Yet another regional Chinese restaurant in the East Valley! If there's a Sichuan eatery here on every corner like there are Starbucks stores here I don't mind one bit. Just bring me a half-caf no whip trenta size water-boiled fish please.
This restaurant space used to be Pong Pong which had very basic, Americanized Chinese food. I love how they've essentially upgraded the quality of food here from the predecessor. The cuisine here is unapologetically Sichuan style which I commend them on. You won't see any orange chicken or sweet and sour pork to cater to more pedestrian tastes. The tamest items you will find here are the fried rice and chow mein. They aren't afraid to turn up the heat and the spice levels are listed in terms of chili peppers.
The menu has a pretty good variety of all the common dishes you'll find at a Sichuan style restaurant. We had the dan dan noodles and fried bean curd with pork belly slices. At a 2 chile pepper rating the dan dan noodles were plenty spicy. The Sichuan peppercorn they used tasted a little different because it had the heat and the tongue-numbing properties indicative of this spice but didn't have as much of a fragrant, floral note to it as I've experienced in similar restaurants. The noodles were coated with just the right amount of sauce, with fresh vegetables, peanuts, and chopped scallions. It's interesting how each restaurant I've had this dish at makes dan dan noodles slightly different and for me personally I enjoyed the noodles but I prefer the style of dan dan noodles that has more ground meat and preserved vegetables in it for an added textural component and a little punch of flavor.
The fried bean curd and sliced pork belly was a generous portion served with a large scoop of rice. It was perfectly fried and had a lightly crisp exterior with soft, custard-like center. It had a meatiness to it despite being all soy. The pork belly went well with the sauce and tofu.
The restaurant is pretty small but they make pretty good use of the space they have for a few tables, kitchen and cashier area, with an overhead TV playing popular Chinese shows.
Service was succinct. Aside from getting our orders taken, having our food delivered to our table, then handing us the check we didn't receive any additional follow ups.
I'm intrigued by the other items in the menu so I'll be back to try more!