Balanced dishes meant my intestinal fortitude wasn’t tested
Mark Laba
Province
Chef and owner Jim Liu with his wife Annie Xu at the Szechuan Chili. Photograph by : Arlen Redekop, The Province
SZECHUAN CHILI
Where: 802 West 6th Ave.
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-874-3737
Drinks: Beer and wine.
Hours: Mon.-Sat., lunch 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., dinner 4:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m., closed Sun.
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The Szechuan Province is famous for many things besides the misspelling of its name. Like, well – really I don’t know what else besides its excellent cuisine. This is a culinary tradition that dates back to when General Tso was raising chickens as a young lad and it’s a culinary journey that seems to say, “you will like this food but you will pay the next day by surrendering every inch of your gastro-intestinal tract.”
In fact, sometimes the food is so fiery I think Szechuan should be a verb and not a noun as in “Get out of my way or I’ll Szechuan your sorry ass.” The dishes are like having the tastebuds go a couple of rounds with the culinary equivalent of Bruce Lee and I sometimes think fire walkers would rather ramble over burning coals than a plate of Dai Ching chicken.
So I set out for my great Szechuan experience to this eatery some friends had recommended. Took along an old pal, Zoltar Schvitz, who changed his first name to Zoltar after claiming he was abducted by aliens. “There I was,” he told me, “watching Wheel of Fortune and right in the middle of Vanna White turning the letters, I was hit by this blinding light. Next thing I knew I was on a huge spacecraft where I was probed and given new body parts and a bathing suit to match. Now I’m able to eat pork rinds, which I couldn’t stand before, and I seem to have developed a fondness for drinking motor oil.” Just the man I was looking for to try some spicy Szechuan cooking.
Stepped into this nondescript joint that submits to the perfunctory amount of wall art to categorize it as atmospheric even if it borders on the barren side of decoration. Furnishings have all the character of an outlet store layaway plan weekend sale meaning I couldn’t remember any of this stuff if my life at the hands of space aliens depended on it. What I do remember though are the dark, murky sauces that seemed to threaten with a menacing heat much in the same way that gazing at roiling thunderhead clouds obscuring the horizon promise a torrential storm.
I thought, boy oh boy, Zoltar and I are in for it though with his new alien body parts this should be a breeze for him. Turns out the bark was worse than the bite but that’s OK because really Szechuan cuisine should embody a variety of experiences for the palate.
For example, the beef and broccoli with black bean dish ($8.75). Simple concoction, as familiar as the people you see on the 7 a.m. bus, but in this instance the broccoli was so fresh and tasty, cooked to perfection with just the right amount of veggie crispness and each bite burst with the flavours of sesame oil, garlic and chili that it was almost enlightening.
The Dai Ching chicken ($8.95) was the most fearsome of the bunch visually, a veritable primordial bog of spices and ingredients, some of which are still a mystery to me. Complexity of flavours and a well-balanced heat made this dish great.
The moo shu pork ($9.95) was OK although a little on the glutinous side but the eggplant and tofu ($8.95) with chili and garlic sauce was tantalizing from the first aromatic sniff and just as savoury once I got it between my mandibles. And the Shanghai-style chow mein was like having the belly caressed by soft noodles and soy.
It’s a huge menu as befits an eatery attempting to reflect a huge province in China but, as Zoltar says, once you’ve been to outer space as a guest on an alien spaceship the world just seems that much smaller. Although he does concede the food is better than on his intergalactic airline meal.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Chasing the chili dragon
RATINGS: Food: B; Service: B+; Atmosphere: C
