XIAN HOT POT 川鲜汇火锅

"One of D.C.’s essential Chinese restaurants branched out to Rockville and Washington Post food critic Tim Carman is all over it for his “$20 Diner” column. He visited the new Xi’an Gourmet in Rockville, which quietly opened in April from the team behind Panda Gourmet on New York Avenue NE. First of all, the space in Rockville is much more posh, with Chinese opera masks and lettering by an esteemed artist. “Xi’an Gourmet feels right at home here,” Carman writes. The dishes here are drawn from the Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, and Carman writes that the Shaanxi cold-steamed noodles are a must-order. “They’re not just a shock to the system; they’re the only noodles made in-house, despite a long list of options, a reflection of Xi’an’s colder climate, which is more suitable for wheat than rice,” he writes. The “Shaanxi flavor fish” has a generic name, but the bubbling buffet-sized dish is anything but. “The longer you let that chafing dish roil, the better those spicy-and-numbing flavors penetrate the otherwise milquetoast tilapia, down to the juicy bits that cling to the fish carcass, where some of the best eating can be found,” he writes." - Adele Chapin

"Ethnic Dining Guide author Tyler Cowen says this Rockville eatery is the top spot for Xian cuisine in the region. There’s plenty of hard-to-find dishes, and meat-heavy soups are winners in his book. Dan dan noodles are a little disappointing, but overall it’s “one of the very best Chinese places around.” Cowen also congratulates the restaurant for the “pleasant service, great prices, no downside here that I can see.”" - Tierney Plumb