四川麻辣: NYT Restaurant Review

choi

Pete Wells, Showing the Chile Who’s Boss; Café China in Midtown. New York Times, May 2, 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/0 ... n-midtown.html?_r=1

Note:
(a) The report states, "A bartender pours cocktails into etched-glass coupes."

Champagne stemware
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne_stemware
(section 2 Champagne coupe)
(b) Sichuan pepper  花椒
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan_pepper
(fruit from a shrub; botanically not closely related to the black pepper or chili peppers, despite its naming; should be distinguished from the Japanese pepper or sanshō 山椒 (Zanthosylum piperitum))

* Not to be confused with
Illicium verum 八角茴香/ 八角
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illicium_verum
(commonly called star anise; a small native evergreen tree of northeast Vietnam and southwest China)
(c) The report says, "Sichuan cooks call the heat of chile peppers [ma] la." The word "ma" is missing.

* zing (n; imitative; First Known Use 1911):
"1: a shrill humming noise
2: an enjoyably exciting or stimulating quality : ZEST <really put some zing into this industry — Erwin Fine>"
www.m-w.com
(d) mustard greens 芥菜
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_greens
(e) cumin  (小茴香 in Taiwan)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumin(native from the east Mediterranean to India; section 1 Etymology)
(f) baby black lamb  小炒黑山羊

I know, because it is a dish name in the menu of Cafe China (傾城: the restaurant uses traditional Chinese).
http://cafechinanyc.com/menu.html

* For the same reason:
(A) Shredded Pork Sandwiches is 肉夹馍.
(B) "smoked tofu" is just an ingredient in Double Cooked Pork 熏干回锅肉 ("pork belly, smoked tofu with leek & chili peppers")
(g) Regarding the sentence "Cumin seeds and chiles strafe a whole tilapia that is steamed inside a tent of foil."
(h) tea-smoked duck  樟茶鸭
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/樟茶鴨
(i) langurous (adj):
(j) The "hazy" in "hazy service" is an adjective that means:
"UNCERTAIN <I'm hazy on that point>"