509714 Tue Apr 15 13:21:53 -0700 2008 21 12 Boston Area 0 3597096 Still love getting delivery from Qingdao and Zoe's but find that dishes are very hit or miss. Recent Zoe's delivery was all over the place. - Hot and sour soup (never great there) was bland and required lots of doctoring. - Dan dan noodles were fantastic. Hot, numb and garlicky all at once. - Sichuan style shrimp - breaded soggy shrimp in a standard-issue ketchup-based red sauce with little to no spice. I thought I had seen a rec for this dish on Chowhound and was very disappointed by the turnout. Any recent faves at Zoe's? Most reliable for me has been the Fish Fillets with hot chili sauce and Braised Beef Fillets with veg and hot chili. Any other more authentic sichuan-style recommendations? Thanks! Tue Apr 15 13:21:53 -0700 2008 11494 edgrimley 1 3597186 Not sure why, but I've found Zoe's quality to plummet if I order delivery instead of dining at the restaurant, to the point that I don't order delivery from them anymore. On-site, a few of my favorites: Salt and pepper anything, especially shrimp Agree with you on the dan dan noodles Any whole fish dish, I like it in the Sichuan sauce Tea-smoked duck Eggplant with garlic sauce The Grand Marnier prawns aren't my favorite, but people who like it seem to love it Tue Apr 15 13:44:44 -0700 2008 3597096 11344 finlero 2 3597204 I like the Tea Smoked Duck and the Eggplant with Garlic Sauce as well. Tue Apr 15 13:49:23 -0700 2008 3597186 45745 wittlejosh 2 3597218 Never have understood the popularity of this place. My experience is the food is bland, just average or below average typical chinese diner food. And the ambience of the place is defined by its total lack of ambience. I just don't go there anymore. Tue Apr 15 13:54:34 -0700 2008 3597186 137422 tomgaroo 3 3602740 As it happens, not only do I disagree with these lackluster recommendations, but I happened to have had dinner at Zoe's tonight! Here are my favourite dishes: cong1 you2 bing3 (scallion pancakes) are thick, chewy, with a cripsy outside, and a strong scallion essence. xi1 hu2 niu2 rou4 geng1 (west lake beef chowder) is a thick, meaty soup with a complex base. gan1 bian1 niu2 rou4 si1 (dry fried thin sliced beef) is a terrifically hot mixture of thinly sliced beef strips, sliced carrots and sliced peppers. The chewy texture of the beef may be something of an acquired taste, but the mixture of flavors is very strong and appealing to those who like it. zi1 ran2 yang2 rou4 (cumin lamb) is an excellent rendition of this dish with plenty of cilantro, and brightly flavored sharp slices of lamb amply rolled in cumin. chuan1 bei3 liang2 fen3 (Sichuan green bean tofu) are strips of green bean jelly with a rich and complex Sichuan sauce. guai4 wei4 ji1 si1 (strange flavor chicken) is usually a set of thinly sliced white-meat chicken strips draped in a flavorful sauce based on vinegar. On occasion this dish is presented as something else entirely. lao3 hu3 cai4 (spicy cilantro and scallion salad) is a terrifically hot mixture of cilantro and scallion draped in an innocent looking clear sauce that packs a serious punch. tian2 suan1 lian2 ou3 (sweet and sour lotus root) are thinly sliced sections of lotus root with an occasional hot red pepper bathed in a very light sauce. The lotus root should have a perfect crunch. I've also had good luck with various whole fish preparations, the shredded potato, simply prepared green vegetables, and a few other small dishes such as the spicy beef nuggets. I've had less good luck with the glutinuous rice beef, the fu1 qi1 fei4 pian4 (tripe with beef strips) which has a terrific sauce (actually I'd say the best sauce on this dish of a Sichuan restaurant in the Boston area, Sichuan Gourmet included) but poor knife work led to nearly inedible beef tendon at times, and some of the noodles. I do think that Zoe's suffered a bit when they also owned Shalom Beijing and then "the new Zoe's" in Brookline, but since then