Cheng Du Heaven (成都天府)

Things are always changing in Flushing. Many of these changes are unwelcome ones, like the demise of Maple Snacks, the disappearance of Szechuan Dish, and the recent mediocre meal at Lao Dong Bei, ascribable to a different chef (one hopes this change is not a permanent one). But lately, I noticed that Cheng Du Heaven (成都天府 - chéng dū tiān fǔ), in the basement of the Golden Shopping Mall, has been, little by little, expanding its offerings – and seating area – while keeping quality high and prices low. And that it was high time it got its own blog entry here.

I remember the days when their menu was a single column of dishes listed on the wall by the counter. Now the menu boasts more than 50 dishes, with an additional 15 or 20 meal-sized soups, of both the má là tāng (麻辣湯 – the typical Sichuan spicy/tingly stews) and noodle soup varieties.

The "Wonton w/Chilli Oil Sauce" (紅油抄手 - hóng yóu chāo shǒu) appetizer is superb: practically perfect wontons in a beautifully balanced spicy sesame sauce.

While their Dan Dan Noodle (擔擔 面 – dàn dàn miàn) does not erase nostalgia for Sister Zhu's, it is one of the very best around. Another well-balanced spicy sauce lurks below those tender noodles. And the dusting of crispy-yet-tender minced pork is the perfect complement.

Their version of Ma La Beef Tendon (麻辣牛筋 – má là niú jīn) is as good as any around Flushing, too.

The Ma Po Tofu (麻婆豆腐 – má pó dòu fǔ) here is the best I've tasted in years. The tofu is soft, but not too soft, and the sauce is the perfect balance of spicy and salty, with just the right pungent accent from fermented black beans.

The only near-miss so far has been "Chicken with Family Sauce" (mmm... family sauce… my favorite!). A better translation of 家常熱窩鶏 (jiā cháng rè wō jī) would be “chicken home style”, and it was nice, but not all that interesting. Small bone-in chunks of chicken are lightly simmered in a mildly spicy sauce with two or three kinds of peppers and scallion.

Interestingly, the leftover portion when heated up at home the next day was better than on the first day. The flavors were both better melded together and more pronounced. My friend Audrey tells me that the characters 熱窩 mean, essentially, "warm, but not too hot", making the preparation true to its name. I would just prefer the dish to have finished cooking, I suppose!

On the other hand, their dry-sautéed chicken (干煸鶏 - gān biān jī) is the tastiest version of this dish I have ever tasted, with lots of intense spicy and salty flavor. It's listed on the wall, rather amusingly, as "chicken with dire chillis".

Their Spicy Twice Cooked Pork (回锅肉 – huí guō ròu) is stellar – as good as any I've tried, with a real homemade quality to it.

Don't miss the array of appetizer dishes and snacks in the glass counter-case. The Ma La chicken wings are marvelous to keep around the house to snack on. And their Ma La Sausage (麻辣香 腸 – má là xiāng cháng) really is almost as good as Sister Zhu's from Maple Snacks:

And it's difficult to stop eating slices of their house-cured pork belly (成都臘肉 - chéng dū là ròu):

Cheng Du Heaven serves, for my money, the best Sichuan food in Flushing at the moment (Little Pepper is in College Point). Because of the very spartan dining environs, one might wish that some of the dishes were a buck or two cheaper, but it's still a great value.

Cheng Du Heaven (成都天府)
Golden Shopping Mall basement food court
41-28 Main St., Flushing 11355
(7 train to Flushing-Main St., then 3 blocks south on Main)

More Szechuan Dish (美四川) (CLOSED)

It didn’t take me long to return to the purveyors of the greatest noodle dish in New York and keep my promise – I had ròu shào dòu huā miàn (肉紹豆花面) this evening. And it lived up to its promise – a really lovely dish.

What you can’t see below the surface of ground pork, soft tofu (豆花 - dòu huā - literally means "bean flower"), and roasted peanuts is that it’s a deep bowl full of noodles. The broth is spicy but not overpoweringly so, with the barest hint of sourness. There’s just enough of it to keep the noodles from sticking together, but not so much that it becomes a soup. It’s rather like noodles flavored with a delicate má pó dòu fǔ (麻婆豆腐). Works for me!

