New Sichuan Restaurant in Midtown

The popular and most excellent Sichuan Gourmet at 25 W. 39th St. in Midtown has competition... across the street, no less. I don't get what it is with 39th St., but it now has two excellent Sichuan places. (One block south on 38th there are two excellent places, Cultures, a coffee shop run by some coffee geniuses from Sydney and Baraca, a kosher pita place, so there have been some definite improvements in an area not exactly known for its cuisine.)

A friend from grad school, who is quite the gourmand, a good cook and from Chengdu took me there for lunch today. The sign is blue and it's on the south side of the street, just west of Sichuan Gourmet's yellow sign. We sampled three classic Chengdu dishes:

-Cold Sliced Ox Tongue
-Stir Fried Pork Belly (very much like Twice Cooked Pork)
-Lightly fried fish with bok choi, chilies, bamboo shoots and bean sprouts in a hot pot

The theme was Sichuan peppercorn and my mouth was pleasantly numb when I left... the sign of success.

Be sure to ask for it Chinese style, not American. It was excellent and I'm amazed at the quality of authentic Chinese food as I've gotten more familiar with it (as opposed to the wretched excuse for cuisine that is found in very Americanized places, which I can barely stomach anymore).

Check it out if you happen to live in or visit NYC. Here's a link: Lan Sheng.