Yes, I am aware that I did not post the last New York and Seoul restaurant reports from my winter and spring travels that I’d said I’d post this past weekend. Let’s not dwell on that. Let’s instead look to the present and to the Twin Cities metro. It has been a dangerously long time since my last Grand Szechuan report—a full four months, in fact—and so here is a mid-year check-in. It comprises a look at two separate meals eaten just a couple of weeks apart in July and August. The first was a small affair with just the four of us in attendance; the second featured a larger group of seven. At the first meal we placed a fairly basic order of ye olde Sichuan cliches; the second was quite a bit more extensive (and also had more than twice as many dishes). Both meals were very good; the second was truly excellent. Here is a quick report on both. If you haven’t been eating at Grand Szechuan this summer, it’s not too late to correct your error.

The first meal was lunch eaten on a weekday. There was some work happening at home that we needed to get out of the way off and so we headed off for lunch and some shopping. We arrived at Grand Szechuan just before noon (they open at 11 am on weekdays) to find quite a few tables already occupied for lunch (it’s a very large restaurant and so it takes a lot for it to seem very busy).

As it was just the four of us and we wanted to keep things simple, it didn’t take very long to figure out what we wanted to eat. We got five dishes we are always happy to eat and only one that we had not eaten before. This new (to us) dish was a soup: Shrimp and Sizzling Rice soup. It is billed as an order for two people but four people can share it very easily when eating a lot of other things. Those other things for us were Dan Dan Noodles, Kung Pao Chicken, Mapo Tofu, Fish Flavor Eggplant and Sichuan Green Beans (I said it was a basic order). All of it was very good. With tip we paid a little over $90 and took a fair bit of leftovers home. Counting those leftovers, it was enough food for six people, making the effective price about $16 each. Crazy good value.

We were back a week and a half later with a number of friends who often join us at meals there. We were six adults and our older boy (the younger was off on a D&D campaign with friends). At this meal we got a few dishes we get often but also a bunch that aren’t in the regular rotation. In the former category were the following: Chengdu Spicy Wontons, Fish in Milky White Broth, Fish Flavor Pork, Triple Flavor Squid/Spicy Squid Roll, Eggplant in Sweet Bean Sauce and those Szechuan Green Beans. In the latter category were: Sweet & Spicy Noodles, Ma La Beef Tendon, Pork Ears in Chilli Sauce, 8 Second Potato (not on the menu but on the specials board), Minced Beef and Peanuts with Tofu in Chilli Sauce, Country Style Chicken (an old favourite that we had unaccountably not eaten in a long time) and Diced Fish with Chopped Dry Pepper. All of this was rather good as well. I’ll single out the following for extra praise: the sweet & spicy noodles, the pork ears, the 8 second potato, the country style chicken, the beef and peanuts with tofu and the diced fish with chopped pepper.

The cost of the second meal with tip was about $235. We took a lot of leftovers home. I’d hazard we had enough food for at least 12 people, but even if you go with 10, that would have been $23/head for a crazy amount and variety of food.

For a look at the menu and what we ate at both meals, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down for some more thoughts on the meals and to see what’s coming next.

With a menu as voluminous as Grand Szechuan’s, it is all too easy to lose track of a number of excellent dishes. We could fill several meals with dishes we love but haven’t eaten in more than a year (or even longer in some cases). Well, this is a good problem to have as it means that an old favourite that we’ve been eating at for more than a decade now can turn every once in a while into effectively a new restaurant. Indeed, we talked at the end of the meal about doing a lunch centered on dishes we’ve in fact never eaten—which, hard though it may be to believe, there are more than a handful of. Who knows, maybe that will be my next Grand Szechuan report.

My next Twin Cities report, however, will probably be on dinner at Hai Hai (where we last ate before the pandemic). We are scheduled to eat there again with friends this weekend. And I’ve said this about 12 times already this year but this time it’s true: before the next Twin Cities report I will post the last of those Seoul and New York reports. For real.