Szechuan House

FOOD

Szechuan House’s buffet ranges across Chinese chicken preparations, with fried shrimp, rice, noodles and appetizers giving lunch its breadth. Szechuan chicken, black pepper chicken, sesame chicken, General Tso’s chicken and Kung Po chicken belong to the repertoire. The mix brings Szechuan-style stir-fries and familiar Chinese-American fried chicken preparations into the same meal. The entrees rotate, so the selection is not identical every day.

The Szechuan chicken combines marinated slices of chicken with water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and green pepper in a spicy sauce. The vegetables are part of the preparation itself: crisp water chestnuts and bamboo shoots accompany the sliced meat, with green pepper adding another texture. It is a vegetable-and-chicken stir-fry among the richer fried-and-sauced dishes.

Black pepper chicken combines pieces of chicken, onions and peppers in the house sauce, with black pepper supplying its warm, sharp pungency. Kung Po chicken uses diced chicken with peanuts and Szechuan pepper. Szechuan pepper is known for its citrusy aroma and tingling quality; the peanuts bring their own firm, nutty texture to the chicken. The tingling associated with Szechuan pepper differs from chili heat, giving Kung Po chicken another sort of seasoning from black pepper chicken.

Sesame chicken takes large, lightly breaded pieces of chicken through deep-frying before they are tossed in sesame sauce. General Tso’s chicken follows another fried preparation, starting with marinated chicken and finishing in a spicy ginger-and-garlic sauce. Both belong to the Chinese-American restaurant tradition, with the sesame flavor in one and the ginger-and-garlic seasoning in the other giving the fried chicken its final character.

Fried shrimp brings seafood to the hot selection. Among the appetizers are triangular sweet-cheese wontons, also known as cream-cheese puffs. Their sweet filling is enclosed in a fried wrapper. Egg rolls also belong to the appetizer repertoire, alongside the fried shrimp and cheese wontons.

Fried rice and noodles accompany the hot entrees. The noodle selection changes, including a preparation with flat noodles, so it is worth recognizing that the buffet’s noodle dish is not always lo mein. The flat noodles bring broad ribbons to the selection, alongside the smaller grains of the fried rice.

Eggplant and green beans are among the hot vegetables. The kitchen’s Szechuan string beans are stir-fried with Szechuan sauce, bringing a spicy vegetable preparation into the meal. Whole green beans contribute a firmer texture, while eggplant brings its softer flesh. Eggplant becomes tender during cooking and takes up the sauce surrounding it, giving that preparation a different texture from the beans.

Petite coffee cakes and cookies bring baked sweets to the dessert selection.