Szechuan Gourmet

I felt some of the excitement, if not quite the affection, that I remember from the midtown Grand Sichuan.

Szechuan Gourmet's menu dispenses with long, colorful back stories in favor of straightforward description (though we wondered if the "fish sticks lady" had branched out, on reading "ma paul tofu"). Of the 150 or so items I haven't tried, the braised eel and the sundried pork belly with leeks are high on my list; there's also a 40-item lunch menu that rarely tops $6.95.

Shown, above and below: ox tongue and tripe ($7.95); spicy cucumber salad ($4.95); dan dan noodles ($3.95); jellyfish salad ($7.95); green beans (with minced pork, by request; $8.95); double-cooked sliced pork belly (a little lean; $11.95); frog with ginger and scallions (bony as ever; $18.95); camphor tea-smoked duck ($14.95); "ma paul tofu"; $8.95); "fish filet in spicy chili hot" (likely tilapia, with a muddy flavor; $22.95); lamb with chili pepper (not crispy, but on the dry side; $14.95); deep-fried diced chicken ($10.95).

Szechuan Gourmet
21 West 39th St. (Fifth-Sixth Aves.)
212-921-0233

Comments

[Steph]

Ma Paul Tofu! That's hilarious.
I love your site - I always wonder why you don't get more attention than you do...you catalogue NYC essentially. I wish we had half the quality and variety of food here in Providence as you do there.