Revisits - Kangxi is Coming and Spicy Hut

Man, seems like we've hit summer overnight. It was pretty warm today....so why not turn up the heat a bit more with these revisits.

Kangxi is Coming:

My first couple of visits was a mixed bag; so I waited a while before returning. Calvin and Daniel from Georgia decided to join me. Looking over the menu, which had changed a bit from our previous visits, we noticed a couple of items that we enjoyed when this place was Village North.

Since the kitchen staff is supposedly the same a VN, we started with the Black Pepper Beef which we had enjoyed at Village North.

There was basically no spice to this and the beef was too tough. It didn't have the toothsome, but velvety texture of previous versions we'd had here.

I ordered the La Zhi Ji, the classic chicken with chilies dish. The portion size was quite large.

First off; there wasn't enough chilies and this wasn't spicy enough. Secondly, barely any Sichuan peppercorns, so the "ma-la" effect wasn't there. This was really salty and the batter for the chicken was too thick.

 Bummer.....

Finally, we noticed one of our favorite dishes from Village North; the Fried Shrimp with Chilies.

This was strike three.....the shrimp were over-cooked; the shells weren't crisp; all that other "stuff" didn't add anything to the dish and again, barely nay Sichuan peppercorns.

Now, I really like one of the ladies who works here. She remembers me from my visits when this place was VN. But that isn't enough to keep me coming back if the food is as mediocre as it was on this visit. It feels like Kanxi is Gone.....

Kangxi Is Coming
4428 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Spicy Hut:

One of our co-workers; "SJP" has gotten a promotion and will soon be changing departments. "YZ" and I wanted to take her to lunch to celebrate. We asked her what she wanted and she said "Spicy Hut"! Now "SJP" had never had Sichuan food until she had lunch with us a few months back. So we were pleasantly surprise at her choice.

SJPs favorite dish at Spicy Hut is the La Zhi Ji. Chef Hu, seeing both "YZ" and myself, told us he'd be making this personally.

Which meant that there was good amount of numbing, floral Sichuan peppercorn, and decent spice. While not on the same level as Ba Ren, the chicken was nice and crunchy, with a good amount of "ma-la".

The Shui Zhu Yu (the classic "Water Boiled Fish" dish) was better than on previous visits.

A darker, deeper, red meant there was enough spice in this. It's still a bit short in the "ma-la" department, but it's definitely spicy enough. The fish was nicely prepared, very tender, succulent, basically almost melting in your mouth. Still, this dish could be even better, with more complexity....more chili bean paste, hints of ginger and garlic, etc. Still, not bad at all.

Finally something to balance things out; the Guo Ba, the sizzling sound of the crispy rice as the sauce is poured over it is supposed to be "good luck"; so it was an appropriate dish.

The "gravy" was a bit more gloppy than usual; though it might not really matter as the textures change with every bite. It was a bit heavy handed in terms of white pepper and salty. The fish was also not poached as well as it was in the Shui Zhu Yu.

Still, Chef Hu's strength is fish and chicken, so our dishes turned out to be as good as expected. No, it's not Ba Ren, but I enjoy the food here more than Chef Hu's other restaurants - Fu An Garden and Spicy King. And for once I didn't order the Ko Shui Ji ("mouthwatering chicken").

I'll be sure to get that next time.

Spicy Hut
9460 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Comments

[kat]

keep cool, we’ve had a couple of rainy cool days here!

[Kirk]

It's been getting hotter each day right now Kat. Crazy weather this year.

[Soo]

Maybe the chef hasn't arrived yet at Kangxi... I like my beef tender.

[Junichi]

Pretty rare for 3 strikes. Even for San Diego Chinese food standards. At least it's supposed to cool down after today!

[Kirk]

Somebody hasn't Soo......

It is Junichi. Especially since the food there had been pretty good during previous visits. I'm looking forward to some cooler weather!