Metro Cafe in Sunset Park
Just wondering why there hasn't been more talk about the Metro Cafe on this board. (Is it due, perhaps, to its unaccountably non-Sichuan name?) I had lunch there today for the first time with two companions, all of us reasonably serious Sichuan-appreciating trenchermen, and we all found the food, without exception, to be quite good. Of special note was the beef tendon in hot sauce, which was different from other versions of the dish I've had in the past -- the texture more supple and less firm, with a smoky, almost bacony quality, and the sauce pleasingly firey but also ever so slightly sweet. Also notable was the Chingqong chicken, showered in three types of peppers: dried red chilies, Szechuan peppercorns, and charred grilled fresh green chilies. Really delicious, perhaps even comparable (though hard for me to say definitely, as I've only been there the one time) to the Grand Sichuan House of Bay Ridge. As one of the only, if not the only, Sichuan restaurants on Eighth Avenue, it seems to me that Metro Cafe is worthy of note; it's certainly a place I'll be going back to in the future.
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Grand Sichuan House
8701 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11209
Metro Cafe
4924 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11220
By motl
on Nov 12, 2011 05:20 PM
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Because it is the only Szechuan restaurant in Sunset Park/Borough Park, it is notable. But I wasn't too crazy about my meal there. The mabo tofu tasted very strange -- the default is no meat and the sauce had a strange almost day-glow look to it. It was like a slightly better version of prepackaged mabo tofu sauce that you get in the Asian markets. I also had an appetizer (ox tongue?) that didn't seem very well balanced. However, I did enjoy the chingqong chicken there. Perhaps I ordered wrong with the mabo tofu and ox tongue, but I'm not really in a hurry to go back, especially as mabo tofu is one of my favorite dishes. I haven't tried the Bay Ridge's Grand Sichuan House yet. But I definitely think I've been spoiled having lived a block away from Lan Sheng and Szechuan Gourmet for many years.
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Lan Sheng is truly awesome, superior to Szechuan Gourmet in my opinion.
Sorry to hear your meal at Metro Cafe wasn't so good -- though it does seem we converge on the excellence of the Chongqing chicken. We didn't have the mapo tofu or the ox tongue, so I can't speak to them, but I'm glad to be warned off the mapo tofu as I would have gotten it the next time. I'm certainly willing to believe that Grand Sichuan House is better, but I live closer to Metro Cafe, and given the meal I had there today, I'm glad it's there.
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Szechuan Gourmet
135-15 37th Ave, Queens, NY 11354
Grand Sichuan House
8701 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11209
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We liked their chongqing chicken too on our one try - also a dish with celery and, I think, dried beancurd and beef (memory falters). But I went back for takeout and the two dishes were disappointing (the celery/beancurd dish lacked the beancurd I think and was bland and uninteresting and the mapo tofu was not very good.m I think this is a place to eat in and explore the menu, but it wasnt as good as either Spicy Bampa or Grand Sichuan House IMO
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Grand Sichuan House
8701 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11209
Spicy Bampa
6920 18th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11204
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It's been on the local radar for some time ... http://www.chow.com/digest/7924/sichu...
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Metro Cafe
4924 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11220
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Thanks for the link. Based on that, and the above reports (and my own experience there) it seems that the Chongqing chicken is a winner -- and the mapo tofu a loser. I'm looking forward to trying the kung pao shrimp, and the homemade Shanghai noodles. And I do recommend the spicy beef tendon.
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