[nihaoma]

now Sunday is also closed? I guess they went with the 3-day weekends like the rest of us wishing for.

[sambamaster]

nihaoma, on Aug 11 2008, 03:11 PM, said:

now Sunday is also closed? I guess they went with the 3-day weekends like the rest of us wishing for.

Maybe they closed early that day? I was in there the week before on a Sunday. Open. But I was the only patron...the owners, younger folks not yet 30, were playing cards at the next table. Clearly business is slow. I was not as impressed as others, let's say poor execution in the water boiled beef and the dan dan mian i had, but will withhold further comments until I get in another visit....they were out of pork belly...too bad, nixed two dishes I tried to order. I will say the decor is fine, but the location is not ideal. I will go back, but if the results are similar to visit one, I will stick with places closer to home....

[Quo Vadis]

Anyone know if last Sunday was a fluke or if they are in fact closed Sundays now?

I'd like to try it but would hate to waste the trip. They don't seem to answer their phones much (not complaining, many's the time I can't answer the phone at my place) so I'm having trouble finding out what their current hours are.

[pb n foie]

Just called and they said they were open until 10pm tonight!

[whippy]

^ I was sitting there when I heard your call come in, heh. I actually took a moment and told 'em about PFO since there's some nice feedback here, and also mentioned that several parties had tried to come last Sunday night. The owner said that they had been so slow that they had closed early. Well, hopefully they'll consider the issue some more.

This time, I tried the spicy jellyfish salad ($4) (they were out of the seaweed salad). Cool, crunchy, spicy with a nice sesame note. Also had the Guiness braised pork ribs ($5), little tender bites of pork in a super-tasty sweet and sticky sauce, really good.

I didn't care so much for the spicy seafood noodle soup, which was just okay. It's an enormous portion ($7.95), but somehow felt unbalanced to me, maybe not enough seafood and too many noodles?

At seventeen bucks, this was enough food for two.

Anyway, beef-tripe-celery salad and pork ribs ftw.

[Quo Vadis]

"and also mentioned that several parties had tried to come last Sunday night. The owner said that they had been so slow that they had closed early"

That's strange because I tried once at 12:15 and again at 5pm...

[abang]

Quo Vadis, on Aug 17 2008, 02:16 PM, said:

"and also mentioned that several parties had tried to come last Sunday night. The owner said that they had been so slow that they had closed early"

That's strange because I tried once at 12:15 and again at 5pm...

Was there today at 7:00 p.m. Definitely not slow. Lots of customers. Food was excellent. Their waitress could not keep up with orders, she forgot to order one of our dishes and instead of attempting to correct her mistake, simply said they were out of it. Right, sure. But I'll be back, their food is just that good.

[ExtraMSG]

They were full tonight when Sauce and I arrived, a big party just finishing. We got:

- ma po tofu
- dan dan noodles
- fish and pickled cabbage soup (special)
- spicy crispy pork intestines (special)
- 1000 year old egg

We had ordered the pickled beans special, but they ran out. This was more than enough food, though. The two specials were quite large. All this was $37 and we had enough food for another meal.

Ma po tofu had some nice layers of flavor and decent amount of spice. It was heavy on the szechuan peppercorns, possibly too heavy for me, making my tongue constantly tingle. (At least that's what I associate szechuan pepper with.) Probably should have been eaten with rice, but I was doing it hardcore. I'm sure I'll regret it later.

Dan dan noodles were nice. Noodle quality was good. I would guess commercial fresh noodles. They had some firmness. The gravy they were in had a deep and meaty flavor.

Fish soup was very enjoyable. Heavily spiced (both a little piquant, but also with lots of spices), it got me in the back of the throat every once in a while. Really liked it, though. Fish was firm and fine. I'd guess some sort of catfish, maybe basa. The broth was pungent, yet balanced. I really liked that they used both fresh choy and pickled cabbage. Just added more variety for the palate. Monstrous bowl. I don't think we went through a quarter of it.

Crispy pig skins were, indeed, crispy. They had a nice porky flavor and a little sweetness. They were mixed with a helluva lot of dried red peppers and a good number of batons of celery. I really liked the flavor match between the celery and the chitlins. I normally am not a big fan of celery, but this went really nicely. Despite all the chiles, this was really one of the milder dishes.

1000 year old egg was pretty pungent, the "white" like purple jelly. It was served in a spicy and oily sauce with small lotus root. The pungency of the egg really held up to the spiciness. The lotus gave a good contrast in texture to the egg.

Really good meal. Very bold flavors with each item well-prepared. I suggest ordering everything off the specials menu if you can whatever it is. This is the type of place that Portland's Chinese scene has really been missing. If it was open til midnight, I'd be here way more often than is good for my GI tract.

[whippy]

The O's blurb must have given their business a bump because when I went last week they were full, too.

I tried that pickled bean special, thin green beans chopped into a juicy pile of little bits mingled with ground beef. Tangy and crunchy and very tasty.

[averilpdx]

Is there are reasonable amount of vegetarian and fish/seafood on the menu?

[SauceSupreme]

averilpdx, on Sep 14 2008, 01:39 PM, said:

Is there are reasonable amount of vegetarian and fish/seafood on the menu?

