Thanks. 
Now what about the other tow? 
Afaik, you’re not “here” yet , when you announce your arrival, I’ll have the new December Szechuan Impression menu ready for you, and curated.
I went to Szechuan impression today and I had these French fries.
I liked the al dente texture. I liked the ma la seasoning.
I also had the boiled fish pictured above. It was very good. I thought the spicing tasted more refined than at most places. But I was disappointed that it didn’t have soybean sprouts.
Another nice thing about this restaurant is they have tasty drinks. Honey pomelo was surprisingly good.
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Been out of town for a couple of days. Let me see if I can glean the exact menu descriptions from online sources, starting from top to bottom:
Wonton Red Chili Oil
Lamb on Toothpicks
(Can’t remember or find the shrimp dish’s name!)
Cinderella’s Pumpkin Rides
Boiled Fish Filets in Chili Sauce
Impressive Bean Jelly
Fried Rice Cake with Black Sugar
What I didn’t snap a picture of were a plate of sautéed ong chong (very nice) and a dish of spicy crab that was rather cumbersome to eat
Our group’s undisputed favorite was the shrimp. Nice balance of flavors, heat, and texture. My personal fave was that rice cake dessert. A friend and I were battling over the syrup remnants at the bottom of the dish. Although I prefer the toothpick lamb and boiled fish at Chengdu Taste, this was a delightful meal and I would be most happy to return again,
1 Like
Duh. How could I forget. It was called, “Impressive Shrimp.”
Here you go MAO, and w/b to LA:
this is the latest December menu (or should be, I hope):
I will follow up with ordering recs for a 4-top, and 6+ etc.
4 Likes
I gotta say… I’m impressed.
1 Like
A not very definitive guide to Szechuan Impression:
From the beginning of the menu Apps/Snacks:
No. 2: Impressive cold noodles: “Press” love this and the cold starch noodle I’m actually very ho-hum on this especially after tasting Chengdu Impression (Chengdu)'s OG version. Szechuan Impression’s team told me it’s simply impossible due to the oil Chengdu Impression has access to. Not a must do, but a filler, just like at Chengdu Taste. Better to start with Shuangliu intestine starch noodles No. 3 which is another Chengdu street “snack”.
No. 10: street corner (wolf teeth) fries: mala, served lukewarm, (just like Chengdu streets), fried to al dente. really addictive. very close to Chengdu flavors. Sorta must.
from the Szechuan Faves:
No. 22: farm chix in chili oil
slightly sweet, slightly mala, served room temp:
this was one of BRod’s fave,and rightfully so. It’s a crowd pleaser. And showcases the balance of Chengdu style Sichuan. They don’t use “Jidori”, but it’s local Vikon chix. Fantastic texture.
No. 26: tea (seven kilometer) smoked ribs:
The presentation alone is worth the ordering. Shows that Chinese food doesn’t have to race to the bottom. Chuan’s has also been very good at not cheapening Sichuan food. The ribs here are marinated, smoked, then fried; a 3-day prep, IIRC.
From Szechuan Provincial Delights:
No 28: Leshan Beef combo, “legcrossingly yum” beef:
I love this soup. Tons of offals. Spice it up to your own level. Great for cutting up the spiciness.
No. 31 Impressive Spicy Steampot, aka: Mao Cai : 冒菜
Outside of hotpot, bobo chicken and mao cai are the most commonly eaten dishes on a day to day basis in Chengdu. I really can’t get down with bo bo chicken, but mao cai is the budaejigae that budaejigae can only dream to be. Order it da la and wait for your mouth to get raped by the SZ peppercorn this kitchen brings in by “human flesh” couriering. This is a must. People ordering the red water-boiled beef all over SGV are just doing it wrong. This is the symbolic Szechuan cholent.
Still under Szechuan Provincial Delights:
No. 41 boiled fish rattan pepper, or: at Chengdu Taste: water boiled fish in green peppercorn.
No pics, but the unroasted green peppercorn here smells of citrus. This dish is a better way to show off the wide variety of SZ peppers.
From the "Refresh Golden Soup Series:
No. 50. golden soup with fatty beef (sliced brisket): Even better than the Leshan beef soup above. The pumpkin soup is tangy, spicy, and just… different. Must-get. If looking for red water boiled fish, switch to golden soup (available also with fish filets) instead.
