Dr. Josh Page, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, recently researched us out and so concluded at his “I Like Food, Food Tastes Good” blog. He wrote:

I happened upon this Frog Town gem a couple of years ago (now there’s a newer, fancier one in St. Louis Park), and can happily report that it’s hands down the best Chinese joint in town. It’s authentic Szechuan: bold flavors, intense spice, tongue-numbing peppercorns, pickled this and that, garlicky goodness, and oh-so-much chili oil. The menu is chock-full of interesting dishes such as Bamboo Tips in Chili Sauce, Fresh Pickled Baby Cabbage, Pork Shreds with Dried Tofu, Szechuan Potato Fries, Pickled Vegetable and Fish Soup, and the ultimate crowd-pleaser, Dan Dan Noodles. The tofu dishes are hits with vegetarians and carnivores alike: Szechuan Spicy Tofu, Kung Pao Tofu, and General Tsao’s Tofu feature the fried version—crisp on the outside and custardy on the inside. Little Szechuan has become my restaurant of choice for dining with large groups—go family style and put the Lazy Susan to work.

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Letta, Tofu Temptress: Clearly, thinking up new monikers for me is going to keep Josh busy! And, since he’s already extolled the many virtues of Little Szechuan’s fried tofu dishes (preferring fried, I haven’t gone in for the Ma Pao Tofu, though it’s often recommended to me), I’ll take this moment to point out a few personal favorites he didn’t cover: the Dan Dan Noodles without pork (there’s usually a sprinkling of it on top), Sweet Potato Cakes, and Szechuan Green Beans. And while a number of high-profile media outlets have picked up on the restaurant (I see it’s been named one of the 50 best Chinese places in the entire U.S.!), rest assured that it’s a big, bright space with tables to fit any party—CNN may be sending teeming hordes their way, but Little Szechuan is, at heart, a neighborhood spot that’ll always have room for the locals.

Little Szechuan St Paul is proud to be selected by The Stranger Stranger Supper Series, a three-part event that merges performance with food, created by award-winning local playwright Rachel Jendrzejewski. To find out who’s going, check out the series’ facebook page. Here is from the news release:

This January, playwright Rachel Jendrzejewski invites the public to participate a unique string of performative meals at three restaurants along University Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota. Supported by Irrigate Arts, the project is designed to build business and community amidst the Central Corridor Light Rail construction work. The suppers will take place at Ngon Vietnamese Bistro on Tuesday, January 15; HOMI Restaurante Mexicano on Tuesday, January 22; and Little Szechuan Chinese Restaurant & Bar on Wednesday, January 23. All performances begin at 6pm.

For each event, up to six members of the public can receive a “character” created by Jendrzejewski; then they come together for supper as those characters. Whatever happens is the performance. No acting experience is necessary to participate. These “main characters” will be selected by lottery and enjoy their meals free of charge. Those interested in playing a “main character” can find submission details at http://strangerstrangersuppers.wordpress.com/participate.

Anybody else is welcome to dine at the restaurants to watch the encounters unfold or even interact with them, perhaps inventing additional characters. These guests will be responsible for their own dining expenses. Reservations are recommended. A schedule with contact information for each restaurant can be found at http://strangerstrangersuppers.wordpress.com/partners.

In addition to offering the public a festive opportunity to support local businesses by exploring new restaurants – or visiting old favorites in a new light – the project invites questions about performance in everyday life. The characters at each dinner may or may not be obvious. People unaffiliated with the eries may dine at the restaurants during the events. It will be up to individuals to determine who is “acting” and who is not. What is “art” versus “real life”? Is there perhaps, sometimes, little difference?

Minnesota Public Radio has the coverage on the first event of the series:

A new take on the dinner theater

Let’s face it: Your dinner-party guests aren’t nearly this interesting.

Playwright Rachel Jendrzejewski is staging a series of “performative meals,” in which six actors come to dinner and remain in character for the whole two or so hours.

At the inaugural supper at Ngon Vietnamese Bistro this week, Jendrzejewski brought together a choreographer, an aerobics instructor, an entomologist, a grocery store manager, and a novelist. Jendrzejewski had assigned the dinner guests their character profiles ahead of time.

