Little Szechuan

Address
422 University Ave. W., St. Paul, 651-222-1333

The Scene
Hiding out in plain sight on University Avenue is an industrial glass door stuck to an otherwise nondescript façade beneath a temporary restaurant sign that reads Little Szechuan. This extraordinary restaurant by anyone’s measuring stick is pleasant and nicely lit, with simple chairs and tables, a few odd flourishes, but mostly some typical Chinese touches—Central Casting, can you send over some lanterns, scrolls, and a fish tank? The paint job is a delightful orange and pink number, a nice riff on the almost holy reverence the red family has held throughout Chinese history. The crowd is what you would expect—grateful St. Paulites of all shapes and sizes who can’t believe a good non-Cantonese restaurant has opened.

Our Take
I did not experience a single misstep in any of my five visits to what is easily the best Chinese eatery in the east metro, and one of the handful of honest and authentic Chinese dining experiences citywide. While I prefer some of the twice-cooked, dry, Chongqing-style dishes and the iconic fish with pickled vegetables at The Teahouse in Plymouth, such differences fall into subjective preferences. Little Szechuan’s food is superb.

Service is perfunctory, and except for some occasional generic confusion, the staff is up to the task at hand: taking orders, answering questions (a vital role, given Twin Citians’ relative unfamiliarity with Szechuan cuisine), and serving spectacular food. Dan dan noodles and Szechuan noodles, bathed in peanuts and chili oil, are as good as the versions I ate the last few times I was in Chengdu. Bobo chicken is not for every taste, but if you are OK with nibbling away at hacked bone-in chicken steamed and marinated in star anise and sweet soy, have at it. Don’t miss the hot, crispy, pungently spicy chicken, delicate bamboo shoots with chili oil, spicy crispy beef short ribs, fiery hot pots, salty kung pao redolent of smoky chilies, or the simple and elegant scallion-spiked lamb—overorder with abandon!

Already in St. Paul’s Top Three
With food this good, but no real beverage program and simplistic service and décor, how does Little Szechuan rate on the River City restaurant  chart? For me, it’s still primarily about the food. From that point of view, one could make a rather neat argument that Little Szechuan is in the top three restaurants of any type in the city. That says as much about the dearth of quality restaurants on this side of town as it does about the remarkably honest and authentic cuisine served at this humble shop. It also punctuates St. Paul’s best culinary asset: its vibrant diversity and mother lode of phenomenal ethnic eateries on University Avenue—which is more of an eater’s street than Eat Street ever hoped to be.