Spicy Chinese Food - DTW

[fromtheD]

Help - craving spicy Chinese food in the metro area. Looking for something with lots of peppers, maybe Szechuan peppercorns. In the Royal Oak area, but will drive if the heat and flavor are there. Appreciate any and all ideas.

[mymaindish]

Hokkaildo Buffet is a good restaurant with dishes that are full of flavor. I haven't tried their spicy dishes, but this restaurant is very popular. It's located at the Eastpoint Center at Gratiot and Frahzo, in Eastpoint.

mymaindish.blogspot.com

[Michigan Mishuganer]

The same owners as Trizest seem to be running Emerald City (new name Ypbor Yan?) 4905 Washtenaw Avenue Ann Arbor (Pittsfield). the(online) menu includes Sichuan Lamb , Spicy Skewer rabbit, Sauteed pork kidney, Sichuan noodle salad.
Has anyone tried it?
is it as good as Trizest?

[ak994]

Actually they have 4 locations-- see website. I've only been to Trizest, so cannot speak from experience about the others.

http://www.usbgfood.com/Home.asp

[moose734]

Never been to Trizest, so can't compare but I've been to Emerald City a few times( They've owned about a year or so, I remember posting something on here about it a while back) I've enjoyed the spicy dumplings, ma po tofu, tea smoked duck, cumin lamb, and spicy pork intestines here. They also kept some of the chinese/korean dishes, so you can still get ja jang myun here.

[JanPrimus]

Visited Ypbor Yan last night and I was very happy with what I got. Highly recommend, would buy again. POSITIVE: A+++++.(I gotta stop hanging out at Ebay).

[Michigan Mishuganer]

We tried Ypbor Yan over the weekend. It was excellent,! I will be back. The food could have been a littler hotter spice wise so I'll know to insist on more heat next time. the Chinese menu was really great.

[bellmont]

Went to Ypbor Yan for lunch on Friday with my wife. I asked for the Chinese menu after looking at the regular menu that was presented to us and decided that I could get the regular stuff anywhere.
The Chinese menu has enough English descriptions in it to make it usable.
Wife decided to check out the buffet to see how it compares to Asia City's down the road. It's a buck cheaper than Asia City, but AC's buffet is about five times the size. Any way, she decided to go for the buffet and decided the food was good, even though the selection is limited.
I ordered the steamed side pork. This was thinly sliced pork belly over some kind of steamed dried/pickled vegetable and baby bok choy. Our server could not explain what the mystery vegetable was; it was delicious. Great textural contrast to the perfectly cooked pork. I thought it might be wood ear.
We're big fans of Chia Shang in Ann Arbor. Ypbor Yan is a great addition to authentic chinese cuisine in this area. Can't wait to go back for dinner and try a few more dishes.

[VTB]

The dried pickled vegetable was mustard greens/tubers. http://www.kitchenchick.com/2007/03/p...

[bellmont]

VTB, I'm not so sure about that. I've had pickled/preserved mustard greens in pork soup noodles many times. This vegetable was almost black in color and had a different texture.
It was stalks/stems of some kind. Whatever it was, it was delicious!

[VTB]

Hmmmm, I'm not Chinese, I've never been to this restaurant, and I've never cooked the dish, BUT it is one of my fav's. Did it look like the second pic in this link?(but maybe shredded more thinly). http://www.vickyness.com/daring-kitch...
Seemingly, the way the mustard green is preserved in salt, until it dries and shrivels up and gets funky, only to later reabsorb the dark braising liquid, could radically change the nature of the veggie.

[bellmont]

VTB: Yes, that's it - the second pic. Thanks for the education.

[VTB]

Not an educator, just a big time lover of that dish! :-)

[Michigan Mishuganer]

wikipedia has some useful pictures & info here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zha_cai

[VTB]

I'd like to echo the above. :-) Trizest is the place. Maybe the only place east of I275 where excellent Sichuanese restaurant food can be found. That being said, Trizest also has some bleh food, too. You need to double emphasize that you want authentic preparation, and you must use a shot gun approach, ordering five dishes so as to be sure you receive three that you really like. Don't feel guilty if you eschew weird animal parts such as chicken feet, tripe and pig kidney.

[fromtheD]

Thanks. I have not tried Trizest yet, but did hit Mon Jin Lau for Troy Resto Week. I asked about the spice level and the (very nice) waiter told me it was spiced for Resto Week, but he could have the dish (Kung Pao Chicken and Shrimp) made hotter. It was and was really very good. It was nice to ask for a spciy dish and actually get one!

[fromtheD]

Hit Trizest on Saturday night. It was busy (we had to wait for a table) and the service was a bit disorganized. The food was great. We had the dumplings with chili oil, spicy chicken and the fish fragrant pork. Looking forward to trying different dishes soon.

[boagman]

Aren't those dumplings in chili oil just wonderful? See, that's the problem with reading posts like this...now I'm hungry for them!

[fromtheD]

They were fantastic. I had the pork for lunch today. Looking forward to my next meal there.

[goatgolfer]

Had the wontons in spicy sauce (A02) at Trizest today and some extra rice to finish the sauce. Man, that's good stuff. Mae was there and remembered me from the party and the service was very friendly.

[goatgolfer]

Try the search function. Lots of true Szechuan intel on this site. When you try it, report back. Look for Wontons in Chili oil and then grasshopper you can express yourself.

[BobRe]

You might try Trizest Restaurant in Sterling Heights. The Szechuan Lamb is great, and spicy.

There has been quite a bit of discussion on Trizest on this forum..... search for "Trizest."

Included in posts is a link to this site that has some pictures of the food:

http://jjspw-dining.posterous.com/trizest-metro-detroit-mi#!/

Trizest Restaurant

33170 Dequindre Road
Sterling Heights, MI 48310

[phone]

http://www.usbgfood.com/menu.asp