Szechuan Mountain House, years in the making, opens its first Los Angeles location (2024)

It supposedly originated in the 19th century night market of Chongqing, as a way to cover the taste of lesser cuts of meat for workers on their way to the docks. Which makes its use at a high-end Szechuan restaurant a curious evolution — from the bottom to the top, so to speak. After reopening her celebrated porridge-based restaurant last month, chef Minh Phan decided to close Porridge + Puffs after all.

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And who have a strong constitution for the wonderful world of seriously peppery Szechuan cooking. “I really wanted to stay true to our menu and not make any compromises just to please what we thought the local crowd would find acceptable. For us, this is what a modern-day Sichuan restaurant would actually look like in Sichuan,” says Zhu.

Rakkan Miso Izakaya

“Many people in the U.S. believe that Sichuan food equals red hot chiles and peppercorn. They think that they should be sweating and crying for help to extinguish the burn, but we want to show people that Sichuan food is more than that,” says Zhu. Zhi Min Zhu, who hails from Sichuan, is the culinary director of all the Szechuan Mountain House locations and is in charge of training all of the kitchen teams. Zhu has been working with Szechuan Mountain House since 2015 at the New York East Village location and has helped train the team at the new Rowland Heights location. You enter the plaza through a number of walkways from the parking lot into a culinary landscape that’s a bit like the wonders found down alleyways in Hong Kong.

Szechuan Mountain House

In decades prior, people would light up the noodle as a wick for kerosene lamps. Chefs Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson have debuted the second location of their California-minded rotisserie, Kismet Rotisserie, opening a walk-up window within Studio City retail center the Shops at Sportsmen’s Lodge. Offering an identical menu to its East Hollywood counterpart, it specializes in free-range Sonoma County chickens dry-brined overnight and spit-roasted, then served whole, in pieces, or in soups, salads or pita sandwiches, with farmers-market sides such as roasted cabbage, turmeric cauliflower and schmaltz-roasted potatoes. Some other classics include Sichuan dishes like mao xue wang, a stew of ox tripe, duck blood, beef tongue, chicken gizzard and other offal simmered in a peppercorn and chile-laced broth.

It is not out of the ordinary to use more than 20 different kinds of spices for a particular dish. “We are also dedicated to using free-range chicken and other seasonal ingredients and vegetables,” says Zhu. Szechuan Mountain House boasts a large fan base in New York, and its locations in Manhattan and Flushing frequently make the New York Times’s 100 Best Restaurants list and Eater NY’s list of 38 Essential Restaurants.

Presentation is a priority, whether it be in the form of decor or plating. To eat properly here, it’s best to assemble a posse of heavy forks, good eaters who aren’t going to emit a loud “ew! ” when confronted with a tureen of pig trotters soup, or some pickled chicken feet.

The ma-la dishes feature the hot-and-numbing peppercorn that's emblematic of the cuisine. But not all of Zhu’s cooking features its spicy heat and anesthetizing effect. Sautéed vegetables and especially the dishes from the “traditional cuisine” menu, such as braised pork atop shredded, preserved vegetables, showcase the flavors of the region without chiles. While the focus remains on Sichuan cuisine, along with most of the small chain’s iconic dishes, some recipes and ingredients have been altered for the Los Angeles location to utilize more local ingredients. The ma-la dishes feature the hot-and-numbing peppercorn that’s emblematic of the cuisine. After opening a local chain of ramen shops, chef Ryohei Ito recently expanded his Rakkan empire with a new izakaya-inspired restaurant downtown.

For a walk on the mild side, opt for tamer delights like the twice-cooked pork, yibin-style ran noodles and the Insta-worthy swing pork belly. Some dishes require as many as 20 spices, with a rainbow of peppercorns imported from Sichuan for the job. La-zi chicken, another Szechuan Mountain House specialty, marinates its diced chicken and deep-fries then stir-fries it with a small mountain of dried peppers, peppercorns and sesame. The menu lists dishes as either ma-la, traditional or modernist, along with categories for vegetables, soups, cold items and noodles and rice.

A new Korean fried chicken shop that uses rice flour for its coating is now open in Koreatown with a range of styles, sauces, sides and more. Rice Chicken, a new concept from Paul Kim, a former partner in Long Beach’s Ren Sushi, offers wings, boneless chicken and whole pieces available by the half or full dozen. Rice chicken also offers fried chicken sandwiches, salads, cup-bap in spicy pork, beef bulgogi and other options, and sides like corn cheese, fried sausage and tteokbokki. After establishing an ardent fan base with two locations in New York, Szechuan Mountain House has opened in Rowland Heights. Chef Zhi Min Zhu, the restaurants’ culinary director from Sichuan, has honed the region's spicy, nuanced flavors and conceived a number of the restaurants’ most iconic dishes, including the signature Swing Pork Belly, which hangs thin slices of pork belly and cucumber on a wood dowel structure to be dipped in a pool of garlic paste and chile oil below.

