Sichuan City (Mira Mesa)

mmm-yoso!!! welcomes you back after the long Thanksgiving weekend.  Kirk and His Missus are still enjoying their country hopping vacation and Cathy is holding down the fort here in San Diego.

In the first San Diego H-Mart location, the north end of the parking lot has been home to three restaurants; one has changed names a few times recently.  It had been Golden State Seafood (where Faye used to go with family) for more than 20 years and then in early 2018 the owners sold and it changed to Spicy Hut, which abruptly changed the name in May of 2018 to Sichuan City (it's the same owner).
 

 As with all Szechuan restaurants, there's an area of Cold Dishes to choose from, located in the dining area.  A plate is $7 with up to three choices.   
On this visit, we chose only two- the smoked chicken and smacked cucumbers. We munched on the flavorful smoked chicken and tried a few cucumbers while waiting for our order.  The garlic-y crisp cucumbers were saved to accompany the meal.  
 On another visit, we shared an onion pancake ($3.99) with our meal.  Wonderfully layered and light crispiness complimented that meal and the onion flavor was not overpowering.   Juicy Dumplings ($8.99) were fresh made and did have a thin skin, with only one losing it's soup filling when I accidentally tore it when lifting from the papered steam basket.  The soup filling itself was flavorful and the pork filling was meaty; a good sized bite.   The single cooked noodle soup (rice noodle) ($7.99) was a good choice one chilly day.  Ground pork, pickled vegetables, fresh cilantro and green onion along with a rich flavorful broth rounded out the bowl, complimented by the round and thick chewy noodles.  
 The fish filet in garlic brown sauce ($12.99) included tofu and mushrooms as well as carrot and onion.  A filling plate of garlic goodness.  We did order a side of rice ($1.50) to go with this (well, to go with the sauce) and the plate was a meal in itself.
 Shredded pork with pickled vegetable ($10.99) was not quite what we expected, but it was good. (I had expected pickled vegetables like those on top of the noodle soup, above). The pork, by itself...I could taste the flavors, including ginger, and it was a good stir fry of pork. Those fresh chilis...good (and sweet/spicy) on their own, but when combined with a bite of pork, overwhelmed all other flavors.  Not really a complaint (the menu did show two chilis indicating heat) but the fresh chilis were a surprise.  We did take home leftovers and separated the chilis from the pork and the heat level was just right for a second meal.

We will be back to try more of the menu Faye's post includes photos of the whole menu, linked here

Sichuan City 9460 E8 Mira Mesa Blvd San Diego 92126 (in the HMart parking lot). (858) 578-8818 Mon-Fri 11-3, 5-9:30 Sat-Sun 11-9:30

Comments

[kat]

all sorts of different items, they all look great!

[Cathy]

A nice menu and quality food, Kat. You could ask for condiments (as I did) to 'spice up' some of the items.

[caninecologne]

That's A LOT of chilies in that last photo...I'm interested in the garlic smacked cucumbers

[Cathy]

The seeds and veins of the pepper hold the 'heat', cc, and since these are so small, it would be horribly tedious to remove all of those. However, once removed, the peppers are quite pleasant and sweet. All Szechuan places have the refrigerated section and plenty of the choices are not spicy and quite flavorful; we always choose the cucumbers-so good.

[Faye]

The fish in garlic sauce is one of our faves! Glad you were able to try them out. The fatty beef 'soup' is still a family go-to dish for us. I think the food here is better (and more affordable) than Taste of Hunan nearby.

[Cathy]

We will try that soup next time, Fay; thanks for the recommendation. We did eat inside H-Mart the other day (had to get the calendar) and the spice levels were just right, although, of course, Korean spices, which are also good. Hunan is different, too...so many cravings!