they have really returned to their past glories. To Chowhounds who formed their opinion of Zoe's around 2005-2007, I'd really recommend a return visit. Wed Apr 16 23:41:16 -0700 2008 3597218 14328 lipoff 4 3604210 Is the strange flavored chicken the item on their menu as "family style spicy chicken" (under the sichuan side)? If so, I've definitely seen it as a few completely different looking things (some really good, some not so much). The water cooked beef & Ma po tofu have never done me wrong. I like their soups in general. The scallion pancake is highly variable I've found, sometimes it is great, other times ... not really. My only issue w/ the dry fried beef is one I have with a handful of their dishes - the ratio of dried chile to meat is like 1000 to 1. I like spicy food a lot, and this isn't my complaint ... its just that if I wanted to eat a giant bowl of dried chiles, I could just reach into one of the bags I have of them in my kitchen. Perhaps that's authentic, I dunno - it just makes me think they're using it as filler. I wasn't super fond of the glutinous rice pork - it wasn't bad, just not something I'm likely to order again. I really liked the stir fried pork in house spicy sauce, but wasn't so keen on the stir fried chicken w/ vinegar. I've had a few things offo f the main pork menu that I liked, forget what they were though. Haven't had any of their seafood (I"m a no-seafood kinda guy) Thu Apr 17 11:21:20 -0700 2008 3602740 111910 jgg13 5 3604397 Ask for medium spicy, they'll give you two scoops of dried chili and not the normal 3, definitely not filler. Thu Apr 17 12:05:43 -0700 2008 3604210 20717 sailormouth 6 3604526 But do they up the quantity of the other stuff then? :) That's my only issue - that when what they're giving me is 75% dried chiles, that it seems like a rather bad deal money wise to me. I've taken to avoiding pretty much anything on their menu that sounds like its one of the "mostly dried chile" dishes for just that reason. Thu Apr 17 12:34:23 -0700 2008 3604397 111910 jgg13 7 3604799 That's the prep. They're not to be eaten. Nothing to do with filler. Thu Apr 17 13:32:56 -0700 2008 3604526 10400 Aromatherapy 8 3605231 You take the leftover chiles home and cook something else. Thu Apr 17 15:25:36 -0700 2008 3604799 10607 Luther 9 3605290 That's one thing I *don't* need, I've usually got more dried chiles at home than I know what to do with ;) Thu Apr 17 15:50:50 -0700 2008 3605231 111910 jgg13 5 3606171 Sorry, guai4 wei4 ji1 si1 is translated as "special mystery flavored chicken" on their menu under "family style". You can ask for it cold to increase the chance that you receive delicately sliced strips of chicken in a vinegar based sauce with several mixed dried pepper-based spices. Another excellent variant involves a more "creamy" sauce --- I'm really not sure exactly what that is, and it's definitely not corn starch. Sometimes, a lackluster stir-fry of diced chicken cubes in a heavier sauce emerges from this same menu item --- I think it may depend on exactly who is cooking in the kitchen. I think you could specify with a little explanation that you want the first varietal, but I admit that part of the fun at Zoe's is seeing exactly what comes out. I agree that the menu has some hits and some misses, but among the hits I find them quite consistently good, even if the exact style of the dish changes a bit. Also, regarding the dry-fried beef, I agree that the ratio of chiles to beef can be quite high. Not quite 1000:1 though! :) Indeed, it may not be the most economical dish on the menu, but the chiles are not there for filler --- that's how the flavor of the chiles is infused into the beef. It is terrifically hot for that reason, and while it may not be the most economical in terms of calorie to price ratio on that menu, it is not particularly expensive and is one of the best renditions of this dish in the area. Thu Apr 17 22:30:30 -0700 2008 3604210 14328 lipoff 4 3617704 