Behold the beginning of our annual 100 Favorite Dishes countdown! Every day until the publication of our fantabulous Best Of Issue, we'll list our favorite meals this year in descending order. Enjoy, pass it on, and tune in daily!
Wei-Shian isn't obviously a Szechuan restaurant, revealing itself to be one only when look closely. The soups offered here is labeled “hot spicy.” And then, when you order it, you discover that the surface of the broth is covered in a layer of chile red oil slick. It all becomes clear that about the same time you're dabbing your forehead of sweat and chugging your third glass of water to soothe your now-throbbing throat.
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Perhaps the best Szechuan dish is the dan dan mian, a bowl of noodles served dry save for a drizzling of an oily paste made with pulverized chiles and peppers. You toss the noodles around the bowl to coat every strand with that flavorful muck until you end up with what looks like a carbonara that went through the pits of hell. As you eat, your lips begin to numb, your eyes start to weep, but you're hooked. You can't stop devouring this nearly caustic and oily pasta, your tender insides be damned.
The List:
85. Beef Burger at Rider's Club Café
86. Smoked Trout at Provenance
87. Small Plates at A&J Restaurant
88. Corn Cheese at Zoomak Asian Bistro
89. Pumpkin Curry at Bhan Baitong
90. Poke at Costco Tustin II
91. Pambazo at Tacos Radioactivos
92. Beef Pho at Pho Crystal Noodle House
93. Breakfast Burrito from Cafe Calacas
94. Koobideh Plate from Grill Cafe
95. Tacos de Cecina from Alebrije's
97. Breakfast Sausage from Da-Le Ranch
99. Tres Amigos Burrito from Piaggio on Wheels
100. Bacon-Wrapped Dates from Lola Gaspar
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.