnish. Maybe it’s supposed be Christmas-y, like a green fir branch set off by all the red peppers.
new Sietsema review this time of Binodo, Chinese Filipino resto in Chinatown, came out this morning with another typical example of an unneccesarily dubious statement - “The national dish of the islands is chicken adobo ($25.99), the bird treated to a braise of white vinegar and soy sauce, with a name, at least, that seems to have come from Mexico”. The term is from Spanish and there are vinegar marinades called adobo used with meat in Spain used with meat, often with peppers . Spain colonized the Philippines as well as much of the Caribbean and Mexico and the Spanish word was used to apply to similar foods they found in those places as well (or also to dishes that developed in the local cuisine over the colonial period ) all it would have needed was a google search to avoid a stupid statement.
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We had the fish in sour pickle soup at Peppercorn Station on 39th last night and it was amazing. Similar to the cabbage type ones but with cucumber, celery and a couple types of mushrooms. It was spicy, sour and smokey all in one, a really nice complex dish. Everything we had was quite good.
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I also believe there is a restaurant in the Tangram Mall in Flushing that specializes in this type of dish - it might be worth a visit. I really love the combination of fish and sour, as long as its not overcooked!
I mean… REALLY? 
(The Spanish term apparently described a local method that pre-dated colonization, but that’s a different discussion.)
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I enjoyed Che Li’s version a while back – piquant with green peppercorns. Blue WIllow does a lovely one as well.
The cabbage snack was my favorite bite of the evening, tied with the marinated poached chicken in the same sauce.
Salted egg yolk corn was mildly addictive (and definitely better than many other salted egg york deep fried things I’ve eaten elsewhere – like squash).
Twice cooked pork was flavorful.
The shredded potato seemed much spicier when we ate it plain before the rest arrived, and then oddly did not seem that spicy after, though the other things were not really spicy enough to mute the palate.
We missed a spicy saucy dish on the table, though we certainly had plenty of food and did full justice.
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There’s a whole slew of “sauerkraut fish” places at the moment everywhere.
i believe places specializing in sauerkraut fish are popping up all over the city.
ha! my sister from another mother!
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lol
I think multiple spots are even calling themselves just plain sauerkraut fish for the absence of doubt 
I don’t have your frame of reference around sauerkraut fish soup but it was my favorite dish. The 2x pork was pretty good. It seemed to me the fermented soy beans were a little funkier than usual, which I did enjoy.
I “grew up” eating at grand szechuans, eventually moving on to what I called “szechuan alley” (our office was 39th and broadway). I found SMH’s spicing good but different from those places, I guess alley 41 is my current favorite but of course entails a hike to flushing.
I’m with steve on this one, I’d be happy to return but would prefer to try another spot.
best,
Alley 41 was delicious, and there was no gradation of spicing at all, it was smoke out of the ears
Let’s go back in Jan/Feb.
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Yeah, after 50 years of eating at NYC Szechuan places, I thought that this one was, as small_h put it “quite nice”. However, the majority of the meal was not return worthy. I thought that the okra app & the cabbage were very good & I really liked the soup. The chicken small plate was nothing special and the mung bean noodles (which I specifically wanted) was below average (but ok). The pork was better than ok and so were the greens. The potatoes and the corn were unimpressive. And the lobster should’ve been better but, hey, it was lobster so I’m not complaining. Nice room (upstairs), good location (Theater’s Restaurant Row) and very nice, friendly staff. Overall, with a reasonable amount of alcohol, $95pp w/tip isn’t overpriced, so I won’t shun the place. But I’m not running back either. Too many better choices throughout Manhattan these days.
they were cooking from a different region, but fu run had my favorite mung bean dish, haven’t found it’s equal.
on a superficial level but that just sounds too expensive for Szechuan food in New York even with lobster, which I wouldn’t order! so many alternatives…im still sorry I missed your company tho, folks.
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Ooh, that sounds very nice!
I have been trying to get people to come here with me for MONTHS.
What is your max price there? As compared, say, to French?
You should look at the actual menu. We had a lot of food, and some drinks, and I didn’t feel any of the individual dishes were priced too high. The lobster was $48, I think, which is unfortunately the going rate in all kinds of restaurants, so I wouldn’t expect a Szechuan place - in the theater district, also note - to be any different.
