54 replies to this topic

[Lex]

If you were going to open an excellent Szechuan restaurant in midtown would you decide to place it almost right across the street from Szechuan Gourmet on 39th St.? It’s an interesting question. What’s not in doubt is that Lan Sheng is a worthy competitor. It might even be better than that.

Lan Sheng opened in October of this year and somehow I only found out about it last week. Since we had an afternoon theater date this past Saturday at the nearby Laura Pels it seemed like a perfect opportunity to check them out.

Lan Sheng is a handsome place with cozy banquettes and white tablecloths. The lighting is more subdued than similar Chinese restaurants. Clearly they’re making an effort to be a bit more upscale than neighboring Szechuan Gourmet (which itself is more than passable.)





When sussing out new restaurants I first like to order versions of dishes that I’ve enjoyed at similar places. That way I can establish a baseline. If they’re good I branch out to other parts of the menu on subsequent visits. We followed that plan on Saturday.



Dan Dan noodles were suitably spicy and after a minute we felt the pleasant buzz of Szechuan pepper corns. We noticed that the sauce was a bit thicker and more complex than similar versions served around town. We also picked out a slight bit of sweetness that might bother some diners. We thought it wasn’t enough to overwhelm the dish and added an interesting note. If this is the type of thing that bothers you, be warned. I think most people will like this dish a lot.



Chengdu Wontons with Sichuan Peppercorn Vinaigrette were firm, meaty, and delicate. While the sauce was completely different than that used with the dan dan noodles we noticed the same complexity and light touch of sweetness as in the previous dish. Very good indeed.



Double Cooked Streaky Pork with Spicy Capsicum is our old friend pork belly, accompanied by hot and sweet peppers. This was an excellent dish – the flavors of the peppers played off the richness of the pork belly. The heat level was high enough to add interest without overwhelming the ingredients.

It was lunchtime and we really couldn’t eat any more without running the risk of spoiling our dinner plans. We ate too much anyway and we certainly wanted to eat even more. Everything we had was skillfully prepared; I got the strong feeling that there are a lot of great dishes on the menu waiting to be discovered. We’ll be back.

As for the location, my guess is that Lan Sheng is hoping to catch Szechuan Gourmet’s spillover lunchtime crowd. (My understanding is that SG gets crazy busy during the week.) The good news is that Lan Sheng won’t be viewed as some sort of weak fallback when SG is jam packed. It’s serving first rate food in a room with superior ambiance. My guess is that they’re going to do just fine.

Extra points:

While they had beer available they don’t serve wine yet. When we asked about it they said “Soon.”



A small complimentary dish of pickled vegetables was placed on the table for nibbling while we made our selections. Good stuff.

When they brought our check they also gave us 2 “$5 Off” coupons that can be used on bills of $50 or higher. I have a feeling that they’re not going to need to offer this deal for very long.

The place had about 4 tables filled at 1:00PM on a Saturday afternoon. I expect that business will pick up nicely once word gets around.

Lan Sheng
60 West 39th St. (between 5th and 6th Ave.)

[Daniel]

Sounds great.. Will have to definitely throw it on the list..

[Lex]

After a promising lunch visit to Lan Sheng in December last night I returned for dinner. And this time around I brought lots of backup – we were a group of nine. It was a knowledgeable crowd, Szechuan veterans one and all.

I had printed out a menu earlier in the day figuring to get a head start with my selections. It’s sitting next to me as I type this, complete with check marks, circles, scrawled notes, and food stains. It has been through the wars.

Do I need to mention that we ordered a massive amount of food?

Apps

#14 Crispy cucumber – every Szechuan restaurant in the city has a different take on this. Lan Sheng’s featured a sauce slightly thicker than most with a distinct taste of scallion. Very good indeed.


#23 Dan Dan noodles – Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever get tired of eating this dish. That day will be a long time coming if I stick to LS’s version. Too often these noodles can be one dimensional at other restaurants. Good but predictable. At LS there’s the usual heat but the spicing was much more complex than standard versions. A winner.