Delicious as this is, my heart still belongs to ròu shào gān nǎn miàn. Either one, though - or just about anything else they make - is sufficiently good reason to make a special trip to Beautiful Sichuan (the Chinese name of Szechuan Dish is měi sì chuān, or "beautiful Sichuan").

Szechuan Dish (美四川) - New World Mall food court
Main & Roosevelt (enter on Roosevelt), Flushing 11354
718-353-4957
(7 train to Main St.-Flushing)

The greatest noodle dish in New York (CLOSED)

Tonight I ate a noodle dish that temporarily eradicated memories of all other noodle dishes I've ever eaten - it was that good - at Szechuan Dish (美四川), in the food court of the New World Mall. I wrote previously that on my first visit, ròu shào dòu huā miàn (肉紹豆花面 - noodles with soft tofu and pork) had piqued my interest to try the next time. But, for some reason, I skipped right over it this evening and ordered ròu shao gān nǎn miàn (肉紹干煵面 - sliced noodles with Szechuan chili-minced pork and peanut). It is, I think, the greatest noodle dish I've ever tried.

The picture does not begin to do justice to the magic of this dish. First off, the knife-shaved noodles are the most delicate I have ever encountered. They are positively light, almost lacy. In the bottom of the dish is a sauce of hot oil and spices, and sprinkled on top are minced pork, crushed peanut, and some chopped scallions. It is more than the sum of its parts, and eating it must be something akin to what Nirvana is like.

I was a bit puzzled by the Chinese name of the dish, and my thanks to Miss Audrey Lo for helping me decipher it (okay, for doing most of the deciphering for me). It seems that 干煵面 (gān nǎn miàn) is a type of noodle dish with lightly-fried sauce (apparently dàn dàn miàn (担担面) and my beloved zhá jiàng miàn (炸酱面) are both varieties of gān nǎn miàn), and 肉紹 (ròu shao) refers to the addition of minced pork.

And for the first time that I can remember, I had to know the name of the person who made this dish. His name is Yáng Kūn Qián (阳坤乾), and, as I noted before, is from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. This man can COOK.

Divine as those noodles were, they weren't quite a meal, so I decided try the hóng yóu chāo shǒu, wontons in red hot oil (or "Wontons in Roasted Chili Sauce" - 紅油抄手). By now not unexpectedly, the greatest version of these I've tried. They're quite similar in style to Little Pepper's - the red oil is practically a broth - but with MUCH bolder flavors. The wontons are meaty and HUGE... I've been served smaller dumplings than these.

Next visit I'm definitely going to sample that ròu shào dòu huā miàn. I swear.

Szechuan Dish (美四川) - New World Mall food court
Main & Roosevelt (enter on Roosevelt), Flushing 11354
718-353-4957
(7 train to Main St.-Flushing)

Szechuan Dish - 美四川 (New World Mall) (CLOSED)

Quite a few stalls in the New World Mall food court have closed recently, followed by some new arrivals. For me, the most interesting of the newcomers, open just six days, is Szechuan Dish (美四川) in stall 25, sharing the southeast corner with the wonderful Tian Fu.

Manning the counter is an energetic and engaging young fellow named Michael who will happily explain any dish to you (his English is great - no language barrier here). I quickly guessed this was a family operation, and sure enough, his mother and father are the ones cooking in the kitchen. They are from Chengdu (the round badge in their sign has Chinese characters that mean "Chendgu flavor"), and are serving some dishes I have not encountered in New York before. I was told they import from Chengdu the preserved tofu used in the cold dish cōng xiāng dòu jīn (葱香豆筋), shreds of preserved tofu (often called "bean gluten") in a vinegar-scallion sauce, a dish of which they seem especially proud. And with good reason - it's unique and delicious: the bracing sauce is the perfect counterpoint to the heartiness of the slightly chewy preserved tofu shreds.

