Let’s be clear: Tustin is not part of Los Angeles. It’s not even in Los Angeles County, located instead in LA County’s conservative twin, Orange County. Ever since my mother-in-law moved to Seal Beach, Orange County has become our home base when we return to Southern California—a matter of some embarrassment to two long-term Angelenos (the missus lived there since her family arrived in the US and it’s where I spent my first 10 years in the country as well). In terms of food, however, Orange County is not a dead loss. A number of cities in the county have large Asian populations of various ethnicities, and if the Korean food is not quite as good as that in Koreatown and the Chinese not quite as good as that in the San Gabriel Valley, it’s good enough that we don’t always feel the need to drive all the way to those places to eat those cuisines. In the case of Chinese food, a number of the stalwarts have branches now in the general area. Such, for example, is Sichuan Impression.
Sichuan Impression’s original location in Alhambra (which I have reported on twice before: here and here) was, along with standard-bearer Chengdu Taste, in the vanguard of the new wave of Sichuan Cuisine that swept the San Gabriel Valley more than a decade ago along with new immigrants from mainland China. Both restaurants greatly expanded the repertoire of Sichuan cuisine in the region, and Sichuan Impression more than Chengdu Taste also set the tone for hip, contemporary decor. Both restaurants went on to open multiple branches. I’m not sure when the Tustin branch of Sichuan Impression opened but they seem very well established. We were there right after Christmas and it was jammed—it’s a much larger dining room than in the Alhambra original, and not quite as attractive. We had joined the online waitlist and it took a while to get in and get seated.
They have a QR code menu—who doesn’t these days?—and you order from it on your phone. We didn’t over-order for a change and stuck mostly with some old favourites. Of these, the Tea-Smoked Pork Rib was as good as we remembered it as was the Steamed Chicken in Chilli Oil. On the other hand, the Steamed Pork Belly with Rice Flour (and winter squash) was more cloying than we remembered—has it changed or have we? Also on the table was an order of Fried Shrimp with Scrambled Egg, a dish we ordered because we saw it going to another table as we sat down: we rather liked it (the pleasures were mostly of texture). Oh yes, an order of Fried String Beans for the boys.
For a look at the restaurant and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.
Price? Not cheap. With tax and tip it was just shy of $133. The meal itself was tasty enough but didn’t get us so very excited. I think there’s a good chance we’ll go back on future trips anyway on account of relative proximity but we actually talked about going back to Chengdu Taste next time (maybe even this December).
Alright, up next will be a report from Seoul this spring. That’ll go up tomorrow. And I’m hoping to get another Los Angeles report up on Sunday and thus be caught up with last week’s omissions. Let’s see how it goes.