Sean M.
Yelp
Five, 5 Big Stars!
Check my distribution I don't hand these things out lightly.
Shaanxi Gourmet is pure, there are no American Chinese dishes, zero, zip, nada, "Méiyu".
This alone makes it a destination restaurant. A large part of the menu items are on the spicy side, you have been warned.
Location: A stripmall on route 9. Coming from the west you have to make a nasty U turn, from the east you just have to slow down. The lot isn't too big but it's adequate. The entrance is guarded by two terracotta soldiers, totally harmless.
The long axis of the restaurant is parallel to route 9, which affords a long set of front window tables. Facing front the right side has more seats but there are steps. The left side has more seat away from the windows. The booths are the large and can handle at least 4 people.
The food:
Two familiar dishes were standouts, the Spicy Fried Green Beans(4.5/5), and the Ma Po Tofu(4/5) (see pics). Simple and clean executions of both dishes. A must here are noodle dishes, we had the Cold Skin Noodles(5/5), slightly gummy and yielding to the bite with a savory spicy sauce. There are 3 other noodle dishes we did not try. A lesser known simple dish is the Sauteed spicy Napa cabbage (5/5),
piping hot and spicy.
We had veggie dumplings(3.5/5), these were good not a stand but as good as I've had lately (as in 2 days ago in Chinatown). The crispy fried dumplings(4/5) were more distinctive and the dumplings have open ends like Taiwanese style.
Something that may be novel to some are the Chinese Burgers (pork), there are two flavors: Lazhi Style(3.5/5) , Qishan Style(4/5), the "bun" is more like a wheat English Muffin. Both are tasty but I prefer the Qishan Style.
My big 3:
1) Hot and Sour Potato Shreds(5/5), this is a common dish in the US now but these are very thinly sliced with a distinctive sauce.
2) Double Cooked Pork Bellies with Fried Wheat Cake "Chips"(5/5), the chips are crunchy and the pork belly is soft making a nice combination. This dish isn't as spicy as some of the others but it is still very picante. We just loved it.
3) Thin Sliced Pig Ears(5/5) in a chili sauce, this was a hot dish in other Chinese cuisines this is sometimes a chilled salad, this interpretation was very much to my liking, although the leftovers were delicious out the fridge the next day!
Last but not least:
The GeLe Mountain Spicy Chicken (with bones) was very good (3.5/5) but it's slightly challenging to eat even if you are expert with chopsticks. Eating them with a fork would be more difficult. I would have liked a little more of the celery in the dish as well.
The Japanese Style Eel (Unagi) was enjoyed by others more than me but I liked it well enough (3.5/5). I thought the eel medallions were over glazed.
The Qishan Style Pork Ribs(3.5/5) were on the cold menu, but ours were served warm. They tasted fine and the rib meat yielded to the bite as it should be, but they were better after being in our fridge the next day.
* parking: lot but it could get busy and be careful entering onto route 9.
* servers were very pleasant and attentive, water glasses were filled often.
* Please don't trash this place if you only like American Chinese food. Wrong place for U.
* Please don't trash this place if you had better in China these guys are putting a very good product out, they are as good as the other X'ian restos I've been to in Chicago and NYC it's still new and shiny place...