Also new to me is liáng bàn xīn shé (凉拌心舌), a cold "salad" of sliced heart and tongue in chili oil. It's marvelous - sort of the pig's response to the famous Sichuan dish fū qī fèi piàn (夫妻肺片) - ox tongue and tripe.

They're keeping it fairly simple to start off, with plans to expand the menu a bit later. So for now, there are dumplings in red hot oil (hóng yóu shuǐ jiǎo - 紅油水餃), some interesting-sounding noodle dishes (I'm quite eager to try ròu shào dòu huā miàn - 肉紹豆花面 - noodles with soft tofu and pork), and several other cold dishes. These include a má là crispy fish to rival Sister Zhu's of the now-defunct-but-resurrecting-at-some-future-date Savor Fusion (where is she now, anyway?), and the delightful liáng bàn jīn zhēn gū (凉拌金针菇) - enoki mushrooms in a tangy sauce. That's it there on the lower right:

So, stop by and welcome them to the neighborhood. You'll be rewarded with some unusual - and unusually tasty - cooking.

Szechuan Dish - New World Mall food court
Main & Roosevelt (enter on Roosevelt), Flushing 11354
718-353-4957
(7 train to Main St.-Flushing)
New World Mall food court website

Tian Fu (New World Mall)

Opened just a few days ago, Tian Fu (天府) is the new occupant of stall 24, in the southeast corner of the lower-level food court in the New World Mall, and it's my latest Flushing obsession. They do one thing, and they do it superbly. But inherent in that one thing are possibilities of infinite variation.

What they do is 麻辣香鍋 (má là xiāng guō), sometimes called 老车记麻辣香鍋 (lǎo chē jì má là xiāng guō). As near as I can tell, lǎo chē jì means something like "old-fashioned". Má là xiāng guō is essentially a mixed spicy pot: má là is spicy and tingly, xiāng guō is fragrant pot, referring here to a sort of "dry" hot pot. The concept is simple: choose the type and amount of your ingredients from a wide variety on display, plus the level of spiciness desired. The ingredients are weighed – you’re charged by weight – and sent back to the kitchen. A few minutes later they emerge in a large metal bowl, having been stir-fried, along with some liquid, in seasonings that will be familiar to anyone who has enjoyed Chongqing-style dishes at any of the good Sichuan restaurants around town: ginger, garlic, scallion, at least two kinds of hot dried red peppers, Sichuan peppercorn, sesame seeds, and a sprinkling of fresh cilantro. (photos courtesy of Pete Cuce)


As to the ingredients available, there’s something to satisfy everybody. A partial list: shaved beef, chicken wing, chicken breast, spam (you MUST get some spam – whatever your normal feelings about spam, it is utterly delicious this way), shrimp, tofu, fish tofu, fish ball, lotus root, seaweed, rice cake, tofu skin, Napa cabbage, bok choy leaves, enoki mushrooms, tree ear, spinach, potato, and a bunch of other vegetables I can’t remember because... well, I tend not to pay all that much attention to vegetables. I would actually advise against getting beef – there are far better ways to enjoy the flavor of beef, and it tends to come out a bit chewy. Likewise, skip the strips of chicken breast - they cook faster than the other ingredients and dry out. Go for the chicken wing bits instead. They take "spicy" seriously here – if you ask for very spicy, it will indeed be VERY spicy! And the spice balance tends to be a bit heavy on the tingly/numbing Sichuan peppercorn. I like it, but it’s not to everyone’s taste.
(And, a photo of my own:)

And the price is definitely right: you can gorge yourself for eight bucks a head, tops – probably less. (Edit:  That price was based on an introductory offer.  Make that $10-12 - still reasonable!)  And since you compose the meal yourself, the chances are good that it's going to be totally satisfying. Obviously, I love this place.