“I wanted them to all be characters who could be residents of St. Paul, but who might not necessarily come together for a meal,” she said.

At Ngon, only one of the five performers had acting experience. One of the more boisterous performances came from a guy whose real day job was in IT a Ph.D. student researching neuroeconomics. Immersing himself in the role of the choreographer, he busted out some moves that were a cross between Michael Jackson and “Gangnam Style”‘s PSY, Jendrzejewski said.

The performers can prepare for their roles, or improvise entirely. And the playwright pays for their meal, courtesy of a grant Jendrzejewski (pictured left) received from Irrigate Arts.

“Maybe after this shared experience, they can get together again at the same restaurant,” she said. “And it gives them a reason to go to a restaurant they had never been to before.”

The Stranger Stranger Supper Series is designed to build community and support businesses along the Central Corridor light-rail line during construction. The next two shows will be Tuesday at HOMI Restaurante Mexicano and Wednesday at Little Szechuan.

Eavesdroppers — er, audience members — can also join in or watch the interactions from a nearby table. But they must pay for their own meals.

Jendrzejewski randomly selects the submissions she receives — and will have another drawing at 5 p.m. today. Find out more about the project here.

A local foodie blogger Chao recently reviewed us on his blog after his visit to our St Paul restaurant. He wrote:

D.Rough and I have been meaning to try this place. Whenever people talk about good Chinese food in the Twin Cities, inevitably Little Szechuan comes up. It’s ranked number 1 on Trip Advisor for Chinese food in the area, for one thing. But the main reason we thought it worth trying is that it is ranked in CNN’s “50 Best Chinese Restaurants in the United States.” That’s a pretty big statement in our book, so we popped over for a visit.

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The menu here at Little Szechuan is thorough. It also has photos for almost every dish on the menu. And not little cheap grainy snapshots. There are professional quality photos in this tome. The very last page is a section called “Traditionals” which is where the boring things like fried rice and sweet and sour chicken are at. Do yourself a favor and look through the front portion of the 15-page menu. Everything looks delicious and non-standard. Unless you’ve been to China – then these dishes look quite familiar. I know everyone and their mom says that THEIR Chinese restaurant is authentic, but this one can be vouched for by actual Chinese people. There are all kinds of things you’ll never see on a menu at “your” place. Duck feet, pig ears, beef tendon, jelly fish, tongue, tripe, lotus root, and lots of things with spicy whole fish. These are the kinds of things I saw in China.

D.Rough had never had Peking Duck before, so we thought we’d order one of those (we actually got the Honey Duck – just a half duck). And people recommended the Ma Po Tofu, so we got that. We needed an appetizer of some sort, and we heard the Dan Dan Noodles were delicious, so we got that. And a couple of beers, since we also heard this place isn’t afraid to use the heat. Ohhhh, man, we were excited!

The Dan Dan Noodles came out first. They looked simple, but had a surprising amount of flavor – most of it being garlic. There is a sauce at the bottom of the bowl, so be sure to stir it up to coat your thick noodles. There is also a bit of ground pork on the top of the noodles when it’s served – it is really delicious and again, stir it all up and make sure it’s evenly distributed. As long as you don’t mind garlic, these noodles are quite good. I’ve had them at a few places and these are the best I’ve had herein the US. There’s a lot of flavor, but the flavors are pretty simple, not complex and jumbled. I like that.

Then the duck arrived. It looked and smelled fantastic. I’ve had Peking Duck a few times, both in the US and in China. In fact, I had Peking Duck at Quanjude in the Wangfujing District in Beijing – it’s one of the famous places for top-notch roast duck (I’m not bragging, I’m just saying I’ve been around the duck block), and a few other places around China that I can’t remember the names of. The Peking Duck at Little Szechuan holds up pretty well against these places. I’d put it in the top places I’ve had it in the US. (It loses against the Peking Gourmet Inn in Fall Church VA – also on the list of 50 best Chinese Restaurants in the US – where numerous presidents have gotten their Peking Duck fix). The skin is crispy and delicious with just a faint hint of honey. The duck meat itself is really delicious as well. You are given a plateful of lettuce, onions, and duck sauce, as well as four or five wrappers to make your own small duck rolls. I’m glad D.Rough liked this, since that means we can have it a lot. My only minor complaint is you don’t get to watch the chefs slice up the duck in front of you, like some other restaurants – it’s a very impressive process and adds to the experience. I read a few reviews of people complaining about the price of this – it was $16-ish. That’s sooo reasonable and I’m not sure why people would complain about that. It’s a serious upscale dish. Worth it (and delicious!) at Little Szechuan.

