Szechaun Spicy At Beijing Garden

I have written extensively about my visits to Wonton Gourmet near downtown Cleveland, Ohio. To date, they have some of the tastiest and most authentic Chinese food I've ever had in the entire northeast Ohio area. Their specialty, however, is Hong Kong style cuisine and as such, lacks some of the authentic flavors from other regional Chinese cuisines, specifically Szechuan cuisine. While they have added a few spicy and delicious items to their menu over time, for a true spicehead like myself, the last time I had true Szechuan food was during a trip to Chicago in 2007 at a restaurant called Lao Sze Chuan.

In a fortuitous twist, however, a restaurant named Beijing Garden located in Twinsburg, Ohio, had some spicy Szechuan dishes on their menu and it didn't take long before fellow blogger Nancy from Fun Playing With Food had set up a time and date for our decently-sized party to meet up and experience this food for ourselves. Beijing Garden was located at the end of a small number of stores at 7995 Darrow Road, Twinsburg, OH 44087 and can be reached at 330-425-9795. Parking was in the lot directly in front of the stores.

Here was a shot of the front of the restaurant:


Once inside, I was warmly greeted by Chef Shawn Chen and since I was the first to arrive, he invited me to sit in a chair in the lobby until the other five guests showed up. Several minutes later, all but one of the other guests arrived and we were shown to a circular table in the main dining room. Waiting for the final guest gave me time to photograph the menu:





While almost any Chinese restaurant has to cater to the American palate with dishes like General Tso's chicken and Wonton soup, by examining the menu closely, it was pretty easy to spot the more authentic Szechuan dishes, too. We started our meal out by ordering tea. Our server brought us two pots, one filled with jasmine and the other filled with green tea:


I opted to poor myself some of the green tea:


To begin our meal, we decided to order three of the appetizers: Dan Dan Noodles, Salt and Pepper Calamari, and the House Special Fried Dumpling. Since most authentic Chinese meals are eaten as the dishes come out of the kitchen, that was how we chose to eat our meal today, too. Of course, the large Lazy Susan at the center of the table helped making sharing very easy.

First out of the kitchen were the Dan Dan Noodles:


This was our first and certainly not our last taste of the fiery Szechuan peppercorns used to make this dish sing with flavor. Szechuan peppercorns are known for two qualities, ma and la. The dish not only has to have a spicy quality to it, but the peppercorn actually numbs your lips as well. Comprised of cooked noodles, chicken, scallions, sprouts, and peanuts, this was a very tasty way to start off our meal. The spicy and numbing quality of the peppercorns was present, but not overpowering. Had I not been sharing this with five others, I could've happily made an entire meal out of this dish.

The second appetizer to arrive was the Salt and Pepper Calamari:


The squid rings were lightly battered and fried and were toothsome without being chewy. The coating was a mixture of salt, black pepper, and as was first noted by my friend Diane, MSG. MSG is often used in Asian cuisine to develop a depth of savoriness but some, like Diane, are particularly sensitive to its presence in food and actually have physical reactions to consuming it. There are many who claim that MSG sensitivities are largely overblown, but I'm not about to start debating that point. I noticed the flavor as well, but it didn't bother me nearly as much since I don't have a sensitivity to it. While I'd prefer the dish without it, at the same time, I realized that Chef Chen was indeed giving us authentic dishes.

Our final appetizer was the House Special Fried Dumplings with a Soy-based Dipping Sauce:


These were expertly fried without a touch of greasiness to them. They were filled with ground pork and shrimp and the sweetness from the shrimp matched the saltiness from the dipping sauce well. I could have also ordered a plate of these for myself, too.

Collectively we also decided to do a soup course before the entrees. When the chef told us about another house specialty soup that mostly appealed to his Chinese customers, we immediately perked up and expressed our desire to try it. After a few more minutes, this arrived at our table:

This was a steamed shrimp and tofu soup with bok choi and cooked noodles in a light soup broth. Our server also brought out six soup spoons as well as individual bowls for each guest. As soup was ladled into each bowl, it was passed around so that everyone except one of the guests had one (she ordered an individual serving of their Hot and Sour soup instead). To my taste, everything harmonized well in the bowl. The noodles were soft without being mushy, the bok choi still had a bit of crunch to it, the shrimp were cooked without being rubbery and the tofu was still silken without disintegrating. This was a nice transition from appetizer to entree.

For our last course of the evening, we decided to order four different entrees and share them among us. First to arrive at the table was Ma La Chicken:


Studded with green peppers, onions, and zucchini, the dish had been loaded with more of the Szechuan peppercorns and then "dry" fried in the wok. This meant that there wasn't a sauce, per se. While the Dan Dan Noodles did have a touch of spicy and numbing quality to it, the Ma La Chicken really delivered in that department. Three or four bites in and I was happily "feeling the burn."

