Question: I am making my long-awaited first trip to California,
for a conference. And I’m lucky enough to be staying at the San Gabriel Hilton,
which I understand is right across the street from the mall with all the best
Chinese restaurants. I love Chinese food, even the stuff we get here in Iowa.
But what I really want to taste is real Sichuan food, which I have read so much
about but never tasted, and MapQuest puts the closest Sichuan restaurant several
miles away — I won’t have a car. Is there anything you can suggest?

—Johnny P., Des Moines


Answer: There is of course the local branch of Little Sheep, the Sichuan-style
hot-pot place in the mall right next door, as well as Mon Land, a block or two
away. The Shanghainese restaurants in Focus Plaza, which are legion, all feature
at least a small selection of Sichuan food, much of which is fairly well prepared.
But what I suspect you’re looking for is more along the line of Oriental
Pearl, a well-regarded Sichuan restaurant that recently moved to the Hilton-adjacent
mall from its former location in Alhambra.

Oriental Pearl may only be the fifth- or sixth-best Sichuan restaurant in the
area. The fried chicken cubes with hot pepper don’t sing quite like the same
dish at Chung King, where it is prepared with at least triple the amount of
dried chiles, and the octopus with pickled pepper is pleasing in a direct, funky
way but is somehow one-dimensional. The fried spareribs with prickly ash are
far less numbing than one might wish. The spicy fried fish tai-an-style is on
the mushy side. The array of cold dishes doesn’t even include fried peanuts,
which some of us consider essential. But still — one of the great things about
the San Gabriel restaurant scene is that the fifth-best Sichuan restaurant in
the area is really pretty good, and after a meal of wonton in chile broth, Chinese
bacon with leeks, and water-boiled fish, by which the Sichuanese mean fish boiled
in almost pure chile oil, you will probably be very happy. 227 W. Valley
Blvd., No. 128C, (626) 281-1898.

Got a burning culinary question? Ask Mr. Gold by e-mailing askmrgold@laweekly.com.

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