Turning up the heat part 1 - Revisits to China Chef and Dede's

*** Both China Chef and Dedes' has closed

It's supposed to get pretty cool by San Diego standards over the next few days, so I thought I'd do a Sichuan food post...and finally use some photos that have been sitting around.

Even though I grumble about lack of variety in "America's Finest City", I'm the first to say that San Diego has come a long way in the few years since we moved here. Now, you can get Mongolian Hot Pot one day, good Issan food the next, drop by an Izakaya  on "hump day", get some good Bun Bo Hue on Thursday, and even finish off the week with two decent choices for Peruvian food to boot. Of course, I'll still grumble about the lack of a good Northern Vietnamese Restaurant, "real" Hunan food, and we do need better choices when it comes to Jiaozi, Xiao Long Bao, and the like. What is quite interesting is that there are four pretty good choices with regards to Sichuan food in San Diego. WellSpicy City is a Yunnan-Sichuan hybrid, which used to be a Beijing-Sichuan hybrid,but I'll let that slide. And like they say, "variety is the spice of life" in this case literally. So I thought I'd start with revisits to two Sichuan Restaurants.....

China Chef:

Our favorite dish at China Chef is the Spicy Tea Smoked Duck, which I think has made it on to the regular menu:

 

China Chef makes a good smokey, mildly salty, yet still soft tea smoked duck. And done in almost a "twice-cooked" technique, stir fried with chilies and Sichuan Peppercorn, this dish is a winner.

On this visit, the Missus ordered the Water Boiled Fish (Fish Boiled in Hot Sauce):

 

In spite of looks, we didn't find this to be very spicy. The fish was more flaky, than buttery-smooth which we prefer. The dish also needed a good dose of Sichuan Peppercorns. It was decent, but not great.

We finished things off with a stir fried lamb dish from the specials menu:

 

The lamb was cooked well, soft in texture. But it lacked the gamey flavor we enjoy. In other words, this could have been beef. It was not greasy, but could have used a bit more heat.

The food at China Chef is not bad....in fact, if I worked in the area, I'd drop by once in a while. We like the tea smoked duck here, it is prepared well.

China Chef Restaurant
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd #110
San Diego, CA 92126

Previous posts on China Chef can be found here and here. 

Dede's Chinese Cuisine:

It was the first thing I noticed on the menus, it's no longer Dede's Teajuice City. The second thing were all the specials.

 

Another new touch, many Chinese Restaurants start with some pickles (or if you're Gringo-ized fried won ton strips), here at Dede's they started with a small sampling of cold appetizers.

 

And even though we found these to be fairly mediocre, it was a nice touch.

Going against our usual ordering pattern of not ordering a vegetable dish (because most of it I can make at home). The Missus ordered the Sour Chili Napa Cabbage ($7.99):

 

Growing up in Shandong province, without electricity, the vegetable that got families through winter was the humble Napa Cabbage. Stacked in a cool, but not an area exposed to too much frost, and covered with burlap, Napa Cabbage was it during the cold months. It's no wonder that the Missus never, ever asks me to make anything with Napa Cabbage. As to why She ordered this, who knows? It was much like a home style dish, nothing special, needing perhaps a bit more Chinkiang vinegar.

We also ordered the Dry Cooked Duck (Duck Dried Pot on the specials menu - $11.99):

   

This was a good sized plate of chopped tea smoked duck, stir fried with chilies, sliced garlic, red bell peppers, and onions. The duck was fine, but lacked the real smoked-cured flavor we love. This dish could have used a good dose of Sichuan Peppercorns. It was not bad, but the version at China Chef was much better.

 

I told the Missus I was craving La Chao La, which for me is minced preserved pork, smoked bean curd, and chilies....often called "Spicy-Spicy" on menus. The Missus ordered La Chao La, and the really nice lady serving us, ordered it, and came back to ask how spicy. The Missus said "very spicy" in Mandarin. I guess something was lost, because we got La Rou Chao La:

 

La Rou (wax meat) is smoked or preserved pork belly (think bacon), stir fried with chilies, in this case dried and jalapenos. For some reason, this wasn't that spicy. The pork was hard and lacked a good smoked flavor, maybe I'm spoiled because I've had good Hunan smoked pork belly. Merely, meh.....

Of course I had to order the Cumin Lamb ($9.50):

   

  At Dede's they used cumin powder, so you''ll get a nice cumin flavor without the hard seeds. I love the salt to cumin to gamey flavor of this dish. It is not Sichuan, more Uyghur in origin, regardless, this is my favorite version in SanDiego. The meat is perhaps not as smooth and buttery as other places, but the flavor overcomes. The lady working told us that most people don't like this dish because of the strong flavor.

One other thing about Dede's; you'll find that the dishes use much less oil. So if that is a concern of yours, you may want to check this place out.

 Dede's Teajuice City
4647 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

You can find my previous posts on Dede's here and here. 

So if you need to warm up over the next few days......... 

Comments

[liver]

I just stained my tie with drool...

[kat]

we had some sleet today, this looks like a perfect way to warm up!

[Passionate Eater]

From your pictures, I always dream of moving to SD, Kirk! Even though there could be better XLB, SD has our four favorite people/dogs, Kirk, the Missus, and the 2 Boyz!

[Kirk]

Hi Liver - LOL! Serves you right for wearing a tie in SD. ;o)

Hi Kat - Oh....be careful, and keep warm.

Hi PE - Thanks for always being so nice!

[Kirbie]

Mmm...I have been craving spicy chinese food. I haven't been to Dede's in a long time. If they serve you some cold appetizers in the beginning, do they still have the appetizers in front where you can choose a couple for about $5?

[Kirk]

Hi Kirbie - Yes, of course. I believe it's $5.69, or something like that. The weather will be perfect for Sichuan...or hot pot!