One of the guys behind the counter (the staff is young, energetic, and their English is generally good) told me this dish is from Chongqing, which certainly makes sense when comparing the flavors to other dishes labeled "Chongqing" I’ve had. And I got curious about the name Tian Fu, since this isn’t the first time I've encountered that name associated with Sichuan restaurants. A little research turned up a couple of tidbits of information – Tian Fu is the name of an important square in the center of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, and Sichuan province has the nickname tiān fǔ zhī guó (天府之国), a place blessed with abundant natural resources (tiān also means sky or heaven).

Tian Fu – New World Mall food court
Main & Roosevelt (enter on Roosevelt), Flushing 11354
(7 train to Main St.-Flushing)
New World Mall food court website

Savor Fusion (Maple Snacks) (CLOSED)

A couple of weeks ago, I received a tweet from the intrepid Joe DiStefano, of the World’s Fare blog, about a truly great bowl of dàn dàn miàn he had just eaten at a new food court in Flushing. I trust his opinion more than just about any food writer I can think of, so I headed out the next day, in the rain, to find the Savor Fusion food court (although the Chinese characters on the awning – 楓林小吃 – mean “Maple Snacks”). What I found was a nicely-appointed, brand-spanking-new food court with eight stalls that serve some pretty damn good food at fantastic prices. It has become my latest Flushing obsession.

Of course, Joe managed to find it the very first day it was open for business (how on earth does he do it?), which means, I guess, that I was there on its second day. They are still putting on some finishing touches, and the promised English menus have yet to materialize, but it is surprisingly inviting for a Flushing food court, and a 洋鬼子 like me can almost always find a helpful translator when necessary.

Each stall has a placard above the counter with its menu – Chinese only, so far, except for the Shanghai stall – and stall number (somehow two stalls ended up with the designation “#1”, but no matter…). To hit the highlights of my explorations so far: the stall #1 at the very back of the court, away from the doors, is called 水餃 (shuǐ jiǎo, or boiled dumplings) and serves, true to its name, some stellar boiled dumplings. They have some half-dozen varieties that are frozen to take home, or they'll boil up and serve you. The first time I ordered 三鮮 水 (sān xiān shuǐ jiǎo – literally “three fresh”, or three treasure dumplings, the treasures in question being pork, shrimp and chive), I was presented with probably the most perfect dumplings I have ever tasted: the filling was the perfect balance of ingredients, the wrappers just the right consistency, and the two were perfectly wedded together. I subsequently discovered it makes a difference just who boils them up here – of the two guys behind the counter at various times, if there is a choice, try to get to the one with the more prominent, slightly “chiseled” facial features. Neither speak any English, so practice the phrase “sān xiān shuǐ jiǎo”, and for $3.50 you’ll be rewarded with an unbeatable snack.

Next door is #2, hand-pulled noodles. As far as I can tell, their menu is all noodles in soup (the fried noodle thing seems to be show up mostly in southern Chinese cuisines, and these guys are, I think, from the north). They also do knife-shave noodles – 刀削面 (dāo xiāo miàn) – made the real traditional way, shaving the noodles off the top of a block of dough with a cleaver into boiling water (be sure to watch the guy do it), not by using the machine that looks like a hand-held mandoline that I’ve seen in at least one stall in the New World Mall. You might want to ask for these to be cooked more “al dente” – mine had been boiled just a bit too long for my taste, but were otherwise delicious. English is good here, and they are happy to work with you to give you something you’ll like.

Just across the way that leads to the restroom (yes, there is a nice, clean restroom here!) is a Taiwanese stand (#3) called “Fried dumpling” that I haven’t tried yet, but I’m told has excellent má là tāng (麻辣汤, a spicy-tingly noodle soup with a little bit everything in it, plus your choice of meat). Just around the corner is #4, which has no English name, but the Chinese characters are 河南 (HeNan, as in the province). Among other things, they do two kinds of stuffed small steamed pancakes – one being a spicy cumin lamb filling very much like that of Xi’an Famous Foods (and every bit as good, if not better, because their pancakes tend to be fresher), and the other an utterly delicious chopped stewed pork belly filling (ask for 肉夾饃 – ròu jià mó). Their zhá jiang miàn (炸酱面 – noodles with a minced pork and brown bean sauce) is also very good, although next time I will ask them to leave off the bean sprouts.

