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| - Sorry, Yelpers, I have let you down. I forgot to take my phone, so I did not take any pictures. Nor do I remember exactly what we ate. But this is what I can tell you: Chengdu was excellent! The quality of the food matched what I'd had in San Francisco many years ago. Chengdu had been on my list for several reasons. One, a friend that lives in the neighborhood said it was the best restaurant in Squirrel Hill and that she had gone there with friends who had lived in Chengdu and they said that it was exactly like the food they'd eaten in Chengdu. So that was reference #1. Second was a relative who married in to a Taiwanese family suggested it. Third was we assembled a small group of us who all love spicy, so we could go to Chengdu. It would be lame to go there with one of the non-spice-eating relatives! We were advised by said relatives to eat from the red (Sichuan) menu and mostly let them do the ordering, giving just a little input. Rice is served individually per person. We got to share:
Clod noodles. Because I wanted to know what clod noodles were. This is a lump of noodles served in a soy sauce that is more complex than your average.
Beef in cumin. This is said relative's go-to dish. My husband doesn't like meat too much, but this won him over. The beef was tender and flavorful, and the cumin was so warm and complex.
Cabbage with chestnuts. This was selected as a non-spicy foil. It's served in a yellow sauce that looks and tastes a little like butter (relatives insist it's not butter but have no idea what it is). The chestnuts are somewhere between crunchy and soft/chewy and really interesting.
Eggplant with garlic. Spicy, melt-in-your mouth delicious.
Spicy fish in a flaming pot. This is served over a little flaming contraption. The fish was awesome but my favorite part was the potato-like root vegetable cut in strips in it.
Well, I guess I remembered everything. It was all awesome!
So, here is my opinion of the spice level: I think it is very approachable, personally. I like spice, put hot sauce on some foods, but can't for example, handle something as crazy as habanero. I did not eat any of the little red peppers in the food, and I found the spice to be enjoyable, papable, noticeable, but never overwhelming. It wasn't unpleasant at any point to me. My husband ate one red pepper and had to work to overcome it a little bit, nose running kind thing, but not too big of a deal. So without eating the red peppers, it wasn't as spice-scary as people had made it out to be.
Like with any authentic Chinese restaurant, Chengdu is best if you go with a couple of people who are willing to share so that you can get a variety of dishes and eat lots of bits of things. As for the price, it's not cheap, but not expensive. With tax and tip, our bill for 4 people was about $70. I would not have had as good of an experience if I had gone by myself or with just one person. Go in a group!
I hardly every mention service, but I will say this: it was a surprise in an ethnic hole-in-the wall to have our waters refilled promptly. So if that's important to you, maybe it will happen for you, too.
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