The second entree to arrive at our table was a long-time favorite of mine, Ma Po Tofu (or Dofu):


We had asked Chef Chen to serve it in the more authentic way with a bit of ground pork (most Chinese restaurants list it on their vegetarian menu) and he definitely delivered. Adorned with even more of the Szechuan Peppercorns, this dish picked up where the Ma La Chicken left off. The tofu was creamy, the pork a bit chewy (not in a bad way), and the tasty sauce was a wonderful topper to the bowl of steamed rice I had portioned for myself. Was this the best tasting Ma Po Tofu I've ever had? No, but it was darned close.

Our third entree was the Ziran Lamb:


Containing a combination of sliced lamb, onions, scallions, and the principle ingredient that defines this dish as Ziran Lamb instead of just a straight-up stir-fried lamb dish, cumin. LOTS of cumin. Normally the use of this much cumin would be off-putting, but Chef Chen managed to combine sweet, spicy, savory, and earthy in such a way that this dish was absolutely delicious. For those gentle readers out there who might by put off by the gaminess of lamb, I can assure you that the flavor was mild and tasted more like beef than lamb.

The final entree in our amazing culinary journey today was straight off the vegetarian menu and was a combination of Potato, Eggplant, and Green Pepper:


This was a simple, yet effective dish. After all of the complex flavors of the other entrees we had tonight, this one offered straight-forward flavors that helped to mitigate some of the spiciness that had consumed most of our mouths. What surprised me the most about this dish were the potatoes. To an American palate, the potatoes would've tasted a bit undercooked due to the ever-so-slight crispness of it. However, after trying a bite or two myself, while I could understand this perception, the potato also didn't taste "raw." The chef had walked a very fine line between under and overcooked and done a marvelous job.

As a special treat, Chef Chen surprised the entire table with a plate of Fried Bananas to end our rather large meal:


The bananas had been dredged in granulated sugar after being fried and had been served up with a sweet red swirl on the plate. This was the perfect way to get a little something sweet at the end without feeling like you had to go overboard. While the obligatory fortune cookies were still brought with the check, I opted to have a second piece of banana rather than my cookie.

With tax and tip for all of the food we had eaten tonight, the total came to an amazing $16.20 per person. Clearly it helped to share a meal with five others, but given how utterly full each of us was and the amount of leftovers we got to divvy up between us, this was one heck of a bargain and definitely on par with the value at Wonton Gourmet. Today's meal at Beijing Garden had been a true standout and I was elated by the knowledge that I now have a place to go when I want to experience the true burn of Szechuan Peppercorns. I highly recommend you give Chef Chen's restaurant a try whether you want some of the more typical Americanized Chinese food or need to take the plunge and go for something a little more authentic.

Szechuan Throwdown, Mapo Dofu Battle

What started off as a casual lunchtime stop at a local Chinese restaurant ended up turning into a somewhat unplanned and lopsided battle. I had been looking for a place to have lunch and based on the comments on this Yahoo Maps site, China House seemed to be the place to go. Given that it was only a ten minute drive from my current location made it all that more appealing. While I certainly wasn't expecting the level of authenticity of a place like Wonton Gourmet, based on the comments, I did expect good Americanized Chinese cuisine.

Located at 4031 South Main Street, Akron, OH 44319, China House can be reached at 330-644-8288. At the time of this writing, no website could be found that was associated with the restaurant. Since the restaurant was in a retail outlet strip, there was plenty of parking available in the lot serving the myriad of storefronts.

Here was a shot of the front of the restaurant:


Once inside, I quickly realized that the restaurant was definitely more of the Americanized Chinese dining experience. I grabbed a menu and began looking through it for something a little more ambitious than General Tso's chicken:


To my surprise, the restaurant was selling Mapo Dofu. For a moment it occurred to me that this restaurant might just have a glimmer of hope. Having had my fair share of Mapo Dofu in the past, I knew it was a flavor I enjoyed when done well. I went ahead and ordered it "ma la," which was the equivalent of asking them to make the sauce both spicy and numbing (in true Szechuan style). The person taking my order nodded at me in seeming acknowledgment of my request, took my money, and indicated that it would be brought out to me when ready.

