Eyeball Tacos in LA? Camel in Cairo? Guinea pig in Lima? No problem. The food at Shaanxi will not be readily accessible for some, but you will never discover new dishes/cuisines if you don't make an effort.
We started with the cold noodles in sesame sauce, as well as the Ox tongue/tripe in chili sauce. The cold noodles are handmade, thick and chewy. Delicious. The Ox tongue was dry and had the consistency of hard salami. The dish is served cold, and the chili sauce is so overwhelming that I was not able to taste the meat thought the heat.
We moved onto the lamb sandwich. Delicious little chucks of lamb, diced and served with an abundance of fresh/chopped jalapenos served in a Chinese pita. We also ordered lamb skewers as well as chicken gizzard skewers. Both meats were encrusted after cooking in a pungent spice mix. The pieces of meat, no bigger than a sugar cube, crunched from the over abundance of spice mix. The taste of the meat was once again lost.
The wife and I finished by splitting a bowl of the lamb stew with bits of pita added to the stew to serve as a form of noodle. The broth was rich and tasty, a few tender slices of lamb lay across the top of the bowl. Overall rich and satisfying.
No one dish stood out as excellent. I'm not sure if we will be back, not with so many other interesting restaurants still to try. But service was good and the staff helpful with recommendations.