TN: New York City (Feb 1, 2018)

J

Jeff Grossman

Jeff Grossman
We meet at the 9th Avenue and 24th Street branch of Grand Sichuan. I'm not sure exactly which dynasty it belongs to: I think the original was in the theater district, then the owner and the chef parted ways but both used the name, and there was a third split sometime later, too. Lots of Grand Sichuan around. Kinda like the mess with Ray's Pizza, and Original Ray's, and Famous Original Ray's. Gevalt.

Anyway, we are always happy to jeeb with Todd, who comes to town about now for the Festa del Barolo. This year we also finally meet his lovely wife, Kim, and we engage with another wand'ring wine-geek, Tim, who is usually to be found sojourning in Tuscany.

Of course, we order some mild dishes first so we can drink the reds, and reserve the whites for the spicy dishes later. The kitchen did good work on the Lamb with Scallions and the Tea-Smoked Duck but I was underwhelmed by the Red-Cooked Pork. The spicier dishes all fared well, particularly the Aui Zhou Chicken.

We had a big round table with a big lazy susan, of course, and if you spun it just right you could drink:

Ch. Sociando-Mallet 1996 Haut-Medoc - outstanding, just the right combination of tobacco and black currants, silken and mid-weight, great bottle

Ch. Haut-Bailly 1979 Graves - a post-tobacco palate, showing very red-fruited and delicately earthy, even lighter-weight than the Sociando, beautiful and feminine

Pod. Aldo Conterno 2006 Barolo "Romirasco" - vivid, juicy, typique, but the acid overpowers the phenolic material a bit and the extra time in barrel also shows itself in extra vanilla, &c.

Henriot 1996 Champagne Brut - L5195C, now that it's chilled we can pass it around... vigorous bubbles and a bright, youthful palate of yellow fruit, honeycomb, and underscored with modest lees, excellent

Franco Fiorina 1964 Barolo - corked

Clos Roche Blanche 2012 Touraine "l'Arpent Rouge" - gorgeous, shimmering, perfumey, it's usual swoon-worthy self

Take a deep breath and spin again:

Keller 2002 Dalsheimer Hubacker Riesling Spatlese GK - 4 275 043 26 03, lively and vivid, quince

Fritz Haag 2007 Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese Auction - 25770501408, kinda soft and sweet, lemony, only lightly fragrant

Maximin Grunhauser (von Schubert) 1990 Abtsberg Riesling Spatlese - 3 536 014 36 91, rich and tangy with an interesting smoky, resinous note in the long finish

Dom. des Baumard 1990 Savennieres "Trie Speciale" - nice honeyed nose with a whiff of kumquats, others say the sweetness is mostly resolved but I find the palate claustrophobically cloying, Juicy-Fruit gum, meh

Clemens-Busch 2010 Riesling Marienburg Erste Lage "Raffes" - 1 635 018 3111, Seth's father brought a case of this home and it may be all there ever was brought to the US; in any case, wow nose, intense, dry, vivid, long, green grapes and magic, wow; Day 2: the last swig is just as good

Willi Schaefer 2014 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese - 2 583 154 08 15, just about shut down; Day 2, it has started to open up, showing a little tropical fruit flavor; Day 3, recognizably the Willi Schaefer we all love, tangy, orangey, sweet, even my partner will drink this one

Lafaurie-Peyraguey 1988 Sauternes - long and tender, as likable as a gamboling puppy, sure sweet but also comfy, lots of botrytis

Fritz Haag 1997 Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese - 2 577 050 18 98, not so sweet as you'd think, the rest of the note is indecipherable
 
Fascinating, I didn't know anything about the Grand Sichuan ownership drama, but I'm tickled that the 9th Ave location's typo on Gui Zhou chicken still persists!
 
There was a tiny outlet of Grand Sichuan in Eastern Chinatown before the owner opened up the branch on 24th and 9th in 1998, that I and others have been going to since Michael Wheeler introduced us to it that year. In fact, the first time I went there, I had the gui zhou chicken with Sasha's '59 Prum. Not a good match. They opened up a number of branches, but it looks like most have them have now closed. Actually, the one you went to I don't think is a Grand Sichuan anymore. It looks like you went to Chelsea Chinese.

What resolved sweetness are you referring to in the '90 Baumard Savennieres Trie Speciale? That's always been a dry wine, though it is picked later and sees partial malo.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
Did you get the fresh chicken?
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Jay did the ordering so we'll have to wait for Himselves to post.
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I learned the lesson to never let Jay order at Grand Sichuan when he ordered moo shoo chicken at the now closed St. Mark's Place location when Corey Novick was in town. Who the hell orders moo shoo chicken at a Sichuan place?
 
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
... but I'm tickled that the 9th Ave location's typo on Gui Zhou chicken still persists!
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I remember there used to be lots of typos on the menu at 9th ave and 50th street. I was a regular customer around 2000/2001 and offered to help edit the menu, in an attempt to become friendly and hopefully hang out in the kitchen with them and learn some things.

Needless to say, they never took me up on my offer and seemed to find it more than strange. (And of course it's not clear that the typos ever hindered profits!)
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
There was a tiny outlet of Grand Sichuan in Eastern Chinatown before the owner opened up the branch on 24th and 9th in 1998, that I and others have been going to since Michael Wheeler introduced us to it that year. In fact, the first time I went there, I had the gui zhou chicken with Sasha's '59 Prum. Not a good match. They opened up a number of branches, but it looks like most have them have now closed. Actually, the one you went to I don't think is a Grand Sichuan anymore. It looks like you went to Chelsea Chinese.

What resolved sweetness are you referring to in the '90 Baumard Savennieres Trie Speciale? That's always been a dry wine, though it is picked later and sees partial malo.
Click to expand...

