Famous Szechuan Pavilion began in a former coffee drive-thru at Brentwood and Manchester. It's now moved to the strip mall at the northwest corner of Olive, Woodson and McKnight, and holds more than the four-or-so people that could get fed simultaneously at the old spot. Sparse decor. Short menu. And food that, I'm told, is pretty close to The Real Thing.
This review may well turn out to be in chapters. While the menu is, indeed, relatively short, there's plenty of things about which I'm curious. and we've only just begun. So read on and stay tuned.
FSP's reputation in town has been that it's the home of some serious spicing. We ordered medium and didn't find it sending steam out the ears, but close to it. The kitchen uses both red chiles and szechuan peppercorns, the latter producing a sort of buzzy numbness, at least when they reach a certain point. They're in the house spicy noodle, a dish that probably is considered a soup, but the bowl is full of both noodles and broth. "Stir it up," said the server, because the peppercorns sink to the bottom and the red chiles float in their oil on top. The essential broth is quite mildly chicken-y, but seasonings giving the reason for the pleasing.
Yet more noodles with the chicken dandan noodles. Not a whole lot of noodles but slippery, slithery noodles with sesame and chile, seemingly a little less torrid than the other noodle dish, above. Not a great deal of chicken, admittedly
The menu lists "Noodles" first, and that's followed by "Appetizer". The items we had from that section – both $5.99 each – were certainly smaller servings than a main course at the other Asian restaurants up and down the street. But both were very worthwhile. Vegetarian chicken isn't chicken, of course, it's tofu skin. That sounds, uh, sort of strange, right? But it's just slices of firm, tan, slightly chewy tofu that, as is tofu's wont, picks up lots of flavors with the slices of green pepper and some celery, a little ginger, we thought, and quite excellent.
It was, however, exceeded by the yu shan pork, strips of pork with plenty of green onion, garlic and ginger, all slightly sweet, absolutely delicious.
One of the things that made the food so good was that it was clearly cooked and rushed to the table in blazing fast time. Particularly with the pork, that made a difference. The owner's son waited on us. His English is heavily accented, so be prepared. This place is an adventure.
Famous Szechuan Pavilion
8615 Olive Blvd, University City
314-685-0888
Lunch & Dinner Tues.-Sun.
Credit cards: Yes, but cash preferred
Wheelchair access: Fair
Smoking: No
Prices: $4-$15