Grand Sichuan

Sometimes you just want spicy Sichuan food delivered for dinner. That was the case for us the other night and we placed an order with Grand Sichuan, a place we have ordered from before (but never blogged about).

We started out with the Sichuan dumplings. So far our favorite version of these is from Szechuan Gourmet, but we're testing them out at all the Sichuan places we try to see if we like any of those better.

Little Sichuan dumplings

This order came with about seven dumplings (that larger one in the photo is two stuck together) in hot oil. These were okay, but I think we would still rank the ones from Szechuan Gourmet and Ollie's Sichuan higher. The nice thing about this type of dumpling is that it's not all heat and spice. They have a subtle sweetness in the sauce as well.

We also got an appetizer that was called XieLaoBan's Dan Dan Noodles From Dunlop's Book. I've been intrigued by Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice cookbook for a bit and thought maybe this recipe came from the cookbook. After all, it's arranged almost exactly like the photo on the cover.

Dan dan noodles, Dunlop style

These dan dan noodles had that spicy numbing feeling that you get from Sichuan peppercorns and were pretty much what we were looking for. Noodles, ground pork, spinach and lots of peppery spiciness. The only issue is that the numbing feeling kind of ruins the rest of your meal until it actually passes. Flavor-wise, this is an amazing dish.

Dan dan noodles mixed up

We bought the cookbook, if that tells you anything about our thoughts on this recipe.

We also went with two main dishes that we usually get. The first was the dry sauteed string beans (with pork).

Green vegetables are always good for you

I could eat this all the time. I love string beans, I love this method of cooking them, I love the olive leaves paste that is mixed in with it. It always feels really healthy to me, and even when I'm full, I find myself snacking on more string beans. Maybe I should learn to make it so we don't have to constantly order it. Anyway, we liked this.

The other dish we got was ma po tofu, which we have gotten before but has never looked this thin and watery. The tofu blocks also looked more fried than usual, there were no scallions, and there was all of that thin watery sauce instead of the usual thick sauce. The tofu also wasn't soft or silken; it was firm which neither of us have had before in this dish.

Ma po tofu, 2013

For comparison, here's how it looked the last time we ordered it from Grand Sichuan, which was more like how we imagined it. Soft cubes of tofu, thick sauce, scallions and small pieces of pork.

Ma po tofu, 2012

The new "recipe" or cooking method of the ma po tofu was a little strange but at least it still tasted good. Not as spicy as we were expecting though. Also, it didn't look too bad once we threw it on top of the brown rice. In fact, that looks like a nice healthy bowl of Chinese food.

A nice healthy bowl of Chinese food!

I'm excited about the Every Grain of Rice cookbook, which was one of the best things to come out of this meal. Maybe someday I'll be able to make all of this on my own. I'm definitely looking into it for the next cookbook project...

This branch of Grand Sichuan is located at 368 West 46th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues).