The Year of the Snake begins next week as the Lunar New Year kicks off.
The Lunar New Year ushers in a time for families to share lucky red envelopes and of course, cook traditional meals.
NBC Chicago's Food Guy Steve Dolinsky is taking a very specific look this week at one Chinese region in particular: Szechuan. He’s found a restaurant in Bridgeport where he says the kitchen is hot, in more ways than one.
Unlike Shanxi or Hunan, the province of Sichuan is all about spicy, oily flavors, with an emphasis on peppercorns. And not the black ones in your spice grinder at home, but rather, assertive green and indigenous brown ones that provide a tongue-tingling numbness, putting Szechuan cuisine in a class by itself.
Kung Pao is only the tip of the iceberg at Szechuan Alley, a singularly focused restaurant in Bridgeport, directly across the street from the 9th District Police Station. If you look around the dining room, nearly every table has a tureen filled with fish and an assortment of chilies and peppercorns, submerged in an oily broth. This is Szechuan cuisine.
“The Szechuan, basically, the Szechuan people, we like spicy, which makes life – life is spicy too,” said Perry Zhao, the manager at Szechuan Alley.
A creamy peanut and sesame sauce is amplified exponentially by a pair of different chili oils; this is the base for Dan Dan Noodles, which will envelop a tangle of boiled egg noodles, then a top layer of crunchy bok choy and mild ground pork. Be sure to combine everything at the table.
The Green Peppercorn Fish Fillet is one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes. First, they boil cucumbers, wood ear and enoki mushrooms and strain them; then the fish is boiled, and again, strained and set aside. Finally, Szechuan peppercorns, with their tongue-numbing qualities, are tossed into a wok with garlic and scallions. This gives the dish a characteristic called málà.
“Yeah, that’s really special just for Szechuan people. It’s a peppercorn; it’s not only spicy, but it brings you the numbness,” he said.
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That numbing spiciness is reinforced when the cook flash-fries jalapeños and green peppercorns, then adds them to the cauldron before it’s whisked off to a table. Another classic – mapo tofu – has an aromatic base of garlic, ginger and chilies, plus peppercorns, creating a deep red sauce that’s primed for cubes of mild tofu.
“That’s a soft tofu, premium soft tofu – organic – and also we use our special homemade sauce too,” said Zhao.
There’s also ground pork, if you like, and just before serving, a handful of cumin. Like so many dishes on this extensive menu, there is pleasure in the form of steady heat and a gentle-but-assertive numbing.
“Numbness, some is spicy and some is just hot,” he said.
Good news for spicy food fans on the North Shore: Kung Pao's owners are going to open a sister restaurant in Wheeling called Bowl of Fortune any day now.
Here's where you can go: 3141 S. Halsted St. in Chicago.