Bean curd and celery (Off menu?) – Served at room temperature, this was very good. Not hammer and tongs spicy, more in the piquant range. Nice.


#4 Ox Tongue & Tripe – People raved that that the tripe was actually tender. They liked this a lot. (I’m a tripe agnostic myself.)


Pickled Cabbage (Off menu) – Tasty and refreshing.

Bamboo shoots & shredded pork (Off menu?) – It wasn’t supposed to be spicy and it wasn’t. A nice dish.



Mains

Crab with Greens (a special) – this was a more Cantonese than Szechuan preparation and people seemed to like it well enough.

Lamb with Cumin – This was just terrific, spicy and subtle at the same time. My favorite dish of the evening that featured lots of great food. (At least I think it was #114. It’s the only lamb dish on the regular menu. The atmosphere when we ordered was a little chaotic. In addition to my list the manager was suggesting various specials and people where shouting out favorites. It was fun but a little hard to keep a precise record.) ETA - This was a special dish created at our request.



#75 Stir-Fried Chicken with Spicy Capsicum – This dish is a favorite of mine at the excellent Grand Sichuan House in Bay Ridge. LS’s version was it’s fraternal twin, similar but a bit different. This one is slightly crispier and the spicing was slightly different. I like them both very much.


#118. Stir Fried Streaky Pork with Spicy Capsicum – Who doesn’t like bacon? A couple of weeks ago we had this dish at Szechuan Chalet. SC’s version set the standard, a 10 out of 10. This one was excellent but I’d give it a 9.5. The spicing was slightly less complex but still great.

#103 Smoky Hot Shredded Beef with Spicy Capsicum – Not head bangingly hot but very good indeed. Subtle.


Sides

#164 Sautéed String Beans w. minced pork – An old favorite, done right.

#163 Sautéed Vinegar Potato Strips – A nice version.

#119 Cellophane Noodles with Minced Pork – Again, a very subtle dish but very good in it’s own way. The actual pork, unfortunately, was MIA but it’s flavor was certainly present.

Mung Bean Noodles – (I can’t figure out which version we had.) I am untrustworthy on this dish. When they were handing out the mung bean appreciation gene I must have been out having a beer. The Mung Bean King sitting to my right liked them a lot.


I’ve left stuff out. Maybe someone else who was there will fill in the blanks.

The verdict? Around the table I heard the phrase “best I’ve ever had” more than once. A few people even said that Lan Sheng might be the best Szechuan restaurant in the city.

Me? I won’t play that game because I don’t think it’s fair to the high level of Szechuan cooking going on around the city. Yesterday’s prince didn’t suddenly turn into a frog just because someone new walked in the room.

Lan Sheng is producing terrific food and deserves to be ranked among the best Szechuan restaurants in the city. You should go and enjoy it on it’s own terms.

Extra Points

For now beer is off the menu. The friendly and professional manager kindly let us BYO.

While some of the dishes were robustly spiced others were more subtle. This reinforces the point I made in my Szechuan Chalet post about various spicing levels. Some people think that every dish at a Szechuan restaurant ought to scream with heat. They’re wrong.

If you need a bar for a pre-dinner drink Croton Reservoir Tavern (108 West 40 Street) fits the bill.

Prices are gentle and BYO helped even more. With a generous tip the bill came to $26 a person, a fantastic bargain.

Towards the end of the meal the manager introduced us to the owner. We gave her a round of applause. She deserved it.

[Steve R.]

Unbelievably good, just about every dish! The app. we got was ox tongue and tripe, not tendon (last minute change by those of us who like this stuff). It was great. And the mung beans were an app. And Lex is missing a main dish but I cant remember which.... if his lamb dish didnt have cumin, then he left out their version of cumin lamb.

The bottom line on this place is that, after 6-7 apps, 9 mains & a couple of comp'ed things (sweet potato "doughnuts" for each of us & the cabbage app), I cant think of anything that was below very good and several of the dishes were best in NY. The food seemed more complex than most of the other places. The dishes contained more blending of ingredients and didnt rely on heat factor to disguise or replace flavors. There was heat but all in context. All in all, my new favorite place. And Ginny's.

