7 replies to this topic

[Daniel]

Famous Sichuan10 Pell St
(between Bowery & Doyers St)
(212) 233-3888 www.famoussichuan.com


came across this place yesterday and it certainly looked worth trying.. Has anyone been?

[g.johnson]

Studies showed that red pepper made spicy food can effectively help reduce internal dampness in human’s body.

[Orik]

Studies showed that red pepper made spicy food can effectively help reduce internal dampness in human’s body.

This dish really helps with internal dampnation:

[Liza]

What's all this I hear about eternal dampnation?

[porkwah]

internal dampnation is often cured by eating shredded bath towels as in the above picture.

[joethefoodie]

Famous Sichuan10 Pell St
(between Bowery & Doyers St)
(212) 233-3888 www.famoussichuan.com


came across this place yesterday and it certainly looked worth trying.. Has anyone been?

Whoa - nice looking dining room for Pell St. Will have to give it a go.

[Daniel]

Well I did not go there last night but, they deliver to me.. We ordered a few different things for the three of us.. Because only two of us eat spicy, our choices were limited.. I think the spiciest of all the Sichuan Restaurants I have been to.. It was a lot more of the oil based cooking than the other SIchuan Restaurants and a lot more Sichuan Peppercorns present.

We ordered three cold dishes: Spicy rabbit, Beef Tendon, and Cucumber with scallion sauce.. Everything I thought was really good.. It was also super spicy.. The cold rabbit came covered in Peppercorns. I have never seen them so visible before. The sauce was a deep roasted pepper.. Much darker than other versions I have had. With the crunch of the peanut, it was a great dish.The Tendon was very similiar to the other versions though, the spiciest version I have had.. Cucumbers were very subtle and thankfully cooling.

We then had fish filets with cabbage.. This was an excellent dish.. Really enjoyed it..

Miss K rocked a pork lo mein and ate a ton of it.. She really enjoyed it however, she is going through a growth spirt so she is pretty much eating anything in sight.. I tried it and it was a lot less greasy than I was expecting.

No MSG in the cooking, this place is a definite contender.. I would love to go back with a group..

[Lex]

This is a repost of what I added earlier to the "Ethnic Places" thread. I didn't realize it had a dedicated thread.

There’s a back story to this place. Let me take you back to the early 1980s. Reagan was president, disco was in the air and Szechuan food had recently arrived in NY. Life was tougher then. Unlike today you couldn’t find terrific Sichuan restaurants in every neighborhood - you had to make a pilgrimage to Flushing or Chinatown and even there the pickings were sparse. But if you looked hard, you could find them. A fine example was the House of Taiwan on Pell Street.

At that time Sichuan food in New York was still evolving. The menus were considerably shorter than Sichuan restaurants today but they still had food that you couldn’t get anywhere else. House of Taiwan was executing beautifully. They served robustly flavored Kung Pao dishes, their General Tso’s chicken had real heat to it and the Chungking chicken was laced with plenty of red chilies. The place was great. They didn’t just pile on the spices – this was a careful kitchen and all the dishes had real balance.

I regularly took my kids there. They were 5 and 6 and they loved it – Chinatown was like a trip to another world. Narrow streets. Exotic sights. From the sidewalk you could watch giant carp swimming in tanks. It was at House of Taiwan where my kids learned to eat Sichuan and use chopsticks. The restaurant closed in the mid 1980s and we mourned it.

Flip the calendar ahead almost 30 years and the same storefront that housed House of Taiwan now contains Famous Sichuan. It’s almost enough to make you believe in mystical connections. The best part of all is that Famous Sichuan is a fully worthy successor.

We’ve gone twice. In terms of décor it’s your standard bright lights Chinese place, maybe a cut above most. Pleasant enough.





They serve a predominately Chinese crowd with a sprinkling of Westerners. Service was good on the first visit but the place was only 40% full. The second time around they were doing a really good business. Unfortunately this forced us to be assertive in flagging down servers to get additional rounds of drinks and later, the check. I can live with that.

On to the food. (Keep in mind that we’re describing 2 separate meals here. There are limits to how much even we can eat.)


Starters –

Sichuan wontons with red oil – A very good version in a city that lately is filled with equally worthy examples.



Stir fried minced chicken with pine nuts and lettuce. – This was a sentimental choice. The great Hwa Yuan in Flushing used to serve a roughly similar dish in the late 1980s. It was a wonderful blend of diced chicken, celery, pine nuts, and hot spices. This one was good in its own way but they skimped on the pine nuts, an essential ingredient.



Sichuan wontons w. pepper sauce – Reading the menu, this seemed like an interesting variation on the standard wontons in hot oil. On the plate it was fine but overbalanced by an excess of vinegar. Assuming that’s what they intended there’s no reason to order this again.



Chengdu Noodles w. spicy sesame sauce – This appeared with the cold dishes but is actually served at room temperature. It was excellent. It wasn’t mentioned on the menu but the noodles contain bits of crispy bean sprouts that added a nice crunch and freshness. The overall flavor was distinct from the standard dan dan and cold sesame noodles but every bit as good as the best versions I’ve had of those dishes. A keeper. (I really need to start taking notes – these descriptions are somewhat imprecise.)



On to the mains –

Sautéed Fresh pork bacon with spicy sauce. – Our old friend Enhanced Pork (from Spicy & Tasty), aka pork belly with chili leeks (Szechuan Gourmet). This was a very good version but I ordered it in a moment of weakness. I need to put a pork belly moratorium into effect. I’m becoming jaded even by excellent examples.



Braised Beef Filet with Napa Cabbage – This is a close relative of the braised chili beef we get at Grand Sichuan House in Bay Ridge. Like its sibling dish there’s a dusting of spices on top that needed to be mixed in. (If you don’t do this you’ll blow the top of your head off.) We love the version at GSH (an 8.5 or 9 out of 10) but this was a 10. The beef was wonderfully tender and flavorful. Even when you mix it carefully it’s not a dish for sissies. This was hot stuff.



Roasted beef filet in bean curd sauce – This was ordered on a different visit than the preceding dish. The beef was meltingly tender but the spicing was different and the inclusion of silken tofu changed the flavor profile entirely. This was an excellent dish, which is a surprising verdict for me. I dislike the consistency of even the best made silken tofu (I prefer tofu cooked to a firmer texture) but this dish won me over.



Stir friend chicken w. spicy capsicum – This was a great version of a dish that’s become a standard at better Sichuan restaurants around the city. If you haven’t tasted it you’ll really enjoy it here. If you’re familiar with it unless you’ve got a specific craving you may want to try something new. It’s a very good kitchen so your chances of getting something different and memorable are high.



Portions ranged from generous to very large. The large dishes are priced proportionately at around $17 or $18. If we were moderate people we could easily have shared one of the larger entrees but we wanted to taste everything. The leftovers are sitting in our fridge.

Based on a couple of visits I’m adding Famous Sichuan to the ever growing list of first rate Chinese restaurants around the city. I am also disproportionately pleased that an excellent Sichuan restaurant is operating on the site of the legendary House of Taiwan.


Famous Sichuan
10 Pell St.