Szechuan Taste

**** Szechuan Taste has closed

I needed to finally get around posting on the place after first seeing the sign go up in September, to actually stumbling in on their grand opening day last month. It's really not like we need yet another Sichuan Restaurant in Kearny Mesa....however, a good Sichuan restaurant would always be welcome. With places like these, I like to do a couple of visits and finally have a few under my belt. For additional info, please read Faye's and Kirbie's posts.

I tried finding out a bit about the place, but my usual network of informants weren't able to find out much...owners supposedly from Seattle via the SGV, the head chef from Chongqing, also via the SGV......

The restaurant itself is quite large......and for the life of me I can't remember what this place was before? It's next to the Bullpen Sports Bar....was it a Men's Wearhouse or something like that? Anyway, the place is bright and clean, the Servers are pretty friendly if a bit slow, overall nothing to complain about.

So here's the rundown on dishes, from the best to the worst..... and no, I didn't order the XLB or the Hongshao Rou.

1 - Shui Zhu Yu - the classic fish "boiled in hot sauce". Called Sliced Fish in Hot & Spicy Gravy ($12.99).

First the good, a decent amount of Sichuan Peppercorn...hallelujah! Really. Nice garlic tones to match the "ma" - the numbing sensation.  Not very spicy until having leftover two days later. Lots of oil...I know, I've often said "oil is the pathway to flavor"...but this was really oil heavy with not enough bean paste or stock to balance things out. Which left the flavor a bit on the flat side. The fish was drier and more chewy than the silken texture I prefer as well. That said, not bad. The portion size was quite hefty.

2 - Chongqing La Zi Ji(重庆辣子鸡). Chongqing Hot Chicken ($12.99) on the menu.

Wow, two dishes with a decent amount of Sichuan Peppercorn! Still, "ma" without the "la".....as in not spicy enough. The chicken could have been fried a bit more crisp. And then there's that odd sweetness that we've been noticing in these fried dishes over the last couple of years. It's like an amount of cake flower or something with this annoying sweetness is being used nowadays.

3 - Zi Ran Yang Rou - Cumin Lamb ($12.99).

Not really a Sichuan dish, but it's something I love so much that I make it at home.

This could have been quite good with more cumin. The meat was decent in terms of texture and it had a slight kick to it. Would have loved some cilantro and more onions. another dish that tasted better two days later.

4 - Sichuan Liang Fen - Szechuan Bean Jelly ($5.99).

The humblest of dishes, but also quite comforting when made well.

This was nice and spicy, with good balance. The problem with the dish was that the liang fen was strangely mushy.....really bad.

5 - Szechuan Won Ton ($6.99).

This was not bad, and for me, it's totally legit to have tons of slippery-noodle-ly wrapper (which this was not) with a nice "kou gan" (mouthfeel) and a small amount of meat filler. This was a bit too hard, tough, and dry.

It had some heat, a bit of sweet, but nothing really remarkable.

And nowhere near this:

Or this......

6 - Pork Intestine with Laba Garlic ($12.99)

Kind of an interesting dish. Laba Garlic is more of a Northern Chinese thing. The garlic is supposed to have a strong vinegar flavor and be green....this garlic was more like "blue" which is normal for pickling garlic, if I recall, something to do with the sulfur comp0unds in the garlic reacting with the amino acids.

The intestine was prepared well, the garlic quite sour, but the dish just didn't seem to some together real well for me. Something was missing.....perhaps a bit more heat....I kept thinking how this would be with Pa Jiao - pickled peppers instead...well, maybe not.

8 - Dry Cooked Intestine Dry Pot ($11.99). I liked the presentation, over a heating element, and my gosh the portion size was humongous.

The heat in this was sneaky and got me good......the intestine was really tough though and the flavor one dimensional. Strangely, this had me thinking of Qi Wei, which ain't no great shakes either, but better than this.

9 - Emei (I guess named after Mount Emei) Mountain Style Beef ($13.99). Another large portion, the beef was nice and tender.

Strangely bland though......

10 - Fu Qi Fei Pian ($7.99). I was having lunch with my coworker Lily. We ordered this and had almost finished the meal when it arrived......strange. We thought they had forgotten about it. This was terrible.

Part of what makes this dish so good is the amount of time it spends marinating....it's also a liang cai (cold dish) and this was warm. The meat was super tough and hadn't really absorbed any flavor.

There is one thing that I had that was worse than the Fu Qi Fei Pian.....I can't really complain because it was free, but the Hot and Sour Soup ...it was barely warm, not very sour, not hot at all, kind of insipid.

Overall, I think a couple of dishes have some potential, but right now it's just another Sichuan place in the area.....other than using a decent amount of peppercorns, I'm not sure what to say. Of course, it seems that most customers of these type of places want quantity more than quality, which is kind of sad. The folks working here were very nice on all my visits.

When things warm up, I'll come back for the Sichuan Liang Mian and the Ko Shui Ji and I'm hoping for maybe some nice surprises.

Szechuan Taste
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

 

Comments

[kat]

Hope the food will get better there

[nhbilly]

Spicy...just the way I like it.
Looks awesome

[Kirk]

I do too Kat!

Hi Billy - They use a good amount of Sichuan Peppercorn, but the food could be more spicy....though I almost always think it could be more spicy.

[buddha]

Now that Ba Ren is no longer who is the king of the boiled fish? Lately the only sichuan I have been eating has been at Spicy City but it getting played out for me. The pork belly is not nearly as tender as it is at Carnitas Snack Shack. I know... totally different cuisines but just saying...

[Kirk]

I haven't had a good Shui Zhu Yu in San Diego in ages Buddha......so I can't make a recommendation. Sorry...

[Pete]

In Philly, Emei Restaurant's version of Chongqing La Zi Ji was referred to on Yelp as "spicy fried chicken on crack" - here's hoping Szechuan Taste's will gain enough heat to move to that category.

[Kirk]

Hi Pete - That's highly unlikely. Though the version at the now defunct Ba Ren surely did fit that category! Thanks for taking the time out to comment!