The 25 Best Restaurants In NYC - New York - The Infatuation

"Eating at Szechuan Mountain House is an all-around thrilling experience. The chaos of St. Marks travels right up to the restaurant, where servers zip around with headsets, delivering dishes with hit after adrenaline hit of electrifying flavor. The combination of numbing peppercorns and spicy chilies can be found all over their menu, for example in their mouth-vibrating ma-po tofu and fried la-zi chicken. But Mountain House (which also has locations in Flushing, Midtown, and other cities) has so much more to offer. It’s always filled with people eating things like pickled frog legs, sour beef soup, and strips of pork belly and cucumber, served with a garlic paste that’s louder than any chili oil on the table. It’s sensory overload, in the best way. Afterwards, the East Village seems almost serene." - bryan kim, molly fitzpatrick, willa moore, will hartman, sonal shah