dial chinese, "new york", and spicy

[mneme]

drcpunk and I have been in spicy food withdrawl since Dynasty closed. I mean, sure, there's always Wu Liang Yi, but it's quite expensive, and while they're pleenty spicy, they don't have a lot of the dishes we really miss.

Well, last night, I wanted to websearch for a good Sichuan place, but decided there wasn't enough time for my search to complete before we ate (plus in the past, I've had problems googling for sichuan food, since it's spelled so many different ways), so we (plus Beth) went to the Ollies on 84th, which is owned by the same people who owned Dynasty, but mostly has much tamer food...and ran into a waitress who recognized us from there, and steered us toward the spicier things on their menu. This was quite pleasant, but while we were waiting, google did find me a place that looked promising.

So today, I steered drcpunk toward Grand Sichuan Eastern, between 55th and 56th, on second avenue. It was all it was claimed to be -- very spicy, with hot pepper beef filets and cold ming-bean gelatin noodles just like Dynasty used to make, plus plenty of their own specialties, like the cold spicy chicken and shrimp har gao in hot oil. And the prices were very cheap. Mind, we way over-ordered (paying $35 for 3 appetizers, one main coursse, and a soup, and carrying home plenty of leftovers), but it was well worth the trip.

Comments

[selki.livejournal.com]

cold ming-bean gelatin noodles

Ooh!

[geminigirl]

Are they open late? Are they open ridiculously late?

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

Phooey. That last (screened, invisible) comment was from me. I forgot to change to my ID before commenting.

[mneme]

Should I unscreen it?

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

Or you could just answer here. Are they open late? Are they open ridiculously late?

[mneme]

Anyways, well, nope. From the menu, they close at 10pm, 11 on saturdays. But they're yummy and very spicy.

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

Oh my, yes they are. My only gripe? They stop like two blocks south of me for delivery except for bigbigbig orders.

:(

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Grand Sichuan International, on 9th betw. 50-51st, is my ultimate destination now whenever we're in NYC. I've brought people there who don't think they like Chinese food, and they've walked away raving happily; and I've brought Sinologists who order in (Cantonese? Mandarin? forgot to ask) who profess themselves well pleased.

It's also right in the Theatre District, is seldom crowded around 6:30 and can get you out in plenty of time for an 8:00 curtain.

They've apparently also opened a branch on St Mark's place. I think they're open real late.

[mneme]

It's the same chain, actually -- we've eaten at the place on the west side, at the one I mention earlier, and at the St. Mark's place, and the quality has been uniformely good.

The one thing I miss that I haven't been able to get since Dynasty closed up is Hot Spicy Muong Bean Gelatin in Chien Du sauce; a dish kinda like spicy chicken soup, only not, and very yummy (with filets of beef or without).

I think I first had it at Dynasty, and later had the beef variant at Wu Liang Ye (another great szechuan place, though a more expensive one), but I've been unable to find -anywhere- in NYC that made it regularly. :(