Continuing to the right is stall #5, called Tian Jin (天津, the city near Beijing). I have not yet investigated this one, and can’t figure out what they do, but almost no item is more than $3.00 (I’m guessing a lot of breakfast items – on mystery Chinese menus, it’s a pretty safe bet that things under $2 are breakfast items). #6 to the right is another stall I haven’t tried with a very short, inexpensive menu that includes two things translated into English: vegetable roll and fried chicken wings. Not quite sufficient to pique my curiosity enough to try it. And all the way to the right, by the Main St. entrance, is the second stall marked #1, purveying Shanghai specialties. A menu placard completely translated into English appeared this week, and it definitely looks worth a try (I haven’t yet, but maybe later today...). Their offerings fall into two categories: almost two dozen prepared (cold) items are available by the pound (a lot of great-looking stuff here), and hot wontons and noodle soups.

But in between these last two is, predictably, my favorite – the Sichuan stall (#7). Thanks to Joe DiStefano, I know that 成都小吃朱大姐 is run by Sister Zhu, and she makes truly the most delicious dàn dàn miàn (担担面 – noodles with a spicy/numbing minced pork sauce) I have ever tried. But that’s only the beginning. Her fū qī fèi piàn (夫妻肺片 – cold ox tongue and tripe in spicy sauce) is a thing of beauty, and both her má là jī (麻辣雞 – cold spicy/tingly chicken) and má là yú (麻辣魚 – spicy/tingly fish, an especially good deal at 6 bucks for a an order of 5 or 6 medium-sized fish) are outrageously delicious. She also makes the best má pó dòu fǔ (麻婆豆腐 – bean curd with spicy minced pork) I’ve had in years, since the early days of Little Pepper (no more – they make it differently now). She really cares about what she serves, and her English is pretty good (if her son is working, his English is great - he’s very good with a wok, too). And her homemade sausages (香肠 - xiāng cháng) are probably the most delicious I’ve tasted in this country... the flavor kept reminding me of Spain, except the Spanish don’t use Sichuan peppercorn!



Savor Fusion (aka Maple Snacks)
42-01 Main St., Flushing 11355
718-886-6966,
(7 train to Flushing-Main St., then walk south 5 blocks on Main)

Little Pepper - New Location

As some of you may know, Little Pepper was closed for several months while they moved to their new location in the College Point neighborhood north of Flushing. After four or five visits to their new digs, I'm delighted to report that the food is as good as ever and the prices barely changed. There are a few items from the old menu oddly missing from the new one, but if you ask, they can almost always do it for you anyway. And the new space is great - roomy, modern, clean. It's just a bitch to get to without a car!

Little Pepper
18-24 College Point Blvd., Flushing 11356
718-939-7788
(7 train to Main St.-Flushing, then take the Q65 or Q20A bus to College Point Blvd. & 18th Ave.)

Old Sichuan

With the demise of the Grand Sichuan at Ninth Ave. and 51st St., and the inflation-commensurate-with-popularity of the prices at Szechuan Gourmet (making it now essentially an expensive restaurant), there has been a void in options for reasonably-priced, good Sichuan food in Manhattan. Thankfully, that void has now been filled by a relative new-comer, Old Sichuan in Chinatown.

Occupying the space directly across the street from New Green Bo, vacated by Yeah Shanghai Deluxe when it moved to the corner, they serve some of the most pleasing Sichuan food west of Little Pepper, including some relative rarities. I'm crazy about flaky turnip cakes with ham but almost never encounter them--Old Sichuan's are excellent. Cold dishes sampled so far--spicy beef tendon and sliced pork belly with garlic sauce--are stellar, with bold, complex, fresh flavors. The same goes for the Sichuan wonton in red hot oil... I wanted to drink the remaining sauce when the delicate wontons were gone. The dry bean curd with spicy black bean is my favorite dry bean curd dish I've tried anywhere, and the sour string bean with minced pork is just what it should be: sour, spicy, delicious. Ask about the special chicken dish on the wall (and not on the regular) menu. It's a dish of which the proprietress seems especially proud: chunks of chicken dry-sauteed with three kinds of pepper flavor... a lovely dish.

