“Chinese-izing”

Chinese restaurants in this country are very good at Americanizing their food into dumbed-down grub for the PF Chang crowd. Han in Old City decided to Sichuan peppercorn a collaboration dinner with Chef David Ansill from Ladder 15 and Chef Sam Jacobson from Sycamore for a decisively non PF Chang crowd.

Creamy Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

This amuse bouche was laced with Sichuan chili oil! The flavor, the creaminess of the soup and the heat from the chili oil played so well together. Two extremes in flavor yet harmonized into simulating your taste buds and soothing them at the same time. Each in itself brought out the unique character of the other. A winning soup for a cold winter night.

Salmon Carpaccio, Tangy Tofu Sauce, Chili Oil

There was a lot of tanginess coming from the tofu sauce. It reminded me a lot of the fermented tofu that I used to eat growing up. Along with the chili oil, the sauce would have been great in enhancing the freshness and sweetness of the salmon with an unique twist but unfortunately, a heavy handed pour on top of the meat masked any delicate flavor of the fish instead.

Pig’s Ears, Cabbage, Pickled Turnips

Sour, sweet, crunchy, chewy, jelly’ish, snappy…, an orgy of flavor and texture with a slow spicy heat chaser. This is a dish that tests the chutzpah of an eater and separates the men from the boys. “Ew, pig’s ears…” I heard from another table. Fortunately, none of the people in our communal table had any reservation in polishing off this dish of this slightly off-centered but quite authentic, thinly striped pig’s ears with julienned cabbage and pickled turnips.

Marinated Flat Iron Steak, Baby Arugula, Sichuan Vinaigrette

I have been semi-seriously trying to talk Han into making me a steak using his Sichuan dried spices as a rub before grilling it. He kept telling me that neither his salamander nor oven was working. I do not think he has ever gotten them to work but I was happy to see that he took my suggestion for a steak. It wasn’t coated heavily with spices nor Pittsburgh-ed to a crispy as I would have liked but the steak in front of us was cooked to a perfect medium-rare with a light application of spices. I wished it was crisper on the outside for that definite beef texture. However, on the other hand, it was juicy, tender, and restrained with the Sichuan spices. It was so good that it did not even make its way around the table. Luckily, the waiter brought us another plate mounted high with meat to share.

The baby arugula seemed to have been so lightly blanched like running through a hot shower. I enjoyed the Sichuan dressing which did not carry much spice at all but was just right with the arugula.

A plate of julienned potatoes was served on the side in keeping with the meat and potato theme.

Sweetbreads with Roasted Salsify

Think sweet and sour pork BUT without the cornstarch laden red dye #40 sauce and there are little cubes of deep fried sweet tender sweetbreads instead bits of boney pork with chunks of fat attached. The sweetbreads were battered, fried, then tossed with a light tangy sauce and put on a bed of crunchy Salsify. The sweetbreads were fresh, moist and delicious. The sauce reminded me of a much lighter version of the one usually served with the sweet and sour pork but it was delicate both in taste and execution. This dish was a nice example of using a unique ingredient cooked with traditional Chinese technique, resulting in extraordinarily greatness.

Tea-Smoked Ribs

Tourist Tree and I have done several trips eating through the Texas BBQ Trail sampling some of the best BBQ in the country. We had some good ribs, we had some great ribs.

These tea-smoked ribs had a nice snappy bite through the skin. They were juicy, moist, with the right amount of fat and meat and seasoned just wonderfully. The best was the captivating aroma and the slight dried salty taste of the tea that carried through the nose and the mouth. These guys can stand head to head with some of the better ribs we have had in Texas. Unfortunately, we only got one rib each and there weren’t anymore to go around.

Lasagna of Pork and Tendon with Mushroom “Noodles”

To say this as an intriguing dish is an understatement. The “noodles” were in fact mushrooms sliced razor thin used in place of the pasta for layering. The pork and tendon were diced into small pieces, stewed, and use as the lasagna filling. The flavor of this dish was quite traditional; no surprises here unless you count the distinctive texture of the tendon in the mushy mix and the heat from the chili oil on the plate. I liked the use of the choi sum in the dish which gave it a somewhat interesting if not incompatible interpretation of the dish.

Warm Ginger Cake, Sichuan Peppercorn Ice Cream, Chill Ginger Walnut Syrup

First thing first: This Sichuan peppercorn ice cream made by Franklin Fountain was freaking awesome! You put the frozen ice cream in the mouth. You get this peppercorn induced numbing sensation on the tongue a few seconds after the ice cream melted away. Ah, what a feeling!

The ginger cake was intensely sweet but it did go pretty well with the peppercorn ice cream and its explosive tongue numbing effect, although it reminded me a lot of a traditional dense Christmas pudding.

In his usual F-word laden way to doing things, Han along with Chefs Ansill and Jacobson have successively pulled off a Chinese-izing of American dishes dinner. I like my personal space and do not like sitting at communal tables sharing dishes with strangers; but there are times that things never turn out the way you had expected. We had a lot of fun sharing the dishes and trading food stories with people at our table. Good food, like minds, a basement door that refused to stay shut to keep the gale force freezing air from blowing on our table, and a bit of excessive alcohol had made this night a very enjoyable experience.

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