Grand Sichuan International

[Budinado]

Steve, I just returned from Grand Sichuan Midtown after ordering the Aux Hau (spelling may be off) Spicy Chicken on their Special Chicken menu. Wow! Not as sweet as the Kung Bau. This is liked! VERY much. Thanks for turning us on to this great restaurant.

Good Eating.

[Pan]

Steve, I just returned from Grand Sichuan Midtown after ordering the Aux Hau (spelling may be off) Spicy

Aui Zhou Chicken

[thereuare]

Tonight i want to go to the chinese restaurant that everyone talks about so highly (with the FRESH chicken) but i don't remember the name or location, it's something like:

Grand Sechuan and i think it's around 8th or 9th ave in the 50s.

Please help so i can eat good tonite!

Thanks!

[mamster]

Grand Sichuan International, 9th Ave and 50th.

[thereuare]

Thanks for the reply, i was getting tired of hitting the refresh button...

one last thing while we finish up work here before eating, what were the recommended dishes? (chicken po was one of them i believe)

[Damian]

Kung Pao Chicken...or Gong Bao...or however it appears on their menu.  That's a big one.  Check out Shaw's review on  Fat Guy's Site for the inside track.  Enjoy!

[thereuare]

Great chinese food, fantastic chicken dish.

Service was lackluster at best, but maybe the waitress was just having an off nite.

[jhlurie]

I felt compelled to bump this, after eating at Grand Sichuan International Midtown (whew... what a mouthful) for the first time. Really, I've been meaning to go for a long time, but was never in the right part of town.

The Kung Pao? What can I say that hasn't already been said? It's one of the few places I've had freshly slaughtered chicken, and frankly that's just the unbeatibly solid base, not the heights. The peanuts are the large Grade A Virginia type you rarely see anywhere, in anything, anymore. It's got enough Ginger, and Sichuan peppercorn to kill a horse--and I mean that in the best way possible, not even remotely as negative. The key is that strong spice can work, if its mixed in the right way--and this is. Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet... this dish has all of it in the right proportion, on top of that ass-kicking chicken.

The Dan-Dan noodle? It staggered even me, and I have a high tolerance for chili oil. But i sure enjoyed it.

I also had part of a spicy lamb dish with ginger, although I can't recall the exact name. All I can say is... get it. A little less stellar than the Kung Pao... but not much.

The Green Parrot was a pleasant surprise. Spinach, yes, but "spiced" in a way that I've never had before. My guess is that it might take an experienced palate to enjoy this... its strongly spiced in a way very different from the Dan-Dan or the Kung Pao--its sour almost beyond description. I loved it.

[bpearis]

I think the single hottest thing I have ever eaten is the braised beef fillets with chili sauce at GSIM. Great, but I had to keep taking breaks to let my mouth cool off.

[g.johnson]

We were at the 24th Street GSI on Sunday night and, as always, had the braised beef fillet with chili sauce. It makes an even bigger impression coming out than it does going in but I love it dearly. The great discovery of Sunday was a starter, though – cold ox tongue and tripe in chili oil. Again very spicey but with a wonderful flavor and texture.

[Jason Perlow]

We were at the 24th Street GSI on Sunday night and, as always, had the braised beef fillet with chili sauce. It makes an even bigger impression coming out than it does going in but I love it dearly. The great discovery of Sunday was a starter, though – cold ox tongue and tripe in chili oil. Again very spicey but with a wonderful flavor and texture.

I know. I feel the same way a few hours after a full meal at GSI.

[jhlurie]

I know. I feel the same way a few hours after a full meal at GSI.

I have a theory that there is some genetic component to this. Very rarely--if ever--have I had this problem from spicy food. I don't generally talk with people about this, but I know enough people that eat spicy food that I'd think I'd hear more about it if they were ALL having the problem.

Does it have something to do with an ability to better digest? Is there a thread in this, or is this just too gross? Has anyone ever dared to write an article or study on this forbidden topic?

[Suzanne F]

Reminds me of one of the entrants in the Vermont State Chili Cookoff a couple of years ago: "Next-Day Chili."

Yeah, it's gross, but sometimes we all have to acknowledge our inner 10-year-old boy.

[yvonne johnson]

Is there a thread in this, or is this just too gross?  Has anyone ever dared to write an article or study on this forbidden topic?

