314889 Fri Aug 04 09:46:59 -0700 2006 5 2 Los Angeles Area 0 1787123 made my way out to the newly reopened 'sichuan best' in alhambra today. seeing as how i was with family (including a 90+ year old cantonese grandfather who can NOT eat spicy foods) our ordering options were severely limited. still i managed to squeeze in the hot and sour soup with a minimal level of hotness. aside from the diced carrots in it, it was actually quite good, with, dare i say it, more flavor and tang than the soup at oriental pearl. the pearl's h&s has more finely diced fixins' tho, so i guess it's a tossup. next came the 'green beans sauteed with meat' - a sichuan staple, and although it was not as sizzly and aromatic as the one at (the old) chung king, sichuan bests's fits the bill fine. the beans were a little on the thick side, tho, and i prefer them stringy. we had a mongolian lamb (no spice) which was actually very tasty. we then had something the waiter recommended, which was some sort of sichuan ground beef steamed in crab juice or something like that. tasted like ground vienna sausages; pass on it i say. there was also a complimentary choice of three selections from the cold dishes case - we had steamed corn kernels (exactly as they sound), a spicy beef (with a nice peppercorn kick), and a shredded bamboo/root type thingy (the waiter said it was cabbage but it was not like any cabbage i've ever had). that, my hounds, was awesome, with a flavor unlike anything i've ever had. it had an oily sichuan peppercorn thing going on as well, but also a hint of something... i don't know what... the mother unit said it was some sort of salted fish, but it really added a funky (in a good way) aroma to the dish. and i laiked it a lot. based on my limited sampling, sichuan best is a decent runner-up to chung king and oriental pearl. our selections were toned down from the hardcore sichuan stuff, and granted we didn't have any of the signatures (like water boiled meat) or even my de facto kung pao chicken, but i'll probably go back. they use elegant, gingergrassy tableware and the waiter was exceptionally nice too. we pulled out the broken mandarin like we knew what we were talking about. Fri Aug 04 09:46:59 -0700 2006 11521 rameniac 1 1787618 I live a few blocks from here and have seen three or four name change since Oriental Pearl moved... Was wondering if this one was any good never see anyone inside... Fri Aug 04 16:05:38 -0700 2006 1787123 13733 monkey 1 1787660 Incredibly it's only been about a year since Oriental Pearl moved out and there have been four changes at that spot--to Szechwan Best to Oasis Fastfood to Cafe Jafu and back to Szechwan Best. And that's on top of five other restaurants that preceded Oriental Pearl at that location. I wonder what's stranger--the closing of the old restaurant so quickly or the fact that there's somebody new to take their place. Fri Aug 04 16:26:46 -0700 2006 1787123 10131 Chandavkl 2 1788179 cafe jafu??? i completely missed that one. i forget that oriental pearl was originally in that spot. by the first time i tried it, it was already szechwan best (their first go round). hope it stays. the sgv needs more sichuan type restaurants - good, bad, or halfway decent. Fri Aug 04 19:36:24 -0700 2006 1787660 11521 rameniac 3 1788228 My guess is that Jafu Cafe was around for three months or less. I actually posted a review on it during its brief life. http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/81585 Fri Aug 04 19:53:51 -0700 2006 1788179 10131 Chandavkl 1 1787774 They have a salted/preserved goose egg dish that's unique, if not quite tasty. Everything else is rather pedestrian. Fri Aug 04 17:09:13 -0700 2006 1787123 11583 ipsedixit