China Star

Our first stop in China was ShiChuan at China Star. The dishes are typically quite spicy. The restaurant has three levels of spiciness the highest being numbing. The highest level we went to was two chilis. Soybeans in some kind of a sauce were complimentary they tasted a bit of fennel. We wanted to try as many dishes as possible, so of course we ordered way too much. We started off with Spareribs with wooder soup. The broth is light and clear; simple but nourishing. Surprisingly the beef had bones in it there were also a variety of mushrooms: delicious. The mushrooms were a bit crunchy which gave a nice texture.This would be perfect on a day when you are feeling under the weather.

Julia and John do not like spicy food all that much but we were able to find dishes they could handle. Julia's shredded beef with Chinese celery was delicious. The Chinese celery looked like broccoli rabe but tasted like celery. The veggies were still slightly crunch and there wasn't a lot of sauce so it made you feel healthy eating it.

John's beef stew in hot pot was spicy enough that he wasn't sure he liked it. Julia had a taste and that was enough. Julian loved it so much so that his face started to turn red and his eyes watered. The broth was quite flavorful but there were whole chilis it. Once it cooled the spice wasn't as overpowering and with rice it was quite tasty.

My salt and pepper eggplant was very good even though it was fried. The eggplant was creamy inside the fried dough and the fried scallion, chili and cilantro garnish was a nice contrast. Really not as heavy as they might look but as a meal, it was a little too much for me.

The crispy duck Julian ordered was amazing. Crispy on the outside tender and juicy on the inside. There was some chili on the chicken itself and in the accompianing sauce. This is the kind of thing that you don't even attemp to do at home

This place was perfect for our "travel". Most of the other patrons were asian so we felt like it was very authentic and the prices were good to boot. I think Chinese restaurants are able to offer great quality but a good price because they don't do too much in the way of fancy decorations. At least from what we've seen so far.