Old Sichuan
65 Bayard St., New York, NY 10013
212-227-9888
website

Some Little Pepper pictures

(Little Pepper has moved.)
I can't think of any food I would rather have on a cold Christmas day than Little Pepper... I can almost feel these hot peppers warming me up right now. Luckily, it appears to be open (as are most Chinatown restaurants in NYC), so out I go--just as soon as I do some practicing!

Some pictures from a recent outing there by the tireless Jose...

Wontons in red hot oil:

The broth is not as fiery as it looks. In fact, the overall effect is (for me, at least) that of comfort food!

My favorite cold appetizer, chicken in spicy sauce:


My new favorite rice dish here, the fried rice with Sichuan brined vegetable (what the name doesn't mention is the minced pork!):


Enhanced pork (similar to twice-cooked pork):


Braised sliced fish in spicy soup base:


Cauliflower with smoked pork belly:


Shredded pork with dried bean curd:


And, what is probably my favorite dish here, the whole fish with spicy minced pork:




Little Pepper
133-43 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing 11354
718-939-7788
http://www.little-pepper.com/
(7 train to Main St.-Flushing, then a block and half west)

More Little Pepper

(Little Pepper has moved.)
A bit of food porn from last night's outing to Little Pepper. Thanks, once again, to Jose for the pics, and Jennifer the great company. This is not to say that Jose isn't great company, too...

The complimentary Sichuan pickled vegetables and peanuts:


Noodles with spicy meat sauce (the first cousin of dan dan noodle):


The last page of the menu is comprised of several dishes called "griddle-cooked... (fill in the blank)". At Little Pepper, "griddle" is, apparently, what they call a non-stick pot--a good-sized potful of whatever you have ordered arrives, spiced for the fearless. I don't get to order these very often because I'm rarely with enough people that can agree on one of these dishes, but on this occasion we were all of the same mind and got the griddle-cooked beef and lamb. As you can probably see, it's beef and lamb, thinly sliced, cooked with a generous shovelful of dried red pepper, ginger, garlic, Chinese parsley and Sichuan peppercorns, and some potato and lotus root thrown in for contrast. It is, one need hardly add, as good as it looks:


And a spoonful of it on the plate (with lotus root prominent):

Golden Shopping Mall Food Court

I'm glad Jennifer was interested in meeting me in Flushing for a bite this afternoon--I might have wimped out on making the trek out there, but I'm always glad when I go. Today it was the Golden Shopping Mall Food Court, on the corner of Main St. and 41st Rd.

Much has been written about this place (by Chowhound-ers, Robert Sietsema, and others) so I'll simply add my voice to the chorus: if you want a unique food experience and to feel like you are no longer in the U.S. for a while, get on that 7 train and hie thee to Flushing. And at the Golden Shopping Mall, do not expect a food court anything like you'll find in your basic American shopping mall: here you'll find 8 or 9 cramped stalls along a lowercase-h-shaped passage on the lower level of the building.

With my particular food proclivities, three stalls stand out. The stall serving Sichuan food--just to the left of the bottom of the stairs at the Main St. entrance--is excellent. No English menu, and no English spoken. Ordering is a bit tricky for the non-Mandarin-speaker, to say the least, but some friends and I managed it on a previous visit. People say this joint serves the most authentic Sichuan food in New York. This may be true, but of the 4 dishes we tried, all were nearly as good or as good at Little Pepper. Where you can sit at a real table, have a little more confidence while ordering, and pay only very slightly more.

For me, the two real gems are side-by side at the back. You're likely to smell the cumin-infused lamb before you figure out which stall is serving it. Featuring specialties from Xi'an, the capital city of Shaanxi province, do not walk past without getting a "lamb burger"--ultra-tender chopped lamb seasoned with cumin, onions, and other spices, in a flat wheat bun ($2.50). Sauce made from that same lamb is served on handmade flat noodles that resemble thick pappardelle (made to order--you can watch the woman form them and drop them into the pot when you order) ($5.00). Stupendous.