Yeah, there seemed to be a fair amount of veg options, enough for someone to actually have a meal. I would be wary, though, because it seemed like even with the dan dan noodles or the mapo tofu that there was a meaty flavor. Perhaps it's just the effect of the flavor of the peppercorns?

If you're going to include fish, that you can definitely get the fish stew with veggies, enough to serve 3 or 4 people.

[ExtraMSG]

Both dan dan noodles and ma po tofu have meat. I'd have to take a look at the menu to see if there are any true veg options beyond the obvious side dishes.

[EvaB]

I went last night w/veg. friend. Had seaweed salad, sauteed chive & egg dish, and the corn/jalapeno. Don't know about things like chicken stock or other hidden meat products--don't ask/don't tell!

Side note--did not think to specifically order rice and none came. I did then ask and got some, but is this usual?

EB

[SauceSupreme]

EvaB, on Sep 18 2008, 02:57 PM, said:

I went last night w/veg. friend. Had seaweed salad, sauteed chive & egg dish, and the corn/jalapeno. Don't know about things like chicken stock or other hidden meat products--don't ask/don't tell!

Side note--did not think to specifically order rice and none came. I did then ask and got some, but is this usual?

EB

I always thought noodles were more typical in Sichuan cuisine, hence the lack of rice unless otherwise requested.

Those dan dan mian at Lucky Strike were really nice.

[sambamaster]

Quote

I always thought noodles were more typical in Sichuan cuisine, hence the lack of rice unless otherwise requested.

Those dan dan mian at Lucky Strike were really nice.

rice is the typical starch, noodles are around, but not as a substitute, and certainly NOT instead of rice.

It's been my experience that you have to ask for rice in PDX Chinese about half the time, or it will not come, or they may remember to ask if you want it. It's probably always best to confirm when ordering.

And the dan dan mian I had at Lucky Strike was a subpar rendition...wrong sauce, wrong flavor, too much sauce, and can't remember if it they had dry-fried beef or pork, but these were really were bad noodles. Had to make some at home that week to offset that bad-taste memory. Even the also odd version at Mandarin House is better. I'll give this place another chance, but was not impressed when I went a month or so ago. Their water boiled beef was absolutely awful.

[whippy]

sambamaster, i'm a super-outsider to Sichuanese chow, and Chinese food in general. Though I obviously like Lucky Strike, I'd like even more if I picked up an insight or two from someone like you who seems to be familiar with what's going on.

Would it be too imposing to ask you to walk us through your approach to dan dan mian? Would you start another thread, under "shopping and cooking" with that title? Give us uninitiated some pointers and guidelines?

Please, pretty please!

[sambamaster]

whippy, on Sep 18 2008, 06:33 PM, said:

sambamaster, i'm a super-outsider to Sichuanese chow, and Chinese food in general. Though I obviously like Lucky Strike, I'd like even more if I picked up an insight or two from someone like you who seems to be familiar with what's going on.

Would it be too imposing to ask you to walk us through your approach to dan dan mian? Would you start another thread, under "shopping and cooking" with that title? Give us uninitiated some pointers and guidelines?

Please, pretty please!

okay....will contain some thoughts and some pointers to recipes, etc....

[nihaoma]

sambamaster, on Sep 18 2008, 05:18 PM, said:

Quote

I always thought noodles were more typical in Sichuan cuisine, hence the lack of rice unless otherwise requested.

Those dan dan mian at Lucky Strike were really nice.

rice is the typical starch, noodles are around, but not as a substitute, and certainly NOT instead of rice.

It's been my experience that you have to ask for rice in PDX Chinese about half the time, or it will not come, or they may remember to ask if you want it. It's probably always best to confirm when ordering.

And the dan dan mian I had at Lucky Strike was a subpar rendition...wrong sauce, wrong flavor, too much sauce, and can't remember if it they had dry-fried beef or pork, but these were really were bad noodles. Had to make some at home that week to offset that bad-taste memory. Even the also odd version at Mandarin House is better. I'll give this place another chance, but was not impressed when I went a month or so ago. Their water boiled beef was absolutely awful.

I guess it comes down to personal preference. Lucky Strike's dan dan man is why I would keep going back there. (maybe you had their cold noodle dish instead?) Mandrin House's version was among the worst I have tried, although I liked their water boiled beef, the best I can find in PDX. I agree Lucky Strike's WBBeef is awful.

[concreteoatmeal]

anyone know what is going on over at Lucky Strike? Sauce and I tried to go last night and it was closed and dark(looked like it had been closed for atleast 30min)at 10pm. was this just an anomoly? or have they changed hours?

so I am still waiting to try some truly spicy sichuan.......

[doglover]

We finally hit Lucky Strike tonight. We got there a bit early around 5:30, within a few minutes every table was full and folks were waiting for a seat.

In short this place is worth the drive from Beaverton. Yum! The food is so incredibly authentic. I felt like we were digging in at a restaurant in cheng du, sichuan. We went with the cold Spicy Jelly Fish Salad, the cold thinly sliced pork with Spicy Garlic Sauce, the mao po tofu, and the pickled yardlong bean.

The Jelly fish and the Mao Po were home runs. So good so authentic. Got us talking about another trip to Cheng du.

Looking forward to another visit to try more of the menu. We'll try the Dan Dan noodles next time too.