2 editor-picked sichuan restaurants across 2 cities.
A guide to sichuan restaurants worth a trip, by city. We list operators, signature dishes, and the rooms locals book first.
Han Dynasty's East Village outpost runs Chengdu-style numbing-spicy Sichuan in New York City. The dan dan and the dry pot are the room's calibration plates.
Signature: Dan dan noodles, Dry pot fish
Order: Dan dan noodles, dry pot fish, cucumber salad to cool.
Tip: The spice scale runs 1 to 10; the menu says 7 is hot, the kitchen means it. Start at 5.
Z & Y in San Francisco is the Chinatown Sichuan room that hosted Obama, with a benchmark dry-fried chicken and a real numbing-spice score on the page.
Signature: Chongqing chicken, Dan dan noodles, Mapo tofu
Order: Chongqing chicken: dry-fried with handfuls of Sichuan peppercorns and chillies.
Tip: Ask for the dan dan noodles 'house style' to get the version the kitchen makes for itself; off the menu.
More cities are in research. Want sichuan covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.