Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Spicy Challenge Part II: Grand Sichuan

I was invited by a friend to partake in the Spicy Challenge. It is not a contest but rather a three part series where spicy restaurants are explored and conquered. Part I was Peaches HotHouse in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. I did not attend but from what I hear their fried chicken will have steam blowing out of your ears. Part II ventured into Bay Ridge and Part III is a secret.

Grand Sichuan in Bay Ridge has a little bit of a reputation. It is authentic Sichuan cuisine (somewhat also catering to the American palate) and of no relation to the chain of Grand Sichuans in Manhattan and Jersey City.

My table got quite a few dishes to share. The food was so good that we had to reorder more dishes of the same to go around. We also coveted their spicy hotpot.

On a scale of 1 - 10, I would rate their spicy factor a 7. We think they toned down their spicy for us since we were obviously American. Most of their spice was from chili oil. The one exception was the Spicy Crab which had about a million red chili peppers. The dish reminded me of Chong Qing Dry & Spicy Chicken from Grand Sichuan in the East Village location. That dish was so spicy it was difficult to swallow. That was the level of spicy I was expecting. We finished off our meal with a bag of Blair's Death Rain Habanero kettle cooked potato chips. If you didn't feel any burn during the meal, you definitely will with one of those.

Beef Tendon w/Spicy Pepper Sauce
Sichuan Dan Dan Noodle
Sichuan Wonton w/Red Oil
Mapo Tofu
Shredded Beef w/Cumin
Spicy Crab
String Beans w/Pork
Grace: Ginger Scallion Steamed Whole Fish
Blair's Death Rain Habanero was our version of fortune cookie.


Photography Credits: Jocy Chang

Grand Sichuan
8701 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11209

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