(Sidebar to the employee of the Lanzhou noodle stall across the way who will never read this: if you expect customers to ever return to your establishment--and your stuff ain't bad, I've tried it--don't bitch them out for taking one lousy napkin off one of your tables.)

All the way at the back (or closest to the 41st Rd. entrance) is 南北水餃 (nán běi shuǐ jiǎo, or "south-north boiled dumpling"), a stall run by folks from Tianjin (near Beijing) that serves the best northern Chinese style boiled pork-and-chive dumplings I have ever tasted ($3.00 for 12).


(For contrast, try the equally wonderful but quite different Fujian-style pork and chive steamed dumplings at Sheng Wang.)

The same filling is used for the equally wonderful, albeit, by definition, much breadier steamed buns ($3.00 for 10). All the Chinese patrons eat these with dark vinegar and either minced garlic sauce or hot chili oil (and they're perfect that way), and more than one has asked me, "How did you find this place?"

Golden Shopping Mall Food Court
41-28 Main St., Flushing 11355
(7 train to Flushing-Main St., then 3 blocks south on Main)
Robert Sietsema's Village Voice article

Little Pepper

(Little Pepper has moved.)
Once people find out about my food obsession, very often the first question is, "What is your favorite restaurant?" For someone who loves as wide a variety of food as I do, there is rarely a simple answer to this. But if one applies as sole criterion the number of meals eaten there, there is an unequivocal favorite: Little Pepper, in Flushing, Queens.

So often, I find myself making the trek out to Flushing alone. But luckily, three of my friends were free (and hungry) this evening and felt like braving the subway trip. As usual, we were almost the only non-Chinese in place, which was probably a good thing. Put four opera and musician types together for a meal, and... well, let's just say it's fortunate there was no possibility of offending fellow diners with our salty--and at times, downright graphic--animated conversation!

This also meant we could try a much wider selection of dishes than I am normally able to by myself, and we ordered up a top-notch feast. Noodles with Minced Beef in Hot Sauce (a first cousin of dan dan noodles) and Sliced Beef Tendon in Spicy Sauce (cold dish) were the starters--both exemplary, as usual. Beef tendon has become one of my favorite appetizers. It's not nearly as strange as it sounds... it has an almost springy texture, a bit like firm, thinly-sliced pastrami trimmings, and the fiery dressing is the perfect foil.

The table favorite was the Lamb with Hot & Spicy Sauce with Cumin. This one of Little Pepper's most famous dishes, and deservedly so. Lamb is sliced and marinated, then sealed up in a foil pouch with onions and red pepper and scallions--and, of course, cumin--and baked. (I'm told this dish is an homage to the way lamb is prepared in neighboring Shaanxi province... my experience at the Xi'an stand at the Golden Shopping Mall certainly bears this out.) We also got my personal favorite dish, fresh whole fish with spicy minced pork. As I understand it, this is not technically a traditional Sichuan dish, but something the chef came up with himself based on traditional elements. Well, this guy's a f@#$ing genius, because it is superb... every bit as delicious as it sounds. (The exact same thing is true for my other favorite cold appetizer here, the "Chicken in Spicy Sauce". The name ain't much to go on, I realize, but just trust me and get it if you go.)

Shredded Potato with Pickled Cabbage--vinegary and delicious--and a couple of plates of fried rice rounded out the repast. The fried rice with scallion sauce complements the lamb with cumin especially nicely, to my mind

In the course of my dozens of visits here, I have tried most of the menu, and there is hardly an item on it that is less than first rate. They also do traditional Sichuan hot pot here, but be forewarned: the menu for that is in Chinese only.

My friends unanimously agreed: well worth the trip.

Little Pepper
133-43 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing 11354
718-939-7788
http://www.little-pepper.com
(7 train to Main St.-Flushing, then a block and half west)