Sichuan Impression

For better in some ways and worse in others, Orange County’s Chinese restaurant scene became a lot more diffused during the 2010s and 2020s, as large pan-Chinese and Chinese-American generalists with samey menus gave way to smaller but truly regionally focused specialists. As a result, there are now multiple Sichuan restaurants focusing near-exclusively on the province’s famously mouth-numbing peppercorn dishes, great for spice fiends but with few options for more sensitive tongues.

Sichuan Impression was one of the late, great Jonathan Gold’s top picks for Chinese food, and despite the age of his recommendation – 2014, when the southern Chinese province was still being romanized as “Szechuan” – it’s still valid: This restaurant is a great place to sample the meats, nuts, and vegetables of this specific cuisine. Note that Gold’s strong positive recommendation applied to the small chain’s original Alhambra location; its Orange County outpost is in Tustin, in the same plaza as Burning X Korean BBQ, Masala Bae, and OB Square. While the dining experience has changed since he visited, as ordering now takes place through smartphones and QR codes with very limited server interactions, the food remains top-tier.

Come for the Tea-Smoked Pork Ribs, served as a long, juicy rack that uniquely manages to infuse the herbal essence of tea through smoke, and the Lamb on Toothpicks, bite-sized pieces of meat cooked with large flecks of dry chili until every piece lights up your mouth like a firecracker. Or get the stir-fried chili chicken, a dish that others might label Chongqing Chicken, which similarly pops with so many chili seeds and skins that their heat is inescapable. Pretty much anything that sounds good on the menu, ranging from frog to rabbit to beef, will in fact be delicious… and spicy.

On a recent visit, a plate of Dry Mix Beef in Yanbian Chili Powder ($17) looked like a fairly innocuous salad made with slices from varied cow parts, but delivered enough spice (and meat) to leave any mouth tingling – without much oil. By comparison, a Spicy Squid Tentacles Dry Pot ($23) arrived as a larger bowl with full-sized red chilis, plenty of pepper, and oil coating sliced potatoes, celery, and small squid leg bites, somehow not as spicy as the beef, but still hot. Street Corner Potato Strips ($12) turned out to be basic crinkle-cut french fries peppered with chili flakes, surprising us both in form and their ability to absorb some of the residual heat from other dishes.