They changed the name back last year.

Jeff, how did the food compare to the old days? At the GS culinary peak 24th/9th and 50th/9th (long closed) were da bomb. The Aui Zhou Chicken with fresh chicken was my favorite Chinese dish in the City.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:

Jeff, how did the food compare to the old days? At the GS culinary peak 24th/9th and 50th/9th (long closed) were da bomb. The Aui Zhou Chicken with fresh chicken was my favorite Chinese dish in the City.
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I was at 24th and 9th over the holidays and it was clearly not firing at peak performance.

I ordered a few old favorites from the special menu. The cold spinach with grated ginger and sesame oil, and the poetically named (warbling birds something or other) squid with celery and black beans. I think the dishes are great ideas, but the fading care was evident. Still, I had fun eating them and re-living nice memories. I guess the fuller appreciation of nostalgia is something we acquire with age!

And they seemed to be doing a brisk business.
 
For all you Szechuan food fans, Lan Sheng (which moved a couple of years ago from West 39th street to West 36th street) does an excellent version of Gui Zhou chicken. Details here: Lan Sheng.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
Jeff, how did the food compare to the old days? At the GS culinary peak 24th/9th and 50th/9th (long closed) were da bomb. The Aui Zhou Chicken with fresh chicken was my favorite Chinese dish in the City.
Click to expand...
Food was good, one or two plates were very good, but not exciting.

Of course, some of that is Jaded Palates, eh? Sichuan is no longer the hot new cuisine.
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
What resolved sweetness are you referring to in the '90 Baumard Savennieres Trie Speciale? That's always been a dry wine, though it is picked later and sees partial malo.
Click to expand...
Actually, I did not research whether it was intended to be off-dry; someone shouted that to me as my hand fell on the bottle and I wrote it down. Sorry, should check.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
originally posted by Brad Kane:
There was a tiny outlet of Grand Sichuan in Eastern Chinatown before the owner opened up the branch on 24th and 9th in 1998, that I and others have been going to since Michael Wheeler introduced us to it that year. In fact, the first time I went there, I had the gui zhou chicken with Sasha's '59 Prum. Not a good match. They opened up a number of branches, but it looks like most have them have now closed. Actually, the one you went to I don't think is a Grand Sichuan anymore. It looks like you went to Chelsea Chinese.

What resolved sweetness are you referring to in the '90 Baumard Savennieres Trie Speciale? That's always been a dry wine, though it is picked later and sees partial malo.
Click to expand...

They changed the name back last year.

Jeff, how did the food compare to the old days? At the GS culinary peak 24th/9th and 50th/9th (long closed) were da bomb. The Aui Zhou Chicken with fresh chicken was my favorite Chinese dish in the City.
Click to expand...

I wonder if it's the original ownership?

The 24th Street spot was always my favorite, though they did start to dumb down the menu a little bit after a few years. When they first opened, they had a great second sister's rabbit dish that Dougherty used to rave about and held cult-like status since it was loaded with Sichuan peppercorns at a time when they were banned here by the FDA. They also had an incredible fried chicken skin dish on a bed of dried chilies, as well as a terrific eel with bamboo dish. My favorite chicken dish was always the fresh killed chicken with Chinese broccoli. While I like the Gui Zhou chicken, it frankly obliterates every wine with its heat. Of course, the tea smoke duck has always been a fan favorite and is consistently one of the best and most versatile dishes on the menu to pair with wine. Unfortunately, it seems as if the restaurant group has fallen on harder times given the apparent drop in quality (if even same ownership) at 24th and with the closings of their 50th and 9th, Amsterdam and 74th St., St. Mark's and 34th and Lexington locations.
 
I've bought a small stash of the '79 Haut Bailly and have been loving every bottle to date. Beautifully elegantly mature.

The 1996 Sociando Mallet was a real treat as I don't think I've tried one since shortly after release. Obviously younger and more vibrant but very classic Bordeaux and absolutely delicious

The Aldo Conterno was very young. Judgement reserved.

The 2012 CRB l'Arpent Rouge was 2012 CRB l'Arpent Rouge. There is no higher compliment.

I liked the 2007 F Haag auction Spatlese much more than Jeff, finding vibrantly alive.

The food was good that night though not up to the standards of the old days. They did an especially nice job with the red cooked pork.
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
The 1996 Sociando Mallet was a real treat as I don't think I've tried one since shortly after release. Obviously younger and more vibrant but very classic Bordeaux and absolutely delicious
Click to expand...

Opened the 1986 recently - a classic Medoc as well, fantastic with sherry-based mushroom soup.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

[...]

Ch. Sociando-Mallet 1996 Haut-Medoc - outstanding, just the right combination of tobacco and black currants, silken and mid-weight, great bottle

Ch. Haut-Bailly 1979 Graves - a post-tobacco palate, showing very red-fruited and delicately earthy, even lighter-weight than the Sociando, beautiful and feminine

[...]
Click to expand...

So, Burgundies are not the only wines I'm drinking too young.

Fwiw, opened a 1999 Schaefer Graacher Himmereich Spätlese last week: at 20 years, sleek with nary a sign of excessive age.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

Ch. Sociando-Mallet 1996 Haut-Medoc - outstanding, just the right combination of tobacco and black currants, silken and mid-weight, great bottle
Click to expand...

Brought 2 magnums of this to the West Coast for my parents’ 60th wedding anniversary family celebration dinner last fall. Beautiful wine hitting on all cylinders and just the right amount for the group on hand and proof that great wine can thrive even in my crappy passive cellar.

IIRC about $80 for the pair, delivered, back in the day.
 
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