The Ma Po Tofu wasn’t what we thought we were getting. It is cubes of soft tofu in chili oil. Thankfully, it is also delicious. Again, I had this exact dish in Beijing and it’s just like it is there (well, maybe I trust what’s in it a little bit more, here in the U.S.). The oil is exactly what I’m saying – oil. It isn’t a broth or a gravy. It’s chili oil. Not painfully hot chili oil, but still made with chilies – and the flavor was fantastic. Don’t get “oil” mixed up with “grease” though, it’s totally different. The tofu is the softest I’ve ever had. I guess I’m used to much more firm tofu, since this almost jiggled. However, with the flavor of the chili oil mixing in with the tofu, it was quite good. We were glad we got it, but we honestly started to get full about halfway through. We kept talking about how we just assumed the tofu would be fried cubes, since everything in American Chinese restaurants is fried. So, the following afternoon, we took out our leftovers, drained off the chili oil, rolled the cubes in flour and fried them right up and finished if off. Honestly, it was delicious both ways!

I didn’t even mention the huge bowl of rice we got to split between the both of us. This is the biggest bowl of rice I’ve seen for two people ever. Normally, you get a small saucer with a mound of rice on it. We ate as much as we could, then took home the left overs and made enough fried rice to have three meals for both of us. Serious amounts of rice.

I’m glad we got to try this place. We had fantastic food and the servers were really friendly and helpful if we had questions. The reports are correct on the portion sizes – make sure you under order and you’ll still get full. The heat is there, so also be warned if you have a Minnesota palate, drink lots of water. It IS slightly more than your dive-y hole in the wall Chinese restaurant, but the food quality, selection, and atmosphere are worth paying a couple dollars extra – I promise. I’ve only been to a few upscale Chinese restaurants and this was an impressive showing. There’s a reason it’s on the Top 50 list, and the only Chinese restaurant in Minnesota to make the list.

Top 5 things about Little Szechuan
1. Peking Duck (Honey Duck)
2. Dan Dan Noodles
3. Ma Pa Tofu
4. Impressive and thorough menu
5. Fantastically nice staff

Bottom 5 things
1. They don’t cut up the Peking Duck in front of you
2. Construction traffic is brutal – there is a spacious parking lot in back though
3. It IS a little bit more expensive – don’t complain about it
4. Some of the menu items you’ll be taking a gamble on, since there aren’t descriptions (you CAN ask the servers though)
5. Nothing else is a downside to this place. Go here!!!

We are honored to be reviewed by Mounds View high school’s school magazine Viewer. What a great way to connect one of Minnesota’s best high schools with the culinary art and culture from Szechuan of China! Matthew Voges, Reviews Editor at Viewer, shares his insight:

Little Szechuan, a Chinese restaurant at 422 University Ave W in St. Paul, is one of the best places in the twin cities to eat for an authentic Asian dining experience.

It’s Szechuan, as the name implies, a southwestern Chinese cuisine offering dishes laden with a host of spicy flavors and an equally impressive array of texture: there’s chicken, duck, pork, beef, noodles, fish, vegetables, and tofu, not to mention the many ways these are prepared and eaten.

The restaurant itself is merrily staffed and radiates warmth. The walls are a sizzling red, the tea steaming, the temperature a touch above room – it’s an inverse oasis in these late autumn months. It’s bustling too. Also, while aptly serving some in English, most of the staff speak Chinese to the able customers – a good way to tell the restaurant is authentic.

