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Szechuan Gourmet

  • Blanca Valbuena
  • February 8, 2011

Seriously jonesing for Chinese food and not wanting to shell out a small fortune at Shun Lee (or make the trek to Chinatown), I decided to peruse the web for recommendations. One place kept popping up: Szechuan Gourmet in Midtown West. Grabbed a cab hungry and when I got home I was sated, happy and my belly was full. This is not the place to grab your token Chinese-American fare. Szechuan Gourmet is definitely authentic. One can expect dishes that include ox tongue and tripe in a roasted peanut chili vinaigrette and julienned jellyfish with scallion sesame oil.

I started off with something simple, it was after all a cold winter night and I am a sucker for egg drop soup ($2.25). Sounds boring I know, but this was a precursor of things to come. Not all that different than your standard egg drop but laced with a very slight, tingling heat. Quite delicious and a nice way to start the meal. If you are not an adventurous eater this would be a nice choice for you.

For the next appetizer we ordered the Szechuan pork dumpling with roasted chili soy ($4.95). The spice key only had one pepper next to it, and for the most part, this was a mild mannered dish, but every once in a while a hit of heat would hit my taste buds. The sauce was to die for. Our server suggested that we keep the dish on the table so we could pour the leftover sauce over our rice. We followed his suggestion to our delight.

For those who like to walk on the wild side I would recommend my next dish: Ox tail with bamboo shoots in brown sauce ($18.95). This was one of the choices in the special board and was simply delicious. The brown sauce was savory and a perfect accent to the meat. The dish was comforting without being too heavy and the bamboo shoots added a nice texture to the dish. This sauce also worked quite nicely with the rice.

As a rule, I always order a vegetable with my meal. We asked our server to pick for us. Her choice was the vegetable trio in garlic sauce ($10.95). The sauce was slightly sweet, the vegetables firm and the dish super tasty. A win.

A note on the service: wonderful. The staff was incredibly friendly and the two people that took care of our table guided us in our choices and made us feel welcome. I sense a return trip very soon.

Szechuan Gourmet is located at 21 West 39th Street in Midtown Manhattan. 212-921-0233

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