16 Tongue-Numbing Sichuan Restaurants to Try in Los Angeles - Eater LA

"Szechuan Place takes the cake as the best Sichuan restaurant in the San Fernando Valley. However, it will require some convincing for the staff to take you seriously about how spicy you want your dishes. I find that telling them you eat Sichuan regularly in the San Gabriel Valley tends to do the trick.   The bobo chicken is a Sichuan dish that dates back to the Qing Dynasty. It consists of cold slices of various chicken parts placed on skewers and dunked in a numbing and spicy chile broth. The mapo tofu is silky and topped with chile and mala numbing spices. The fried string beans and cumin lamb dishes also hit the spot. Also worth mentioning is that Szechuan Place’s dan dan noodles are dry, but tend to be more soupy than those at other restaurants. Anyone looking for more than the run-of-the-mill Sichuan dishes can try the mao xue wang, made of duck blood curd, tripe, chicken gizzard, and other organ parts simmered in peppercorn and red chile soup." - Kristie Hang