Below that on the menu is the “Steaming series”:
No. 53: steamed rice powder lamb. It is really lamby. Mary would approve. I like it better than the steamed rice powder pork here.
No. 12 (and no 59.) rice cake with black sugar: Again, more Chengdu street snack. Mochi on steroids. Slightly oily, extremely sweet if you dip into sauce; finished off with soy powder. Popular, but not my personal fave.
My personal dessert is to drink half of the smoked plum tea, save the other half to go. Why? Adding 2 shots of gin makes the dreamiest herbal “cocktail” that no tincture/shrub can rival. I should open a bar in Chengdu just slinging this one cocktail. It’d be more popular than Jellyfish.
for a 4 top: I’d do the intestine starch noodles to start, the street fries, the farm chicken, the mao cai, finish off with black sugar cakes.
for 6+, I’d add the pumpkin brisket soup, the steamed lamb, and a chili/sour market veggies.
Merry Christmas to all the MOT. And no @Porthos, not doing one for Jitlada. Search is your friend.
[edited: for typo/clarification/reference to Jellyfish]
14 Likes
OMW. Hope they are not busy.
1 Like
amazing JOB
I just slobbered all over myself
Nice reporting. I like how you do the non standards.
That No 50 and No 31 look great!
I guess this “I can put together a menu at Jitlada that runs circles around other thai restaurants” was all talk or too difficult. It’s cool. Good job anyways
Thanks so much, Tony! Looking forward to it–and we will order enough for a 6-top whether there are two of us or six…
The street fries are great. I also love the fresh bamboo shoots; probably the best bamboo shoot dish I’ve had in LA.
A quick question: what’s the beer situation? Do they allow or have a don’t ask/don’t tell policy on beer?
does not exist. it’s not a “don’t ask, don’t tell” sitch.
hope you got your luggage.
Aha.
Arrived with luggage. Of course, the carry-on I checked in at the gate in exchange for a better seat was in the last wave of bags to arrive at the carousel…
Awesome suggestions, Tony.
The golden soup and smoked ribs are indeed fan-frickin-tastic.
to be fair, they’re nothing alike in terms of cooking technique or ingredients of origin; my understanding is that mao (冒) means that the ingredients (chosen by the person eating and can be vegetarian) have first been blanched in water but the soup it’s served with is not necessarily the original cooking liquid, OTOH, budae (military) jjigae is more about making american processed meat (spam/hot dogs) that you’d find as military rations palatable by throwing them in a simmering pot with kimchi along with whatever else your poverty level affords. budae jjigae is going to suffer in comparison just by basic definition. having said that, throw in the fact that you’d have to pay $30+ for budae jjigae at a place like chunju han il kwan in k-town vs. whatever they charge for the mao cai, i’d probably go with the mao cai.
Excellent lunch here today. I’d describe it as a more refined version of Sichuan food than we’ve had previously (including at Chengdu Taste). High quality ingredients and nothing tried to beat us across the mouth with heat for its own sake (and the experience was generally far less painful on that front than your average meal at Chengdu Taste).
What did we eat? There were four adults and three kids and we pretty much got most of Tony’s recs above:
- Starch noodles with intestines. Excellent.
- The fries. Also excellent.
- Mouthful-aroma sausage. Very good.
- Farm chicken in chilli oil. Excellent and the best take on this I’ve had so far.
- Tea smoked ribs. Excellent and a good example of how this place is not just about ma la flavours.
- Mao Cai. Very good but by the time this came out (much after everything else) we were very full, having nibbled away at other stuff still on the table.
- Golden soup with fish fillet. This was one of my very favourites. We got it non-spicy as a relief dish and it was great for that purpose and on its own merits. Sour with a lovely, velvety texture.
- Flour steamed lamb. This was just fine; the similar dishes at Chengdu Taste are better, I think.
- Wonton soup. This was for the kids.
Only complaint: the fries and sausage cried out for beer.
Very nice space too and we thought the service was fine. Our waitress’s demeanour ranged from impassive to friendly but everyone else we interacted with was entirely at the friendly end of the continuum. This is not your cheap SGV Chinese place though (as you can tell by looking at Tony’s menu pics). All of the above plus four iced coffees came to about $150 all in. Worth it.
I’ll post a more detailed review with pics on my blog next week–will post the link here then (unless there’s a prohibition on doing so).
Thanks again to Tony for the recommendations–we’ll be back again on the next trip for sure. Maybe they’ll have a liquor license by then?
2 Likes