It was Sunday night and we didn’t want to cook.
So, what would it be? Pizza, Subway, Arby’s, McDonalds, The Colonel?
Nancy suggested we order out for Chinese. That sounded good, so I called Chop-Stix, a small Chinese restaurant close to our house. But they had just started closing on Sundays! I couldn’t believe it. I thought that would be a busy night, but apparently not.
Our old go-to Chinese-type restaurant was the Flaming Wok. I knew the owner and the food and service there was consistently good. But some brilliant commercial Realtor thought he could sell that property for a hotel, so they shuttered the Flaming Wok and the other businesses and now the tract sits empty and likely will for the foreseeable future.
But back to our predicament. We wanted Chinese, but where?
My gardening buddy, Bill Hitt, had always bragged about the Szechaun Restaurant on Holiday Drive below the Aberdeen Barn. One of his neighbors was the owner. We decided to pay them a visit rather than place an order to go.
We were not disappointed.
I don’t know a lot about Chinese and other Oriental cuisine other than I like it and I liked this restaurant. I judge Chinese restaurants by the two things I always order – the Egg Rolls and the Deep-Fried Fried Chicken Wings. Both were delicious at Szechuan. By the way, every time I type Szechuan I have to double check and make sure I spelled it correctly. It’s not an easy word.
Szechuan cuisine is a type of Chinese food originating from southwestern China. It is fairly spicy, similar to Thai. The area of China has poor weather with high humidity and lots of rain, a reason they use lots of red pepper in their foods – to spice up what would otherwise be a miserable day. Szechuan cuisine uses a variety of different cooking methods, including sautéeing, stir-frying without steaming, dry-braising, soaking in water, or frying and then braising with Hui, a corn flour sauce. They also have access to beef and use that more than most other types of Chinese cooking.
The restaurant was clean and neat inside and our waiter was most attentive, though a little shaky on her English. We enjoyed the food. We were delighted with the Egg Rolls and Fried Chicken Wings. We ordered Fried Shrimp as a third appetizer, and that was good, but nothing special. For an entree we tried one of their specialties, the Triple Crown, a Mandarin style dish with Shrimp, Chicken, Beef and assorted veggies. It was delicious.
It had been years since we ate at the Szechuan Restaurant, but we’ll be back sooner rather than later and we also intend to use their Take Out Service in the future. They also deliver.
The address is 2006 Holiday Drive and the phone number 434-296-9090. The Szechuan Restaurant is open from 11 AM till 9:45 PM, but closed Wednesdays. Give them a try next time you feel like a little Chinese.