Revisits to Spicy House

After a decent first meal at Spicy House, we thought the place showed some promise. So we decided to try out a few more dishes. The new banner attempts to clarify what's going on here.....

 
  Since I love Cumin Lamb it was only natural that we order it on our next visit to Spicy House.

The Cumin Lamb ($10.99) here is reminiscent in fragrance, flavor, and texture to what was served at Dede's, which was our favorite dish there. I do think it was perhaps a little on the dry side, and lacking the amount of cumin powder I enjoy(which some palates may deem a bit excessive), but it was serviceable. The amount of cilantro in the dish was perfect in relationship to the lamb. I also think the lamb lacked that wild barnyard flavor that I really enjoy. In fact, when I took the leftovers to work, I let one of my coworkers sample it, and she thought it was beef.

The Preserved Meat with Dry Bamboo ($9.99), was not quite as good.

We had been wondering what kind of "La Rou" ("wax meat") was going to be used in the dish. Would it be the wonderful Hunan style Smoked Pork like the version at Hunan Seafood? Or the more tame Sichuan style La Rou, often used in Twice Cooked Pork. The answer was the latter; and it wasn't a very good rendition of La Rou either. It was really pretty bland...... the whole dish was like something I could throw together at home. 

The Missus was excited about the Hunan style Stinky Tofu ($7.99), until it arrived at our table.

As soon as the dish arrived the Missus asked me, "what makes this Hunan?" I had no answer, and neither did the very mellow tasting, barely fermented tasting fried tofu. The insipid sauce gave us no clue either. The Missus always claims that if I can tolerate the stinky tofu, it can't be any good. So far places that the Missus either likes (Shau Mei), or thinks is passable (Dynasty Plaza) have proven Her right. And on our visit to Hangzhou we had a Stinky Tofu Hot Pot that was one of the smelliest things I've ever seen placed on a table top, which the Missus thought was ambrosia, and I thought tasted what it smelled like; sewage, has confirmed that theory. Let's just say this was very disappointing.

We left wondering....... were we just lucky on our first visit? Or perhaps very unlucky on this one? We decided another visit was in order......

Having had a decent lamb dish on our previous visit, and seeing that what we had was sorely in need of spice the last time around, we ordered the Hunan Sauteed Lamb ($10.99):

Think of it as being about the same as the Cumin Lamb, with the cumin replaced by some chilies. Actually, this dish wasn't very spicy. It was pretty good overall.

We also ordered the Fries Shrimp with Hot Pepper ($11.99).

Mentally, I was envisioning something like the Hot Pepper Prawns at Ba Ren. Instead we got a gloppy, overly sweet dish that was something like "General Tso's Shrimp".  In terms of flavor, this dish was way out of balance..... The portion size for this dish was pretty small.

The last dish we ordered was the Twice Cooked Fish ($10.99):

This is basically the fish filet version of the Eel dish we had on our previous visit. It does contain some Sichuan Peppercorn, and is probably the spiciest of all the dishes we've had at Spicy House. The batter is crisp, and the flavor pretty good, though I thought there needed to be perhaps a bit of either sweetness, or perhaps an acidic element to balance out the dish. Both the Missus and I felt there was something missing. Like the Eel, the portion size is pretty large. I mentioned the disproportion in, well portions to the Missus. Some dishes, like the shrimp, are pretty small, while other dishes are humongous..... this could cause problems when ordering from a group. You'll have too much of one thing, and not enough of another. I'd prefer having dishes that are about equal in portion, and prices could be adjusted to reflect those changes. Add a buck for shrimp, and give folks more shrimp in your shrimp dishes. Subtract a buck on your fish, and adjust the portion likewise. Again, the word "balance" or lack thereof comes to mind.

During these two visits, it seems that Spicy House is still reluctant to turn on the A/C, and it can get pretty hot. The service is fairly good, as are the prices.

Spicy House
3860 Convoy Street #105
San Diego, CA 92111

Comments

[Dennis]

Hi Kirk, I'm curious what transformation DeDe's is going through at the moment.. Anyhow I've only had Spicy House's Mapo Dofu and I thought it was pretty good. I'll probably stick to that dish for now.

[bill]

Second time didn't seem so appetizing.

[Lynnea]

maybe just the lamb dishes are the ones to stick to.

[Kirk]

Hi Dennis - I'm curious about that as well. An aquantiance of mine ate there earleir this week and told me the food was different.

Hi Billy - No it wasn't.

Hi Lynnea - THere was a duck with dried string bean dish that was pretty good on our first visit as well.

[Kirbie]

I still haven't had a chance to come here yet. I think the sign makes it even more confusing, I saw it last time. It's like giving the restaurant three names.

[Kirk]

LOL Kirbie! Maybe they should call it "Dede's Shanghai Spicy Spicy City House". ;o)

[kamisama]

I tried a few noodle dishes there after the change. Pretty disappointed overall. I thought everything lacked flavor. I'm in no hurry to give them another shot.

[Kirk]

Hi Kamisama - Even when it was Shanghai City, many of the dishes were not very good. The only dish I really enjoyed there was the NRM.

[dancing]

hi kirk!
we really liked Shanghai City for the handful of favorite items we would get there so we were hesitant to try Spicy House. but this week we finally decided to just try it. we got a take-out order (thanks to dennis for posting the entire menu http://radiusedcornermenuvault.blogspot.com/2010/08/spicy-house.html)! we didn't get anything too adventurous but it was all pretty good (onion pan cake, salt and pepper fish, walnut shrimp, bok choy, mapo tofu, and rice) and much less expensive than SC used to be for a similar-sized order. oh and the main reason for my comment is that when i was picking up the food i asked if they had xiao long bao and niu rou mein (some of our old favs from SC) and they said YES! i guess i missed those when skimming the menu but will have to try those next time. by the way, i totally agree with kirbie's comment about the Spicy City #2 sign not making things any clearer. although that's a good description for the type of future bathroom visit that one may have as a result of eating the yummy mapo tofu (haha! okay, kind of inappropriate but i couldn't resist). =D i don't usually have time to comment but your blog is still one of my favorite food/travel blogs and i read it all the time and even depend on it for useful info. if there's a new place on convoy that we're wondering about i always remind myself to check your blog to see if you've mentioned it (9 times out of 10 you have!). thanks for having an awesome blog! =)

[dancing]

oops. just checked that menu link and it's not working. let's try that again...
http://radiusedcornermenuvault.blogspot.com/2010/08/spicy-house.html

[dancing]

oh dear. the menu link now works but i JUST saw this on the side where dennis says "...while you can download these to your computer for convenience, I ask that you do not use or post it elsewhere without permission..." i'm such a ding-dong for not noticing that first. okay i'm going to email dennis for permission even though it's after the fact. totally understand if asked to take down the link though - uh, i guess YOU would have to take it down, huh? oh dear... =(

[Dennis]

Hi Dancing don't worry about it.. :)
Hi Kirk have you heard/been to the new dede's yet? Cheers

[Kirk]

Hey Dancing - Somehow, I knew Dennis would be ok with the link. Thanks for taking the time out to comment!

Hey Dennis - I haven't heard very good things about the "new: Dede's. We'll be trying it something this upcoming week.