Let me say right off the bat that there was no lung in this dish; apparently, there was some confusion while translating from the Chinese, and actually it's beef stomach that was the highlight here. Apart from the very tender and quite delicious stomach lining, this garlic forward cold dish consisted of marinated beef slices, peanuts, cilantro, and spicy chili oil. The dish was spicy, oily, savory, and a bit funky. The peanuts added crunch, and the cilantro added freshness. On the menu, this was an appetizer, but it was obviously meant to be shared. For me, it was a whole meal.
Location: Cie, 45682 Towne Street, Indio, California. Date: August 14, 2021.
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This dish had the word sizzling in it on the menu, but there was no sizzling platter because the food at this Sichuan Chinese restaurant is still only to go. The kidneys were scored, resembling pine cones, and then sliced. The dish came with fresh ginger slices, slightly crunchy black mushrooms, crunchy celery and water chestnut slices, green onion, red pepper flakes, and a savory sauce that was oily but not in a bad way. This ginger forward dish was mildly spicy (for my taste) and very savory. The kidney was mild in flavor but cooked really well; each piece was tender. This dish has cemented my opinion that Cie is the best Chinese restaurant in the Coachella Valley.
Location: Cie Sichuan Cuisine, 45682 Towne Street, Indio, California. Date: April 17, 2021. I'd be surprised if you could find this dish in any other Chinese restaurant in the Coachella Valley. When I ordered it, the lady asked me if I'd had duck tongue before, and when I said no, she advised me that the tongues have bones in them. Undeterred, I went through with it and got what I thought of as the Chinese version of buffalo chicken wings. Like the wings, you have to nibble around the bones, and the dish came with lots of hot dried chilies for flavoring as well as celery sticks. Only the carrot sticks and the blue cheese crumble were missing. There were more than a dozen of the tongues, but they are quite a bit smaller than chicken wings. Because they are stir fried, the tongues and the celery were coated with a flavorful oil. The tongues had concentrated duck flavor, and I gnawed the meat off every last one of them. The dish was not too spicy, but it did leave my tongue tingling.
Location: Cie Sichuan Cuisine, 45682 Towne Street, Indio, California. Date: February 20, 2021. I found an authentic Chinese restaurant, Sichuan style, in Indio today, which was totally unexpected. I ordered Sweet Potato Leaves, an ingredient I'd never eaten before. The soft cooked leaves with crunchy stems were served hot in a tasty broth with bits of garlic. It was something like spinach but with a milder flavor. I think that potato leaves are not edible because they can be toxic, but sweet potato leaves, I was assured, are safe and nutritious. The lovely lady at the restaurant then gave me a take out container of cucumber salad for free. That salad, which I think is called Garlic Cucumber on the menu, consisted of chunks of cucumber in a very delicious dressing which seemed to be composed of chili oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, garlic, and a sour ingredient, and a sweet one. It was refreshing, and I couldn't stop eating it because of that addictive well balanced sauce.
Location: Cie Sichuan Cuisine, 45682 Towne Street, Indio, California. Date: February 20, 2021. This tender eggplant, with skin on, came with garlic, tamari (Japanese soy sauce), and ginger. The menu said green onion and sesame seed, but no, they weren't there. The menu didn't say ginger, but both garlic and ginger were definitely in it. I love eggplant when it's well cooked, and this was. It was sweet, savory, and a little spicy (more so when you bit into one of the dried red chiles). Most importantly, these succulent melt in your mouth Japanese eggplants had umami (that savory sixth taste). I'll go out on a limb and say that I think this is currently the best eggplant in the valley. The bartender tonight, Taylor, was very nice; ask for him when you're at the bar.
Location: Roly China Fusion, 1107 N Palm Canyon, Palm Springs, California. Date: February 1, 2020. This is the signature cocktail at a self-proclaimed dive bar in San Francisco's Chinatown. Anthony Bourdain was here for his Layover in San Francisco show in 2012. The cocktail contains dark rum, light rum, 151 proof rum, a Chinese liqueur, and pineapple juice. There wasn't too much ice, which distinguished it from the American version, and there was a pleasant mild bitterness which I was told came from the Chinese liqueur. When I asked if I could have just a little taste of the liqueur, I was told that it would cost me ten dollars. I declined the offer. There was some fruitiness, of course, from the pineapple juice, and overall the taste was intriguing. When I asked the bartender if I could get this drink in China, she shook her head and said an emphatic, “No.”
Location: Li Po Lounge, 916 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, California. Date: September 16, 2019. This stir fried Chinese dish consisted of zucchini, carrot, snow peas, mushroom, water chestnut, onion, broccoli, and jalapeño slices in a slightly sweet soy based sauce with fried tofu cubes as the protein (though you can choose any protein you want). The veggies were all still crunchy, including the jalapeño, but they weren't too raw. The tofu was chewy (like a meat protein would be). The dish was sweet, savory, and spicy. I ate all the jalapeño slices, and for me the dish was not too spicy; however, the spice level you like will depend on how many of the pepper slices you decide to eat, as the sauce itself is not spicy. I didn't recall seeing jalapeño spiced dishes on the menus of other Chinese restaurants, so I asked the Chinese owner if these dishes were common in Chinese cuisine, and he said, “Only here.” Traditional Chinese music was playing in this restaurant, and I enjoyed my dish with a Tsingtao beer.
Location: Wok In Cafe, 26 East State Street, Redlands, California. Date: July 12, 2019. I had this stir fried noodle with shrimp dish twice at a Chinese family run bar in Barcelona; the first time the mother made it and the second time her son was the chef. He made the dish spicier and more photogenic. The dish consisted of perfectly cooked chewy noodles, soft onion and bok choy, and crunchy red bell pepper, as well as four nice sized sweet shrimp with shell on. It was obviously seasoned with soy sauce as well as hot pepper. This delicious dish was oily but in a good way. It was noteworthy comfort food.
Location: Bar Nito, Consell de Cent 47, Barcelona, Spain. Date: December 22, 2018. |
AuthorChef Roland has been a legal resident of seven countries and has travelled in over thirty, documenting food along the way. He currently resides in the desert in Southern California. Categories
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