The food is a bit expensive for an eastern ethnic place as it might run upwards of $20 a person if you aren’t careful. This is redeemable, however, as the food is, in a word, explosive.

One expects spice, but what Little Szechuan delivers is much more. Their chicken lettuce wraps are exuberantly gushing with freshness, the yellow croaker in spicy bean sauce is so tender the bones nearly evaporate from the fish, and the Szechuan spicy tofu is too comprehensive to be succinctly put into words.

Overall, Little Szechuan is not the place to go for eating Chinese on a budget, but for a real, invigorating time out to eat, it’s peerless.

Technically, this is not a review of Little Szechuan. But we can’t help listing it as one for our customers…

Jeremy Iggers was once one of twin cities’ most respected food critics at Star Tribune. He still writes extensively at his blog Iggers Digest. Jeremy is also the creator of TCFoodies, a local food networking site. One of his blog articles described his recent visit to a Chinese super buffet. It’s really interesting to see how he finally realized something that our customers shall agree with a smile! Find it out at the last few lines of his article:

It was a major oversight. When Carol and I were drafting our wedding vows, I didn’t think to insert a clause about Chinese buffets. As a result, Carol steadfastly refuses to accompany me on my all-you-can-eat expeditions, and there is not much I can do about it.

The evolution of the Chinese buffet is a fascinating restaurant industry phenomenon. First came the basic model, when Chinese restaurants started offering an all-you-can-eat buffet: typically chow mein, fried rice, egg foo young, and maybe a few entrees such as beef with broccoli or sesame chicken.

Then came the super buffet, with dozens of dishes, but basically all still Chinese. But in recent years, the Chinese buffet has set out on a path towards world domination, morphing from super to mega, and offering not just Chinese food, but also a salad bar, sushi, and the cooked-to-order hibachi/teppanyaki/Mongolian grill station, plus such all American (i.e., Old Country Buffet) favorites as pizza, fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy.

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There’s also full salad bar, mostly American but with a few odd items like kimchi, mussels and shrimp, plus red and orange Jell-o and lots of prepared salads, heavy on the mayo – or was that Miracle Whip?

I didn’t even get around to trying the Mongolian/hibachi/teppanyaki grill, where you pile a plate high with your choice of raw lamb, beef, pork, shrimp, turkey, chicken or baby octopus plus assorted veggies and noodles, and then a chef stir-fries it for you.

It’s a pretty impressive spread. But how good was it?

Pretty mediocre, actually. There were a few items that were pretty tasty, such as the meaty barbecued ribs. But most of it was about what you would expect from an all-you-can eat steam table buffet, just more of it. The dim sum were rubbery, the roast duck was dry, the roast chicken too salty.

And the sushi was a cheap imitation of the good stuff. The sushi bar featured about a dozen different kinds of sushi. On my evening visit, there were one or two varieties that were actually topped with fish or what might have been clam (albeit thinly sliced and not very flavorful).

When I visited at lunchtime there were none – everything was a day-glo concoction of fake crab, cream cheese, avocado, brightly colored fish roe, etc., with pink and brown sauces applied over the top with a squeeze bottle.

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Do I sound a little grumpy? That’s how I feel. Dining at Super Moon felt like eating in a feedlot. You wait in line to pay in advance and are led to your table, where you place your receipt face up on your table to save your spot while you load up at the buffet. At one point, when I returned to my table with a second helping, I was informed that my place was needed to complete the seating for a party of 10, and was politely asked to move to another table.

It’s a crowded, not very relaxed way to dine.

Only later did it hit me: for the cost of dining at Super Moon, I could have had almost any entree on the menu, in elegant surroundings, at the first rate Little Szechuan, only a few blocks away in the Shops at West End (5377 West 16th Street Saint Louis Park.)

And Carol would almost certainly have joined me.

We want to share with you one of the secrets Chinese usually keep for themselves… comedy. China-born comedian Joe Wong came to Twin Cities in November. He performed a standup talk show at the University of Minnesota. We had tickets available at both locations of Little Szechuan (sorry, if you missed the opportunity). For people who are new to his comedy, check out his most recent appearance on Late Show with David Letterman on CBS.

