Gu's Bistro (Now, Gu's Kitchen)

Gu's Bistro (Now, Gu's Kitchen) - Now, if you're not familiar with Szechuan (or aka Sichuan) cuisine (四川菜), a quick overview is that the flavor is bold, and commonly spicy.  A popular style is called Mala (麻辣) and is basically a mixture of spicy and numbness (from the Chinese peppercorns added in Mala dishes).  If you're interested in awesome Mala dishes, check out my visit to Old Sichuan's Hot Pot restaurant in Taiwan here!

UPDATE: Gu's Bistro is closed, but the same folks opened Gu's Kitchen at Krog Street Market!

Allright, back to finding some delicious authentic Sichuan here in the suburbs, my family and I had a get together at a restaurant hidden away in Lawrenceville, Georgia called 川外川 which translates directly to "Sichuan outside of Sichuan", a great name in my opinion but... confusingly, their English name is actually "Bobo China Restaurant" which I can't say I"m the biggest fan of.

Anyway, what did I order? Here we go:

One of my favorite Sichuan dishes, it's spicy, and the beef is incredibly flavorful.  I usually either order this or Sliced Fish in Hot Chili Oil.  I recommend BOTH at almost any Szechuan restaurant.

If you can only order ONE thing, this is what you need to order.  The cumin is such a bold flavor and goes very well with lamb/mutton.

Don't worry.  This is not going to be cold at all. From what I heard, why it is called this is because it was compared to Szechuan hot pots where you eat the fish straight from a cooking pot (and try not to burn your tongue off) but this dish is served in a 'cold dish' instead.  Trust me, the dish is HOT especially under the layer of hot chili oil!  This one and the Cumin lamb might be my ultimate favorites at this restaurant.

Finally, something not spicy!  This one is a more common dish you can find at Chinese restaurants here in the states.  Those bamboo shoots slight crunch goes very well with the tastes of the shredded pork.  Every time someone comes with us that doesn't eat spicy (which I don't recommend going to a Sichuan restaurant if you don't like spicy food...) we make sure to order this one!

Let me explain this one, the literal translation of this one is seriously "husband and wife's lung slices".  But to understand why in the world that might be, the Chinese just name dishes in a different method half the time.  But also, this dish at different places have different ingredients.  Sometimes they wouldn't only have beef and tripe and may include other beef parts such as tongue and heart.

Now, we know it's still not authentic as if you were to hop on a plane and go to China, but compared to most Sichuan restaurants, this place (Bobo China Restaurant) is worth the dime in my opinion and definitely worth your try if you are around the area!