422 University Ave W
St. Paul, MN 55103
(651) 222-1333
http://www.littleszechuan.com/
Category: Chinese, Szechuan
Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 9
Service: 5
Ambience: 8
Recommendation: Excellent! One of the best Chinese restaurants in town, serving authentic Szechuan (Sichuan) cuisine. The only disappointment was that the food was not as spicy as we had expected.
Little Szechuan is located on University Avenue in St Paul, which is now home to some of the Twin Cities’ best ethnic restaurants… Krua Thai, Hoa Bien, Va Lor, Cambodia Cheng Heng, and Mai Village to name a few. Unlike most ethnic restaurants, this place has excellent ambience…warm colors, soft lighting, and hanging lanterns and chili peppers. Sichuan cuisine has a reputation of being hot and numbing due to the commonly used ingredient, the Sichuan peppercorn.
For appetizers, we highly recommend both the Tongue Slices with Spicy Sauce and the Dan Dan Noodle. Having never had Tongue before, we assumed it would have a dense and solid texture…however, the slices were thin and 
tender (you only eat the muscle, which is actually pretty lean – thanks to the constant talking that cows do!). It came in a spicy oil and was very flavorful….the cilantro and scallions gave it nice flavor. It was the only dish we tried that even came close to being spicy. The Dan Dan Noodle is a classic Sichuan dish. The Noodles came with a spicy ground peanut and sesame sauce along topped with what we think was minced beef.
For the main course, we tried a wide variety to dishes and have to say that most of them were excellent. The Double Cooked Pork, another Sichuan classic was great. The Pork steak is first boiled in water along with slices of
ginger and salt, then it is cut into slices and shallow fried in a wok. We also liked the Chung King Chili Chicken, which we ordered with bones to preserve the flavors (can also be ordered boneless). The bones ended up being a pain to sort out and some were too small to even bother removing! The chicken was fried and very flavorful. The Cumin Lamb was excellent…strong cumin flavors and cilantro made this dish really unique. The Spicy Beef Short Ribs were fatty and delicious. The Sweet and Sour Scallops tasted fresh and authentic…the sauce wasn’t too overpowering and more importantly, didn’t have the processed orangish look to it. The Stir Fried Pea Tips was the only dish we didn’t quite care for. It was pretty bland but what else can you expect from greens?
Service was very slow and our server disappeared multiple times for long periods of time.
$-$$. Free parking lot in the back.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Little Szechuan
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3 comments:
I agree with your rating. I liked that the dishes on their exotic menu don't seem altered to cater to a western pallete.
I think that people will enjoy experiencing how different Sichuan cuisine is as compared with Cantonese cuisine.
I was fortunate enough to partake in this meal with the MSP Foodies and for me it was a tremendous experience (referring to the food mostly although the company wasn’t too bad either). In the year or so since I’ve moved to the Twin Cities, I have been searching for a culinary epiphany of sorts. As simply a hungry kid wandering around town, I wasn’t necessarily looking for high end cuisine but moreso food that would evoke genuine emotions. I wanted to taste food that would make me question whether my tastebuds were directly connected to my brain in some twisted gastro-neurological manner.
Now I’m sure you guys are imagining me sobbing into a bowl of consumme or something and perhaps that’s not too far off the mark. I seeked places where visiting family and friends HAD to experience regardless if they had tasted the finest foods that New York City or Chicago had to offer. I was always a bit dissatisfied taking them to Chino Latinos or Punch Pizza (although I do enjoy both places quite a bit) and that leads me back to the table at Little Szechuan.
The meal we shared at Little Szechuan was without a doubt the finest meal I have had here in the Twin Cities to date. Throughout the courses that we shared, I experienced surprise, felt the occassional wave of nostalgia washing over me, and simply reveled in each new flavor and texture that we were presented. More significant than all of that, this meal made me genuinely happy. I’m a pretty grumpy and cynical guy as the reviewers can attest to and so this was pretty special.
I’ll spare you the bite by bite recap this time as to a large extend I agree with the reviewers on their assesment of the dishes. My personal favorites were the tongue, the double cooked pork, and the lamb. The dan dan noodles, short ribs, and scallops were excellent as well. The only dish I didn’t really care for was the chung king chili chicken. For the record, as someone who eats far too much chicken on a regular basis, I find myself regularly being much harsher on chicken dishes than other proteins perhaps due to palate fatigue toward that texture. (Okay that last sentence makes me sound like a total food snob. I apologize.) As for the pea tips, it was green stuff that tasted fine. If a mutual friend hadn’t hyped it as a ‘must have’ dish, we would have eaten it and never given it a second thought.
I think a food rating of ‘9’ is completely appropriate given the reviewers thoughts on the various dishes but for me it was a strong 10. Did I mention that the entire meal came out to around $10? It would have been a bargain at three times the cost although I hope the owners of Little Szechuan don’t read this and get any ideas. :) Unfortunately, it sets an impossible food value precedent which will be forever difficult to deal with (e.g. is a single meal at Heartland really worth five meals at this establishment?)
As for the service, the food came out promptly, my water was always filled, and the staff was polite. It’s strange how sitting at the same table, several people can have different experiences with service. Perhaps it’s the expecations we set for ourselves. Like it or not, ethic restaurants (particularly those of traditional asian focus) have a tendancy to focus on food and flavor at the expense of service. Having experienced many asian restaurants, rude staff and poor service is often the norm which set the bar pretty low for me. Little Szechuan’s service was equal or better than most other Chinese restaurants I have been to and so I would give the service a ‘7’. Also you need to look at the pricing. Can you expect the same level of service at the local pizzaria as you expect at La Belle Vie or other high end restaurants where you pay significantly more? I paid slightly more at Little Szechuan than I do at a visit to Taco Bell or White Castle and believe me the service was infinitely better in comparison.
Once again, my simple comments have far out-extended their intent. My apologies.
Love the food here and for people looking for the flavor of szechuan peppercorns, I'd highly recommend the Fish in Spicy Tofu Broth. It's guaranteed to blow the top of your head off. The Beef is Spicy Tofu Broth is a close runner-up in the szechuan pepper category as well.
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