Hunan House....still good
Just had a really good dinner at Hunan House on Northern.
Cold pickled cabbage, cucumbers with scallion sauce, lamb with cumin, dan dan noodles, smoky pork with leek, and a knock out dish of green sauteed hot peppers with black beans.
My only gripe was that with the exception of the peppers the other hot food was just not (temperature) hot enough.
The smoky pork was interesting, kind of like a hard rind bacon sauteed with leeks.
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Hunan House
137-40 Northern Blvd, Queens, NY 11354
By ernie0716
on Jan 25, 2010 11:19 PM
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I'm glad to hear this because there was a recent post saying it wasn't as good as it had been, which was somewhat worrying. Time for a revisit.
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Perhaps it was my post. I am a huge fan of Hunan House, however, I do feel like they've initiated a few deleterious cost-cutting measures to survive this recession.
I went today and asked for the original flavor of the Mao Tse Dong Pork and it arrived with the delicious cinnamon, wonderful taste and the pork was meltingly tender. The Hunan Pepper Chicken was scrumptious, flash fried sesame, ginger and cumin. I made sure it was the boneless preparation and the meat was plentiful, but not as crisp as it sometimes is. The Ma Po Tofu was delightfully effervescent with citrus peppers and generous cilantro, excellent. The sauteed Dao Miao with garlic were a bit tough, but serviceable. Everything was much better than my last visit, when I was completely disappointed. That being said, the dishes came out only slightly warmer than room temperature. So the jury is still out to a certain extent.
I do believe that they are a better Hunan restaurant than Spicy Tasty is a Szechuan restuarant and that HH has a chef that is more skilled and talented. Spicy Tasty has a much more convenient location and is better known. I remember the first few months I started going to HH, it was just insanely good and all my Chinese friends were in rapture.
To their credit, I've eaten at HH many many times and It has always been FANTASTIC until very recently. I can't blame them, I've been to quite a few restaurants that have stumbled a bit this year, I just hope their business picks up as I'm sure their consistency and quality will return.
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Funny about the warmth of the dishes, can't figure that out. The night we went, a huge party came in filling up the entire place, hopefully business will pick up.
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Since you brought up Spicy & Tasty in a negative light, could you tell us your 3 favorite Szechuan restaurants in New York City? (I'm not claiming S&T is the best but I'd like to calibrate your taste.)
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I eat at Spicy Tasty when I want Szechuan food, I eat at Hunan House when I want Hunan cuisine. It's not about deprecating S&T as a restaurant, I think the place is quite good.
I am simply saying that I believe Hunan House is better in their genre than S&T is in theirs. I think the chef at Hunan House is fantastically skilled and I just don't get that feeling at any of the Szechuan restaurants I have eaten at in NYC. Good but not wow. Not that Hunan House always wows me obviously considering the negative experience I posted about.
As for other Szechuan restaurants, I think that Little Pepper is on par with S&T and Szechuan Gourmet a little better.
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Little Pepper
133-43 Roosevelt Ave, Queens, NY 11354
Hunan House
137-40 Northern Blvd, Queens, NY 11354
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Do you know if Hunan House is still BYOB? thanks.
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The first time I went the food was excellent; pork cooked in bamboo, and the smoked pork dish you mentioned were standouts. However the second time I had the fish and it was terrible. Mushy and overcooked, with skin like gelatin. Those folks seem to not know how to cook a fish properly.
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Which fish dish?
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Do any of you recall if Hunan House is still BYOB?? Thanks!
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