Grand Sichuan and Xi’an Famous Foods

Have you ever wanted to eat at multiple restaurants for a single meal? Recently, I’ve been wanting to visit *at least* two restaurants per meal and have been lucky enough to eat with people that put up with my crazy cravings. On Saturday, Ken asked me what I was in the mood to eat for dinner (we had spent the morning and afternoon eating pretty random things – string cheese, pudding cups, mocha yogurt from Trader Joe’s, lobster rolls and fish tacos) and I said I wanted to eat some Chinese food but from two restaurants. He didn’t understand how we were going to eat at two restaurants for dinner (especially since it was 10:30 when we were heading out and both restaurants closed at 11) but luckily, he agreed to join me in yet another dining adventure.

We hopped in a cab and headed to Xi’an Famous Foods first; my plan was originally to go to Chinatown to pick up liang pi noodles but then I remembered a new outpost opened up in the East Village…on the same street as Grand Sichuan, the second restaurant I wanted to visit. I figured we’d pick up the liang pi noodles, take them to Grand Sichuan, and eat them while we waited for our Grand Sichuan order (I would never do this at another restaurant, but it seems to be okay at Chinese restaurants). The East Village location is a lot larger than the other spots (there are four total) and Ken ended up ordering lamb noodles in addition to my favorite liang pi noodles because he wanted hot noodles. The noodles with lamb and cumin was really spicy and Ken was originally really excited about it but I think the lamb was a little too fatty:

My order of liang pi noodles with gluten chunks, bean sprouts, cucumbers, and cilantro might be my new obsession:

It’s an extremely addictive dish; chewy, flavorful, and surprisingly refreshing. I could drink the sauce straight from the take out container but decided I would resist the temptation since it was probably not the most lady-like thing to do.

After we picked up our order from Xi’an, we ran to Grand Sichuan (on the same street, just one avenue over). The restaurant said they were closed (but it was only 10:45!) but they agreed to let us order take out. I knew exactly what I wanted – pea sprouts sauteed with garlic and Gui-Zhou spicy beef. The pea sprouts at Grand Sichuan are so good and the flavor just can’t be replicated at home:

And I’m always a fan of their Gui-Zhou spicy beef:

Ken was a huge fan of both dishes from Grand Sichuan more than the dishes from Xi’an Famous Foods. Actually, he loved my idea of going to two restaurants because we had a variety of dishes to eat, ended up taking everything back to his place, and watched the some playoff games while eating dinner. I satisfied my craving for Chinese food and we were both happy campers – what a great way to spend Saturday night!