Thanks for the nudge, it has been too long. The lotus root is back to its former self--well maybe a bit oilier and a little less tangy, but not that boring brown prep they had for a while. Pork with house spicy sauce was with green bell pepper and scallion, not all that spicy but very tasty. Note: they've moved a lot to the paper menu, but not everything. Tue Apr 22 04:28:50 -0700 2008 3602740 10400 Aromatherapy 2 3597323 I've only ever done delivery (the place is just too inconvenient to get to in person for me to bother), and it is definitely very hit or miss in terms of quality. I almost never get anything (entree-wise) not on the sichuan or north/south menus but things vary greatly (to the extent that at times they don't even seem like the same dish!). Appetizers & soups vary similarly. And their delivery QC could use some help. I'd say at least 10% of the time the soup containers are split open and half of the soup is in the bag. Dipping sauces missing, etc. It is a good thing for them that they're my favorite out of the folks that'll deliver. Tue Apr 15 14:24:21 -0700 2008 3597186 111910 jgg13 1 3597270 The menu is a minefield and I don't get the impression that whoever's cooking is sufficiently skilled. The tea smoked duck is way dry, the scallion pancakes are sometimes great and sometimes awful, and the rice is generally overcooked. There are many items on the menu e.g. lamb with scallions that turn out to be a gross plate of oil and crunchy onions with a little lamb and a little scallion. The "with cilantro" dishes and the vegetable with garlic are pretty good but it's really nothing special compared to what you could whip up at home. Tue Apr 15 14:10:39 -0700 2008 3597096 10607 Luther 2 3597316 What exactly is in the "with cilantro" dishes? Is it really just XYZ and cilantro? Tue Apr 15 14:22:19 -0700 2008 3597270 111910 jgg13 3 3597988 I LOVE the cilantro salad. Likely something you could make it at home, but wouldn't. I only eat in or take-out. My only "this sure as hell ain't what I got last time I ordered this" was, (I think) the Szechuan dumplings. First time were great, second time like frozen potstickers in a bland sauce, I think likely the same sauce the OP got. I have been served the Szechuan shrimp three different ways, all good: 1st, lightly breaded (and crispy) in a great sauce. I think the OP's issue, in addition to the bad sauce, may have been bike Chinese; 2nd, sauteed shrimp in their yummy, medium spicy sauce; 3rd, unpeeled in a very spicy, fantastic sauce. (The waitress showed me how to eat them, I can do crawfish perfectly, but those shrimps were one messy lunch). Tue Apr 15 17:23:09 -0700 2008 3597316 20717 sailormouth 4 3598226 Those szechuan dumplings, I think I've had 4-5 completely different items under the same name (as in, you wouldn ever guess they were sold under teh same name) Tue Apr 15 18:48:22 -0700 2008 3597988 111910 jgg13 3 3598216 Yup, meat or tripe and cilantro (stems mostly). Stir-fried but kind of soggy. Tue Apr 15 18:43:13 -0700 2008 3597316 10607 Luther 4 3604533 Interesting. I'll have to check it out sometime. I tend to not move around the menu as much as I'd like, I always seem to find myself ordering my tried & true favorites. Thu Apr 17 12:35:29 -0700 2008 3598216 111910 jgg13 1 3615064 Recent eats: Misses: Scallion pancakes (leaden) S&P scallops (too much breading) Hits: Fried Chicken Wings Dan Dan Noodles w. Minced Pork and Vinaigrette Ground Pork with Chinese Pickled Long Bean Shanghai Steamed Juicy Pork Buns (N.B. These are not that soupy) Stir Fried Green Beans Pork with tea mushrooms Eggplant w. Garlic Sauce Sliced Duck w. Vegetables Stir-Fried Vegetables of the Day Pork with Baby Bamboo Shoots Mon Apr 21 10:43:49 -0700 2008 3597096 15217 gini 2 3616491 I agree about the eggplant with garlic sauce, and have also found the salt and pepper squid and the tofu with black mushrooms consistently scrumptious. Mon Apr 21 16:10:58 -0700 2008 3615064 168151 Stride