You sure can follow up Joe at his website. Here are some reviews on his comedy:

Who, if any, of the auditioners will get a shot at the national exposure Letterman provides remained a mystery after the show, but the smart money’s on Wong, who used his diminutive physique, poor driving skills, and Asian heritage as a springboard to slay the crowd. (Ted Drozdowski, THE PHOENIX, on the Letterman auditions)

Huang, for example, noted that last year’s success of a certain independent flick affected his own screenplay, My Skinny Little Chinese Funeral. (Dean Johnson, BOSTON HERALD)

Playing a recent new immigrant who is running for president, Huang parodies political ads with a multicultural view. Besides, it is not everyday you get to see someone eating Doritos with chopsticks. (Darlene Mendoza, Television Producer of the CHOWDAH SHOW)

Wong grew up in China and while most of his humor deals with figuring out America or explaining China, more and more he has worked in personal material that does not depend on culture clash. Driving was on Wong’s mind that night. He said when he got his driver’s license; he signed up to donate an organ: his brain. He said he loved the idea of a complete stranger waking up from a coma speaking Chinese. (Neil W. McCabe, The Somerville News)

Shockingly sharp and funny. (Andrew Allegretti, Brown University)

An interesting review of our West End location from the local foodie writer Bryan Lambert at forkbastard.com. He writes:

Last weekend, I finally got a chance to try Little Szechuan. The St. Paul location has apparently been a well-regarded institution for years, but this year they opened up a satellite location five minutes away from me, in the Shops At West End.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Shops At West End, and you probably are, they’re one of those attempts to create a faux-urban “community” in the suburbs, with shops and restaurants and condos and whatnot. SAWE is pretty upscale as these things go. One of its anchor restaurants is Crave, home of the twenty five dollar shrimp stir-fry. But hey, it’s got STIR FRY SAUCE.

Basically, the Shops at West End is fake downtown with free parking. Or fake Uptown for people scared by tattoos and art films. But Little Szechuan is there.

Luckily, Little Szechuan isn’t like that. I mean, it’s snazzy. It’s got all the standard lighting, decor, and tableware you’d expect from the environment. But the pricing’s more reasonable, and the food is really, really good.

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One thing I’m learning, the more I have reasonably authentic Szechuan, is that if you want vegetables, plan on ordering them separately. Oh, the cured pork belly I got had scallions in it, but that was it. Scallions, pork belly, seasoning. Same with the duck and the uncured pork belly dish we had at the table. A plate of bok choy and shitake mushrooms fit the bill nicely, but it did add another twelve bucks to the bill. and only had a few mushrooms.

I actually ended up liking the uncured pork belly, which had more of a sauce on it, more than the cured, where the main flavor was… OK, I can’t identify the main flavor, but it’s a kind of dark, tangy, smokiness that you get from simple dishes in Szechuan restaurants. I don’t know what it is, but it’s very distinctive and can be a bit much without a lot else to play off against.

The crispy duck was awesome, because crispy duck is awesome if you don’t fuck it up, and they didn’t fuck it up.

The final tally ended up being about $20 per person without drinks, which isn’t bad for three entrees and a vegetable dish. You could pump that higher, but there’s not much wiggle room to get below that. Still, there were healthy amounts of leftover meats, and believe you me, cured pork belly and duck fried rice is not a bad thing.

We at Little Szechuan wish your holidays are filled with happiness and good cheer! Check out our holiday hours at Little Szechuan West End and Little Szechuan Saint Paul.

A customer told us that on a recent radio show St Paul mayor Chris Coleman was asked by a listener if he knew of a famous Hmong restaurant on the University Avenue. Guess what was Mayor Coleman’s answer? He said, “Sorry I don’t know it, but I do know there is a famous Chinese restaurant there called Little Szechuan and I go there a lot.”

We couldn’t find this event exactly online, but we found this old article by City Pages!

We had a facelift – a new awning was recently installed! In addition to blocking the sunlight for our dining guests, we hope it helps our customers find us easier! Anybody knows what the circular logos on the stylish awning mean? Get the clue here.