Lan Sheng Restaurant - Manhattan

Attempt #583902 at a succinct post. That sentence took about 3 minutes. Few words, several pictures, all taken with iPhone - forgot my camera. This feels like haiku.

Pickled Sichuan Vegetables

Spicy, red, and sour,
Delicious and also free -
Auspicious pickles.

I hate haiku.

M's friend suggested we try out Lan Sheng, a promising new Sichuan place in Manhattan. Walking from the train to meet said friend, and another friend, M said, "I'm not too excited about this dinner,"* soon to be followed by 3 or 4 variations of the same cynical sentiment. I nodded silently each time, pushing head-down against the glacial wind and the odds of M being correct in his intrinsic skepticism.

Greeted by a brusque but smiling waiter [owner?] with charmingly cartoonish eyebrows and glasses, we were ushered into a booth far too large for our party of four. The place was only moderately occupied and rather quiet. Almost immediately the same man scurried back with menus, plunked down the above dish of pickled vegetables, frenetically pointed at some words on a Chinese-only specials menu, and spewed several enthusiastic but half incomprehensible words - in English? - and dashed off again.

M picked up his chopsticks and briefly interrupted his smirk to pop one in his mouth. Here's a reenactment:

: | :O : I

He then repeated this sequence with increasing speed, and progressively shorter smirk periods, like so:

: I :O : I :O : I :O : I :O :I :O:I:O:I:O ...

Until finally he declared that the pickles were "awesome," and "possibly [his] favorite version of this dish [he'd] ever had." When he tried to order more (they are in fact listed on the menu for $4.95), the waiter/possible-owner retorted, with good-natured contempt, "Why order? It's free!" And plopped down a fresh plate. We were on our third by the time we got to ordering. We all concurred that they were indeed awesome, and thus went the rest of the meal, with abundant jubilance and some intermittent bouncing.

*Foreshadowing!

Ox Tongue & Tripe w/Roasted Chili-Peanut Vinaigrette

This particular dish is quite possibly my favorite way to begin a meal (quickly followed by a cold beer). I had to echo M's statement regarding the pickled vegetables - this might be my favorite version. I've never heard the chili oil-based sauce referred to as a 'vinaigrette' before, but I like how it makes it seem a little more dainty than just "Ox tongue and tripe," or "Cold offal slices in chili oil." Bamboo Pavilion, Hunan House, Famous Sichuan, and numerous other restaurants also have excellent renditions of this magical dish, and I love them all, but I might have to say that this and Bamboo Pavilion are my favorites. M said he prefers Hunan House's, saying this one was great, but a little too sweet for him.

Double Cooked Streaky Pork w/Spicy Capsicum

Ooh, getting too wordy. Another great version of a classic standby. Salty fatty pork, leeks, chili oil, capsicum. For waist-watchers: 'streaky' = fatty... = delicious.
I'm guessing 'streaky' might be a direct translation from Chinese. Likewise, in Korean, pork belly is called 'sam gyup sal,' which translates to 'three layer fat*,' which also translates to 'delicious.'

Too much meat?** Too much heat?*** Temper it with some:

*Or something.

**No.

***Never.

Crispy Garlic Cucumbers

Extremly crispy, extremely garlicky. They got a table of rabid animal eaters raving about frikking cucumbers.

Scallion Pancakes

Classic dish, excellent execution, etc. etc. [Little grease, max crunch - really quite good.]

Chengdu Wontons w/Sichuan Peppercorn Vinaigrette

I am getting rather bored of saying how delicious everything was, but it was. (I think we were also just ordering our favorite standard things to test the waters, so to speak.)
Ditto. Yawn. Yum.

Stir Fried Prawns w/Yibin Yacai Spiced Chili Cucumbers

Here was something I had not tried. Yibin Yacai? Is that Chinese?
Apparently Yibin is a city in Sichuan province, and Yacai is a kind of tender herb that is often used in pickling. The rest were familiar things to me, and together it was very good. Unfortunately, I can't elaborate because my tastebuds were tuckered out by this point. I don't generally go for shrimp dishes, but these were tender - not overcooked, as they often tend to be - and generously spiced with...Yibin Yacai. Pretty colors, too.

Chongqing Fish [???] - "Trademark Dish"

We tried to order 'Braised Whole Fish w/Chili-Miso Sauce,' but the waiter [/owner?/chef??] was so excited to insist we get their "trademark dish," for which he never gave the name, that we were excited to go along. (Leaving the restaurant, we saw 'Chongqing Fish' being boldly advertised on the sandwich chalkboard outside, and after some googling of that, it looks like that's what we got.) The pride on that dear man's face as he and another waiter marched out with this flaming, still-bubbling (with a small burner attachment underneath), steaming and beautiful tray would have been worth it for me, no matter what it tasted like. Luckily this, too, was a delightful dish. Don't let the billions of chilis fool you - it wasn't that spicy. Actually quite delicately seasoned, with some of those subtle medicinal notes that can add a pleasant complexity to certain dishes, the fish was silky and supple as a down pillow. So, if you like fish, and down pillows, this dish - which I'm not 100% sure I've named accurately - will have you on your knees. (It's late, I'm tired, try this 'trademark dish.' If it appeals to your taste.)

Carnage

And harbinger of emergencies on the horizon...

Not the prettiest of pictures, but included just to illustrate how a table of four not-extremely-into-fish meat-lovers eradicated, erased, expunged, exterminated, extinguished, extirpated, and finished off (selection of thesaurus entries for 'annihilate') this dish, even after invalidating, liquidating, and massacring all the previous dishes.

Victory. Good night.

Lan Sheng Restaurant
60 West 39 Street (btwn 5th & 6th Ave)
Manhattan
(212) 575-8899