dresese

WuLiangYe

I first heard of WuLiangYe in China, when I had some of their strong and tasty liquor, and someone bought for me a glass of their liquor with a glass ship inside. It was quite cool, but Greta never let me open the darn thing to drink! I guess somethings are just too nice to use.

The second time I hard of WuLiangYe was at Little Sichuan in San Mateo, California. I had lunch with a few fellow Intraspect employees, and Qingyang told me that as good as Little Sichuan was (and it was oh so good), on her recent trip to New York, she found WuLiangYe's restaurant in Manhattan was even better.

So, after I moved to New York, I was determined to try WuLiangYe's restaurant. After some research, I found that it was probably one of the best Sichuan in Manhattan, competing for that title with Grand Sichuan.

After trying both, I find both excellent, but I slightly prefer WuLiangYe. The latest time I went was with my ex-Intraspect colleagues and friends Tash and Hollander, who probably were there in San Mateo when Qingyang told us how good this place was. We went to WuLiangYe on 48th Street.

First up was the classic dumplings in hot oil. I actually prefer Little Sichuan's to all others, but I can't explain why. I was actually addicted to Little Sichuan's dumplings at one time, and that craving never left. These are more delicate, and really delicious. And look at them. They are beautiful!

Ah, next the Cold Rooster. I love this dish. I've had it before, and it wasn't a huge hit with anyone except me. It's cold, a little salty, and full of those mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns. What people dislike is that there are many bones, and not huge amounts of meat. However, I feel that this is all the better for enjoying the wonderful spicy sauce that contains it. The waiter told me we wouldn't like this dish, and he was sort of right, because Tash and Hollander weren't huge fans. But I ate out almost the entire thing. Glorious.

We also got the Sichuan "yu-xiang" eggplant, which is a classic vegetable I usually get at Sichuan restaurants.

Finally, we got the classic "Ants Climbing a Tree", which is cellophane noodles with pork and green onions, in a spicy sauce. Very tasty here.

There's many more great dishes here. If you go, get plenty of things off the inside cover of the menu, and the first two pages of the menu. And be sure to try to WuLiangYe liquor, which has a very interesting robust rice-liquor taste.