We bade farewell to Twin Cities dining in 2023 with lunch at Grand Szechuan on Christmas and it seemed only right to see 2024 off the same way. We once again descended on them with a bunch of the people we eat there with most often and once again had a bit of a blowout meal, comprised largely of old favourites—and also one dish that I ordered without telling anyone (look to the left). 2024 was a year in which we ate out a lot (see my post from yesterday on my favourite restaurant meals of the year). Our meals at Grand Szechuan were among the highlights of the year and this last lunch was no exception. Given the vagaries of the restaurant world—to say nothing of the additional stresses of the pandemic—we feel very fortunate that Grand Szechuan—our family’s favourite restaurant in Minnesota—is still going strong. And we are very grateful that they are still putting out food at a very high level.
We were a party of 10 and arrived at the restaurant at noon to find it already quite busy (with several other large groups in attendance) even if not quite as full as it had been on Christmas last year. Seated at our usual table near the kitchen, we quickly got down to business. I canvassed the group to see if there were any dishes people were particularly desirous of eating and then placed our order in two waves.
Out first were the following: pork belly with mashed garlic, dan dan noodles, garlic pork ribs, Chengdu spicy dumplings, Chengdu spicy wontons (2x), Szechuan green beans, and fish fillet in milky white broth. All were very tasty and the pork belly and the wontons were particularly good. With the edge taken off of our hunger, I placed the order for the larger dishes. These were: fish fillet with bean jelly (an old favourite we hadn’t got in a while), beef and tofu with minced jalapeño, Chengdu-style sauteed pork belly, spicy pork brain, country-style chicken, spicy squid roll/triple-flavour squid (2x). More greens to go with it all in the form of stir-fried pea tips.
The triple flavour squid/spicy squid roll is the crowd pleaser in our group (there’s a reason we got two orders) but the fish fillet with bean jelly might actually have been the consensus favourite on the day. The spicy pork brain is the dish I sneaked on the group. I just love the dish but it’s not one you can get unless there are a lot of people with you to eat it: it’s a large portion and if you eat too much of it you might die (especially since it’s at its best when ordered extra spicy). Some members of the group gamely had some of it but it was our older boy who joined me in taking a double helping (and then helped me finish the leftovers at home). If you’re not averse to offal, I really recommend it: the texture is that of scrambled eggs and the bright heat of the chillies and the numbing blast of the Sichuan peppercorns really match it well.
To take a closer look at everything we ate, please launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.
As always, we were helped by the staff member who always takes care of us, and, as always, she took care of us well. The total for all this food came to $330 with tax and tip. Our boys now eat like adults at Grand Szechuan so that was $33/head. Counting leftovers the effective per head price was closer to $27/head. Either way, a tremendous value for the quality and quantity. We’re very lucky to have Grand Szechuan around and we certainly don’t take that for granted. We’ll be back over and over in 2025 as well and I highly recommend that if they’re not on your regular rotation, you put them on it. (I have a handy guide to the menu for those who’ve not been or not been more than once.)
Alright, that’s 2024 in the books on the blog. Tomorrow I will post a look-back at the year on the blog and a look-ahead to the year to come. After that we’ll get right back to regular business. I hope to close out my Delhi restaurant reports this week; it’ll then be nothing but Twin Cities restaurant reports for the next few months. Thank you for reading along in 2024 and I’ll “see” you next year!