Hunan House - Flushing

I wanted to wait until I visited Hunan House one more time before posting this - so I could include some of my favorite dishes that were not ordered this time - but then I decided whatever. I will probably post about it again at some point. Maybe later this week, as that is most likely when I'll be there again.

I guess since I'm starting culinary school in a couple of months I should maybe be a little worried about searing my tastebuds into retardation with my spice addiction, but I can't help it. Sometimes (every other day) I just need that spicy food high. When your cheeks flush, your eyeballs sweat, and your lips feel like hot leeches fastened to your skull, drawing all the blood to the front of your face. Really makes you feel alive. Hunan cuisine is not the hottest food around, but as far as Chinese goes, it's definitely up there.

Upon being seated, they start you off with some boiled peanuts, which is a little bit of salvation when you arrive at the restaurant starving your brains out after being so absorbed in figuring out the layout of your new food blog (yes, after much agonizing, it still looks like this) that you've sadly forgotten to factor the long journey to Flushing into your estimation of when you would be consuming food.

Cool, briney, and packs good flavor for an unassuming peanut [some five spice, maybe?], with a pleasant texture that falls somewhere between water chestnuts and chickpeas.
But this is not about peanuts.


Boom. Ox tongue and tripe! (I highly recommend clicking to enlarge here.) You may not be able to tell from the photo, but that shit is taking an invigorating dip in some serious chili oil. Priming itself to lay its fury all over your peanut-palliated palate. Very similar to the Sichuan fu qi fei pian (or "Husband and wife offal"), this is one of those dishes that will take up residence right next to your pavlovian switch once you've tried it. If you like spicy food, and tripe. Which I do. Very much. You will also find some crunchy crushed peanuts, some finely chopped hearts of celery, and a shitton of chili. One thing: make sure to have some rice on hand before you dive in (the complimentary hot tea provides little solace, even when cooled). I made the mistake of not waiting, and by the time my rice arrived I had a charming little red mustache where I had to keep dabbing the sweat off. Hunan Heat: it's a creeper, but it lingers.

Next:


"Braised Pork, Mao's Style." Also known as "Red-braised Pork," even though it's brown. Hmm.
I'm no expert on Mao (or anything, probably), but I'd say he was a dude who looked like he'd seen a fine pork belly or two in his time.
Come on in a little closer.

Cubes of pork belly imbued with the flavors of...brown...sauce...? Soy, ginger, some star anise, more chili oil (though not much), and some other things. Hard to tell as my ability to taste things had deteriorated quite a bit by this point. Those little dark things that look like tiny brains are chestnuts - soft, nutty, and sweet. And hidden beneath it all was a secret nucleus of what I think was boiled spinach, that felt a bit gratuitous. Or maybe obligatory - some covert roughage tucked amidst all that meat and fat. Verrry sneaky. Fooled us, I guess, 'cause we ate every last bit of it. All in all, it was a nice dish, but nothing I would wake up pining after in a pool of my own drool (which I can say happens daily might be a possibility with the previous dish).

We also had some pickled cabbage and chilis:

Which were also fine, if you like cabbage. Less pickled and more raw than I would like, but a refreshing respite from all the spicy, fatty, meaty things. But if I'm going for vegetables at Hunan House, I vastly prefer the "Sauteed hollow stem vegetable with spicy sauce," which regretfully we did not order this time around, and so you don't get to see them. Sorry. Next time (soon).

Hunan House
137-40 Northern Boulevard, Flushing, Queens, 718-353-1808