Sunday Chinese (Part 1 of 3)

While the bully loves all food, Chinese is my favorite. Having Chinese food every Sunday evening was the standard growing up. When my wife and I were married, we were able to find a good local Chinese restaurant and continued the trend.

Unfortunately, the owner of our favorite local spot sold the restaurant, and we’ve been unable to identify a decent alternative. Today, there a few Chinese restaurants in Fairfield County Connecticut, they’ve all become “asian fusion”.

While I enjoy being able to select from a broader array of southeast asian food, paying 2x+ for the food, and not being able to get a decent hot and sour soup is extremely frustrating. And, the trend extends into New York city as well, where it’s particularly difficult to find some quality szechuan (the typically spicier Chinese food with hot peppers emanating from the Sichuan province) food.

Fortunately there are a couple of places that can still be found in the city, with several more having migrated to Flushing (right near Shea stadium). (Note: Flushing has a chinatown which is probably bigger than the one in NYC, and a trip makes for a fun afternoon with a great Chinese mall, and many unique stores and restaurants.)

A long time NYC standby has been Grand Szechuan. There are several Grand Szechuan restaurants in the city, and it’s never entirely clear how affiliated they all are (think there’s some family stuff going on here- the New York Times wrote an article that only added to the confusion a couple of years ago). We frequented the one on 9th avenue in the 50’s until in closed due to rent issues, and we’ve also been to the one’s in Chinatown, Midtown East, Murray Hill, and the East Village. And, I'm sure there are a couple of others.

Our current favorite is the second floor walk-up one on St. Mark’s place, near 2nd avenue, in the East Village. The place is not fancy and the décor is nothing to write home about, but it’s a good sized space, and you’ve got some room to spread out. The food is typically well spiced, although we’ve seen some inconsistency (e.g. not spicy enough for our taste), if you don’t let them know your preferences up front. The hot and sour is ok, but not great—and this is a bit of a disappointment. That said, the pork dumplings (we prefer fried) are always a hit, and we usually order the spicy Dan Dan noodles which get that nice forehead sweat going.

The Gui Zhou spicy chicken is my favorite dish; it's made with an incredible number of hot szechuan red peppers—just be careful to avoid them, and szechuan peppercorns which produce that nice tingly sensation in your mouth. There is also a great diced chicken with spicy green peppers. And, the chow fun is also well prepared.

With fortune cookies and sliced oranges for dessert, you leave well sated, and carrying some Monday night leftovers.

I’ll share a two more Sunday Chinese favorites over the next two weeks.