I don't see why this isn't a valid topic. If we have to jazz it up and make literary references and what not, I remember a short story by Daphne du Maurier in which someone has a terrible lower gastric accident in public. I think it was a priest too.

[tommy]

if it's hot going in it can be hot coming out. the same compounds that exist in the food and irritate your mouth exist in the, um, final product, and irritate, um, *those* tissues as well.

[jhlurie]

Yes, but "can be" is the relevent phrase. Does it have to be? Why do some people seem to have a problem with this and others not?

[tommy]

everyone's ass is different. what can i tell you.

[Fat Guy]

I think these gastrointestinal topics are a goldmine of rarely discussed issues that are directly related to cuisine. I say start relevant threads if you like, but try to keep the discussion serious. In my opinion we Westerners are as a whole quite constipated when it comes to discussing our bowels. One of the best writers I know has been trying for years to sell a terrific essay she wrote called "Shit Envy." Nobody, not even Salon.com and the more out-there magazines that often publish sex stories, would touch it. And I assure you it met their literary standards; it was the topic that scared them off. Luckily, we here can be more mature (okay that's a big if).

[Suzanne F]

Yeah, but who's gonna be the first to discuss his/her personal experience?

Edit: references to specific persons removed, to be inoffensive.

[jhlurie]

I'm perfectly willing to commit to being serious on at least the first two or three pages of any such discussion.

Well, at least 90% serious.

[helenas]

One of the best writers I know has been trying for years to sell a terrific essay she wrote called "Shit Envy." Nobody, not even Salon.com and the more out-there magazines that often publish sex stories, would touch it.

sounds like a perfect subject for Gastronomica

[stefanyb]

Whats to discuss? Garbage in garbage out. Nuff said, sheesh.

More interestingly, Grand Sichuan has opened another branch, so I've been told, on the eastside. Anyone know anything about this? Its called Grand Sichuan NY .

[SobaAddict70]

It's called "Grand Sichuan Eastern" and is 5 blocks from my apartment (on 2nd Avenue nearer to 57th Street).

Unfortunately I had dental surgery today so GSE will have to wait until the weekend. If anyone wants to check it out, I think I could arrange something...

SA

[Orik]

It's called "Grand Sichuan Eastern" and is 5 blocks from my apartment (on 2nd Avenue nearer to 57th Street).

Unfortunately I had dental surgery today so GSE will have to wait until the weekend.  If anyone wants to check it out, I think I could arrange something...

SA

GSNY is on Lex between 33rd and 34th and seems like a branch of the GSI on 9th ave. GS Eastern is not a branch of GSI ("same family, different boss") and is not as good.

[Eric_Malson]

Re a much earlier request, thought I'd pass on some of my favorite dishes at GSI (51st and 9th location).

Beef Tendon with Hot and Pepper Sauce--my new favorite cold plate on the menu. Someone, somewhere on the Internet descrbed the tendon as being somewhat akin to pastrami trimmings, and it's a good description. Firm, springy, and streaked with hints of meat, they are the perfect foil for the hot pepper oil dressing.

Preserved turhip, Sichuan style (another cold plate)--a big mound of what often gets called "Szechuan preserved vegetable", sprinkled with chopped peanut.

I also loved the (cold) diced rabbit meat with spicy and peppery sauce, but it is a lot work eating around those little bones and bone fragments.

Braised whole fish with hot bean sauce--delicious, complex sauce, and not particularly hot, so the faint of heart need not worry.

Smoked tea duck--this dish can be hit or miss, but when it's good, it's very good indeed. Eat it quickly, because when it sits around, the duck meat can toughen up a bit.

Sauteed and dry string beans--with bits of minced pork and Szechwan preserved vegetable clinging to the beans. Best version of this dish I've ever tried.

I've enjoyed everything I've tried from the section of the menu called "Mao's Home Cooking", particularly sour string beans with minced pork, spicy and sour squid, and cured pork with garlic shoots (this dish has a wonderful, comfort-food sweetness to it).

I would second the other recommendations on this thread, too, particularly the ma po to fu (best I've ever had), au zhou (freshly-killed) chicken (the dish I probably order most frequently here), the ox tongue and tripe with hot and pepper sauce, and those Sichuan wontons with red oil.