Glenn C.
Yelp
TL;DR Version/Recommended dishes: Century with Burrata, Numbing Cubes, Mala Beancurd, and Fried Cauliflower. Very mildly spiced, but decent Sichuan. Maybe stick with the small plates?
I was at this unique Szechuan/Sichuan spot a good while back, as with many of my more recent reviews, with a medium-sized group. It was during the time when there was still a soft opening menu, so hopefully, things have changed a bit. The space is dark and red, similar to an extent to the good but pricey Nemesis, which was this address's previous restaurant. By comparison to that spot, I found the food a lot more worth it at Nemesis, as while they made unique, somewhat pricey Thai food, the options were also very well-flavored. Compared to some of the other Sichuan spots, I found the food, at least for the one chili options, to have lighter mala flavors than expected and, in general, less flavored.
Similar to the aforementioned Nemesis, the menu started strong. Our shared appetizer was the excellent Century Egg With Burrata Cheese for $18, with roasted pepper and fried dough, or rather youtiao. The burrata added a unique creamy texture and reduced some of the funk associated with the century eggs. When mixed, it had more of a dip consistency compared to the usual century eggs with pepper you find in most Sichuan spots, so I guess that's why it's paired with the youtiao. Even as someone who likes the funk from pidan, this was a tasty interpretation.
As an extra appetizer, I added the Mala Shredded Beancurd for $12, with cucumber, carrot, cilantro, onion, and peanut. This was the most standard of all the plates, and there was a decent amount of beancurd, which had a slightly hard texture. The peanuts, along with the vegetables, added some crunch, and there was the mild and typical amount of mala in the dish overall. This was standard, but good.
My favorite of the main dishes was, unfortunately, the most expensive one. This was the $35 Numbing Cubes with premium ribeye, mushroom, dried chili, and peppercorn. As per the description, this had the most "ma" of any of the dishes, with a pleasant amount of numbness. The ribeye was very tender, and the mushrooms were meaty. The dark lighting made it a bit confusing to pick out the meat from the mushrooms, but I didn't mind eating either of them more. This was pricey but tasty.
There was also the Stir-Fried Cauliflower for $18 with pepper and garlic. This was the only dish we ordered that had two chili peppers listed. The dish looked spicy, and it was at a medium level. The vegetables retained a nice bit of crunch, and the roasted garlic added nice flavor. This was good but small, though expected for that price point in that neighborhood.
Last of the more Szechuan dishes was the forgettable $26 Green Peppercorn Fish Stew, also with 1 chili. There was plenty of tender fish, but that was the only part I liked. The sourness was there, but the spices were lacking, and in this case, I don't even mean just chilies here. Usually, this is a very complex and delicious broth which I happily drink, but I found this too one-note, even as someone who likes sour foods.
The rest of the dishes were less Szechuan. The Crab Tofu for $26 with salted egg yolk and crab paste was alright. I liked the texture of the tofu as it was firm but still silken, but there wasn't much crab or crab flavor. There was also plenty of salted egg, but not too much to make it a bit gritty. I think they could honestly advertise two versions, with one being vegetarian for $8 or so less sans crab, and have a good version of salted egg yolk tofu.
The $28 Braised Pork Belly With Mustard Greens was good. The pork belly texture depended a bit on the piece, with some of them being a bit tough, while others were fatty and nice. I prefer a bit more texture for mustard greens, but they were still nice.
Last was a rice dish, which we ordered as dishes don't come with rice. This was the Tea-Smoked Duck Fried Rice for $18 with shredded duck, onion, and egg. The rice had a good wok hei, and there was a bit of duck in there, and the dish had only a mild duck flavor, so it didn't feel too worth it. I usually don't recommend Cafe China much anymore, but their version blows this place out of the water, not to mention the best one at Hupo.
For a restaurant advertised as Szechuan, I wish the flavors were bolder. This almost felt more American Chinese outside of the price point. It's not for me, but I can see why others like it.