Szechuan Mountain House offers popular Sichuan favorites like mapo tofu, twice-cooked pork, and kung pao shrimp, as well as classic Sichuan dishes seldom seen on menus in the U.S. Diners will be surprised by the Yibin-style ran noodles, also known as burning noodles, which are chewy, dry noodles that are flavorful, spicy, and salty from cardamine bean sprouts and roasted nut powder. The name “burning noodles” comes from the fact that traditional cooking methods add lard and chile oil to the noodles, which can be ignited without the use of water.

It’s not uncommon for lines to regularly span wait times of an hour and a half or more. Manager Jerry Wang hopes that the restaurant will be just as well received in LA. There’s a section of the (relatively) brief menu headed “Ma-La Szechuan.” “Ma-la” is the result of bringing two Chinese characters together — one meaning “numbing,” the other “spicy.” It’s a fine example of understatement. I’ve eaten ma-la dishes over the years that left my mouth first on fire … and then numb, as if my taste buds had gone on strike to protest being so harshly tested. For a while, I thought I was going to have to do my job by smell alone.

Housed in the former Fundamental space, Rakkan Miso Izakaya serves a limited selection of the plant-based-broth and noodles in which Rakkan Ramen excels, but a range of new items are also on offer. The focus here is on grilled meat, seafood and vegetable skewers such as chicken thigh, Hokkaido scallop, sausage and tofu, plus popular, classic izakaya items such as karaage, katsu and donburi. A selection of hosomaki, nigiri and other sushi is also available, as is natural wine, beer, sake and a menu of sake co*cktails. One of NYC’s best Chinese restaurants has opened in L.A.—or, to be more precise, Rowland Heights’ Pearl Plaza, which also houses Eat Joy Food, a 2023 Michelin Bib Gourmand. A koi pond, fake gingko trees and yellow lanterns lend an air of serenity to the dining room, in sharp contrast to the trial by fire your taste buds are likely to experience with several of Szechuan Mountain House’s signature items, which include traditional and modern Sichuanese recipes.

I did, and the ma-la prawns left my mouth on the edge of pepper overdose. The assortment is worthy of a small city — Ishi Sushi, Chili House, Lao Ma Jou Hot Pot, Gui BBQ, Tasty Garden, Beijing, Stew House, Eat Joy Food, Lobster Bay (“Best food, good food”) and behind a massive slatted door, under a carved wooden sign that looks eldritch, is Mountain House — a Szechuan destination unlike any other in the SG Valley. In the near future she hopes to use the Porridge + Puffs space for occasional community-minded events such as cookbook dinners for guest chefs or potential collaborations with the nearby People’s Pottery Project.

It’s wise to balance the ma-la dishes with more traditional options, such as the wonderfully satisfying fried rice with Szechuan peppers and bacon … and the perfectly (and immodestly) named “Incredible” fried rice with beef. There are a dozen cold dishes, including the requisite Szechuan pickles, and a plate with a trio of creations, running from poached chicken and bamboo shoots to duck tongue. And Szechuan numbing chicken — which gets you a serious hit of ma-la, without having to commit to any of the 16 larger ma-la entrées. Ma-la is made by combining Szechuan peppercorns, dried chili peppers, cloves, garlic, star anise cardamom, fennel, ginger, cinnamon, and salt and pepper, most often simmered in oil into a fiery sauce that’s not for the faint of taste.

To get to the SoCal branch of the exceedingly elegant Mountain House restaurant (the other locations are in NYC, Boston and Miami), turn south from the 60 Freeway on Nogales, and then down a small street to a parking lot behind a block-like structure that runs contrary to the numerous open-plan shopping malls of Rowland Heights and the City of Industry. “I've always enjoyed preparing spicy dishes to share with others since I was a child, which is why I chose to be a chef,” Zhu told The Times in an email. “I’ve always enjoyed preparing spicy dishes to share with others since I was a child, which is why I chose to be a chef,” Zhu told The Times in an email. There’s a menu section headed “Modernist Cuisine.” Though what makes crispy sizzling tofu and grilled beef rib “modernist” puzzles me.

Chef Zhi Min Zhu, the restaurants’ culinary director from Sichuan, has honed the region’s spicy, nuanced flavors and conceived a number of the restaurants’ most iconic dishes, including the signature Swing Pork Belly, which hangs thin slices of pork belly and cucumber on a wood dowel structure to be dipped in a pool of garlic paste and chile oil below. “It feels really satisfying to be growing the company the way we want to be growing it," Kramer said. In addition to newly focusing on catering, Kramer and Hymanson are planning multiple other Kismet Rotisserie locations, including one slated to open in Culver City this fall. Kismet Rotisserie is open in Studio City 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. “It feels really satisfying to be growing the company the way we want to be growing it,” Kramer said. In addition to newly focusing on catering, Kramer and Hymanson are planning multiple other Kismet Rotisserie locations, including one slated to open in Culver City this fall.