I'm guessing that Dave Cook will post pictures on eatingintranslation.com

Anyone want to go again?

[Lex]

Anyone want to go again?

After last night I won't be eating anything for a week or two. That was a ton of food.

[TaliesinNYC]

Unbelievably good, just about every dish! The app. we got was ox tongue and tripe, not tendon (last minute change by those of us who like this stuff). It was great. And the mung beans were an app. And Lex is missing a main dish but I cant remember which.... if his lamb dish didnt have cumin, then he left out their version of cumin lamb.

The bottom line on this place is that, after 6-7 apps, 9 mains & a couple of comp'ed things (sweet potato "doughnuts" for each of us & the cabbage app), I cant think of anything that was below very good and several of the dishes were best in NY. The food seemed more complex than most of the other places. The dishes contained more blending of ingredients and didnt rely on heat factor to disguise or replace flavors. There was heat but all in context. All in all, my new favorite place. And Ginny's.

I'm guessing that Dave Cook will post pictures on eatingintranslation.com

Anyone want to go again?

I'm game. I want to see how it compares to Szechuan Gourmet.

[splinky]

i don't care for szechuan food. what should i order there?

[TaliesinNYC]

Sweet potato "doughnuts" reminds me of a dessert at Wu Liang Ye (86th St. location); think deep-fried sweet potato puffs showered with honey and sesame seeds.

[Steve R.]

Sweet potato "doughnuts" reminds me of a dessert at Wu Liang Ye (86th St. location); think deep-fried sweet potato puffs showered with honey and sesame seeds.

Almost. These are called "Chong Qing Sweet Potato Puffy", without description on the menu. No sesame seeds and only a drop of honey. However, they do also have "Honey Yam Balls" on the dessert menu, which they describe as "showered with honey". Worth further exploration.

By the way, to expand on what I like about the place (the fullness of ingredients in every dish), the Ox Tongue and Tripe is listed as "with Roasted Chili-Peanut Vinaigrette" and every bit of that description was taste-able in the dish, including the half peanuts throughout. It makes many other places seem one dimensional.

[Suzanne F]

Sounds like a good place for pre-theater. Thanks!!

[StephanieL]

Unbelievably good, just about every dish! The app. we got was ox tongue and tripe, not tendon (last minute change by those of us who like this stuff). It was great. And the mung beans were an app. And Lex is missing a main dish but I cant remember which.... if his lamb dish didnt have cumin, then he left out their version of cumin lamb.

The bottom line on this place is that, after 6-7 apps, 9 mains & a couple of comp'ed things (sweet potato "doughnuts" for each of us & the cabbage app), I cant think of anything that was below very good and several of the dishes were best in NY. The food seemed more complex than most of the other places. The dishes contained more blending of ingredients and didnt rely on heat factor to disguise or replace flavors. There was heat but all in context. All in all, my new favorite place. And Ginny's.

I'm guessing that Dave Cook will post pictures on eatingintranslation.com

Anyone want to go again?

I'm game. I want to see how it compares to Szechuan Gourmet.

Me too--it sounds great.

[Orik]

[I'm game. I want to see how it compares to Szechuan Gourmet.

btw, last time at Szechuan Gourmet (where prices seem to have climbed quite a bit) we had a dish of spicy eels (of the eel dishes on the menu the one marked with the largest number of peppers). It was great and had an unimaginably large number of flavors going on, but for the next 24 hours I felt like I'd swallowed a volcano.

[nuxvomica]

i'd love to go next time

[Lex]

I'm guessing that Dave Cook will post pictures on eatingintranslation.com

I'd check his Flickr photo stream. He might not post them on the blog but they'll certainly be on Flickr.

(He never wrote up the meal at Szechuan Chalet but the pictures are on Flickr. Later I'm going to link them to my SC post.)

[Rich]

Count me in for next time.