After a few minutes, my rather substantial lunch arrived:


And a shot of my steamed rice:


After a small snafu with the person bringing out my lunch (I was asking for chopsticks and the older gentleman who brought my lunch out spoken absolutely no English), I dished myself up a plate:


A few observations about my lunch today. Mapo Dofu can be completely vegetarian, but most often it is served with pork. The pork is usually ground and it is in a decent ratio with the tofu. More of a tofu with pork kind of dish. I've had it spicy and not spicy and the amount of chili oil will cause the color of the sauce to vary from brown to reddish. If you like tofu, especially large chunks of tofu, then this version was for you. Sadly, while I dig tofu, it felt completely out of balance with the amount of pork strips that were present. The tofu itself was very Plain Jane and really added nothing to the dish except bulk. Additionally, the "sauce" that the tofu was literally swimming in was neither spicy enough nor very tasty. Honestly it tasted to me like it was simply thickened soy sauce. This had none of the complexities of a good Mapo Dofu. Since I was hungry, I did end up eating about half of this and simply threw the rest away.

The Mapo Dofu Battle arose because a day or so later I found myself at a restaurant in Hudson called Tai Wah. Tai Wah was located at 5835 Darrow Road, Hudson, OH 44256 and can be reached at 330-342-0888. Again, no website could be located at the time of this writing.

I have known where Tai Wah was located for some time. It wasn't until recently, however, that one of my readers brought it to my attention. While she originally recommended the Thai cuisine (specifically the curry), it was when I discovered that Mapo Dofu was on their menu that the concept of a battle between the two restaurants started to formulate in my brain. But, of course, I am getting a little ahead of myself.

Here was a shot of the exterior of the restaurant, nicely tucked away behind the Zeppe's:


Once inside, I could immediately tell that Tai Wah was a more upscale joint than China House had been. While I'm sure they served take-out occasionally, the bulk of their business was clearly in-house dining. The dining area was split about evenly between tables and booths and I requested a table near the back of the room so that I could inconspicuously take photos without bothering other patrons.

While the menu has several different pages, for whatever reason I decided only to take a photograph of the page with the spicy Chinese food items on it:


Tai Wah's version was clearly much more expensive than the one I had eaten at China House and I wondered if it the taste would live up to the price. At nearly $13, I hoped that at the minimum, at least I'd have leftovers that I'd want to take home with me.

I started out with a pot of green tea:


My waiter informed me that my spice level options were mild, medium, and hot. Knowing that Mapo Dofu was a Szechuan dish, I asked him if there were any heat level options above hot. He informed me that he could ask for it extra hot and bring out some chili pepper flakes in oil so that I could adjust it myself. That seemed like a reasonable solution and he went off to place the order.

About fifteen minutes later, he returned with this enormous platter of food:


Studded with lots of chili peppers, I knew that this was going to have a nice spicy kick to it. Along with my platter came my steamed rice and chili oil:


I dished myself up some of the rice and gently layered on the Mapo Dofu on top of the rice, making sure to spoon some of the liquid directly onto the rice. Here was a shot of my dinner plate:


Where China House's version had been swimming in nasty, flavorless brown sauce, Tai Wah's was brimming with the flavors of chili, ginger, and garlic. I also appreciated the restraint that Tai Wah used in the amount of sauce that came out with the dish. It was enough to make the dish interesting and paired excellently with the rice, but not so much that it overwhelmed everything. It was also nice to see a lot more pork than what I had received at China House. That being said, some of the pork was nice and tender and some of it was a tad bit chewy. While there was no numbing sensation from Szechuan peppercorns, there was plenty of burning from the assortment of nearly whole chilies that had been thrown into this dish.

Even as hungry as I was, I was only able to finish about 1/3 of my Mapo Dofu before asking my waiter to box up the remaining rice and tofu. This version was definitely coming home with me for a snack later on and probably lunch the next day. You most certainly got your money's worth at Tai Wah, although I have to question the extremely large portions ... why not just offer a half-portion at half the price?

Having had both restaurants versions of Mapo Dofu, it was obviously clear that Tai Wah won without any problems whatsoever. Not to say that Tai Wah has the best Mapo Dofu that I've ever had, but theirs was decent enough. Do I think it's fair to compare two restaurants that are obviously geared towards different types of customers? Absolutely. I ate both dishes at the respective restaurants and I could easily have gotten both orders to go. Based on my experience today and the suggestion that I give their curry a try, I definitely think a return to Tai Wah is in order. While I know I can't judge China House's entire menu on simply one item, my gut tells me that I'm probably going to have a similar experience with the rest of the food there. While I was initially excited to see a more Americanized Chinese menu with Mapo Dofu on it, if it isn't going to be executed well, then why even bother putting it on there? Trust me, no one who thinks that Chinese food only consists of egg rolls, General Tso's chicken, and crab rangoon would even know what they were missing.

However, if you are on the lookout for a good Mapo Dofu, check out Tai Wah on Rt. 91 just north of Terex Road. Better yet, share a couple of dishes family-style and you'll help to keep the cost of your meal to a reasonable level.