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| - So I'm fiending for chinese again... thus I placed myself once again in the hands of fellow yelpers and found Szechuan Palace. Given the reviews, it seemed like the place had an authentic menu and a bananified menu (for all you orange chicken lovers). Me being on the quest to satisfy the yellow in me, I was curious as to how traditionally and culturally accurate the authentic menu was.
On a side note, restaurant.com has a deal for them right now... Buy a $10 gift certificate for ($3?), minimum purchase of $20 required.
Gift certificate in hand, I show up at the doors of Szechuan Palace at 10:59AM.
*cricket cricket*
The restaurant was not open but no worries, one minute couldn't hurt, right?
Wrong, I waited a whopping 12 minutes before a dude comes cruising into the parking spot next to me, gives me the once over, and pulls out the keys to the front door of the restaurant, walking in without acknowledging me.
That's... nice... At this point in time, the OPEN sign still had not been turned on, so I hesitantly followed after him into the restaurant. A little after I started my awkward dance at the entrance, two Chinese people carrying grocery bags come rushing in and tell me to sit wherever I liked.
So I plopped down and began to lament why I accepted terrible service practices at Chinese places but cannot for the life of me accept it elsewhere...
My waitress brought me a lunch special menu that indeed had authentic Szechuan cuisine on one side, and then your average mock Panda Express food on the other. After presenting my gift certificate though, she immediately whips the menu out of my hand, informing me that I could not use the gift certificate with the lunch specials.
No problem, lady... nothing on the lunch special was desirable to my refined Asian palate anyways. Bring me the expensive crap.
She presents me with the dinner menu and sure enough that too was split exactly in half... First half was the authentic, second half Panda Panda. I start perusing and order. She gives me an incredulous look like you little asian girl going to eat all that? Yes, Ma'am. I didn't drive all the way from San Tan Valley to go home hungry.
Here's the breakdown:
Fu Qi Fei Pian
Dan Dan Mian
Boiling Two Items (Fish and Pig Intestines)
Fu Qi Fei Pian - 4/5
Okay, this was just the right amount of spicy goodness. Truly an authentic dish. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a cold dish traditional to Szechuan province: thin sliced braised beef chilled with celery, chili oil, peanuts... delish. My only complaint is that I've had better in California and it seemed like it might've been the last of its batch with several small pieces of meat and way too many peanuts. For $7.95, I may get it again only when I'm direly in crave mode for it. Usually for the portion I received, I can get it for a mere $5, so definitely priced for AZ consumption.
Dan Dan Mian - 4/5
So seeing a lot of rave reviews about this dish, I thought... oh it's been awhile since I had a legit Dan Dan Mian... and for $3.50 a bowl... it didn't seem like it could go wrong. Basically what it came out to being was a soupless noodle dish with a spicy minced pork topping and spinach. Good flavor, nice spiciness level, and the boiled spinach tossed in was plentiful. But, I think that the noodles were the kill factor here, with it tasting store bought and a little too al dente... plus the minced pork mixture ratio with noodles was a little off... leaving me thinking... so that's why it's so cheap. I probably would not get this dish again, unless that was the only thing I could afford here.
Boiling Two Items (Fish and Pig Intestines) - 5/5
OMG. Yelpers, you were right... get this dish pronto. Of course, they have different options... so for those of you going ewwwww.... chitterlings really? Don't judge... I'm Taiwanese... that crap is a staple in our diet. Anyways, this dish is authentic to the max. It's basically your choice of protein boiled in a garlic chili oil mixture with napa cabbage. Effing delicious. I probably would not get the chitterlings again next time because it needed to be tender soft and it was more chewy then anything else. But the fish... delicious. It's pieces of boneless fish that are meltingly soft to the palate and seasoned from the "boil" so good, you would be surprised you're eating fish. So get it get it get it. This is worth every penny of that $10.95 I spent. Portion is large enough to eat for 3-4. I'd make the drive out here again just for this dish. Enough said.
Overall, the authentic menu is that truly authentic and I'm excited to try some of the more common Szechuan fare I'm used to dining in LA. If you are an adventurous eater and tired of Orange Chicken or Kung Pao Chicken or General Tso Chicken, indulge in some truly delicious Chinese cuisine and pick some items off the traditional menu. It won't disappoint.
Rating:
Service - 3/5
Price - 3/5
Food - 4.5/5
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