Szechuan Place takes the cake as the best Sichuan restaurant in the San Fernando Valley. However, it will require some convincing for the staff to take you seriously about how spicy you want your dishes. I find that telling them you eat Sichuan regularly in the San Gabriel Valley tends to do the trick.  

The bobo chicken is a Sichuan dish that dates back to the Qing Dynasty. It consists of cold slices of various chicken parts placed on skewers and dunked in a numbing and spicy chile broth. The mapo tofu is silky and topped with chile and mala numbing spices. The fried string beans and cumin lamb dishes also hit the spot. Also worth mentioning is that Szechuan Place’s dan dan noodles are dry, but tend to be more soupy than those at other restaurants. Anyone looking for more than the run-of-the-mill Sichuan dishes can try the mao xue wang, made of duck blood curd, tripe, chicken gizzard, and other organ parts simmered in peppercorn and red chile soup. 

Perhaps the most famous traditional hot pot chain from China is Hai Di Lao. Although it has many different broths to choose from, like vegetarian mushroom or tomato, the most popular flavor is its signature Sichuan-style broth. The broth is made by simmering beef tallow, green Sichuan pepper, red Sichuan pepper, and a variety of other peppers for more than four hours. The dipping sauce suggested for the Sichuan broth is the crushed garlic and sesame oil dip.

Ordering at Hai Di Lao, which is known for its service, is a la carte and done all through a tablet. Diners are given storage for their handbags, aprons for protecting their clothes, hair ties to pull their hair back, and plastic bags for any electronics. Although the U.S. outposts, unlike their Chinese equivalents, don’t go as far as giving their customers free manicures as they wait, the chain has kept its noodle dance for those who order the fresh noodles, so it’s always a dinner and a show. 

Sichuan KungFu Fish specializes in Sichuan-style pan-roasted fish. The spiciest Chinese foods typically come from two regions: Sichuan and Hunan. Sichuan spice is referred to as mala, or numbing spice, and although it is spicy, it is better known for the tingly sensation that Sichuan peppercorns produce when eaten. 

The fish at Sichuan KungFu Fish is served in big metal fish-shaped hot pot containers filled with a bright red chile-infused broth. Diners choose between swai, cod, pollock fillet, and a handful of other proteins. Then, they pick their choice of spicy soup base and extra add-ons like quail eggs, spicy sour noodles, and udon. The dish arrives looking like a whole fish swimming in a pool of red chiles. 

Chong Qing Special Noodles is a no-frills, mom-and-pop shop that is sure to hit the spot for spice lovers. The steamed cold chicken, kou shui ji, which literally translates to saliva chicken with hot sauce, is a poached cold chicken marinated in chile oil that will make your tastebuds scream for water and numb your tongue at the same time. The spicy pork ear appetizer has a similar effect. 

The namesake Chong Qing handmade noodles are rolled fresh and doused in chile oil, and the biang biang noodles are covered in chile flakes, vinegar, and tossed in a spicy hot sauce. Each noodle dish can be adjusted to one’s preferred spice level. 

Xiang La Hui has an extensive menu of authentic and refined Sichuan dishes. There are a handful of dishes that every Sichuan restaurant should be able to do well, and laziji is one of them. Also known as Chongqing chicken, it’s a famous Sichuan fried chicken stir-fry dish that is covered entirely in chile peppers, spicy bean paste, Sichuan peppercorns, ginger, and garlic. Xiang La Hui’s renditions of popular dishes, like mapo tofu, toothpick lamb, kung fu boiled fish, serrano pepper beef, and frog with chile and serrano, are also highly coveted. 

Maocai is a Sichuan specialty that hails from Chengdu in Sichuan province. It is a stew-like dish made of meat and/or fish and a variety of vegetables, and is topped with a soup stock made with mala sauce and chile oil.

Hibiscus Tree allows diners to order from a number of set combinations or build their own version of the dish. Some of the ingredients that can be used in maocai include beef, tofu, beef balls, pork belly, sausage, and fish. For those who enjoy unusual items in their maocai, there’s also duck blood, tripe, pork brain, and even bullfrog. 

Diners can adjust their spice levels according to their preference — those who favor less spicy flavors might opt for the tomato soup base. When the food is served, the server opens a can of bright red Sichuan chile oil and pours it atop the stew. 

Da Long Yi is a Sichuan hot pot chain from the city of Chengdu that specializes in a three broth hot pot experience that includes a lighter, non-spicy mushroom broth, a non-spicy tomato broth, and its signature red hot broth. The signature broth is made with dozens of herbs, chile peppers, and peppercorns that have been sourced from different Chinese provinces and fried in beef tallow. 

In the Before Times, diners began each meal by making their own sauce from the ingredients on hand, including herbs, chiles, and garlic. Da Long Yi’s signature sesame oil is poured into each customer’s creation, a tradition specific to Sichuan-style hot pot. 

Xiao Long Kan is one of the most famous hot pot chains in China. The brand hails from Chengdu, the unofficial hot pot capital of China, and boasts more than 1,000 outlets across the globe. Its hot pot broth is said to be made of 90 ingredients, including dozens of herbs, chile peppers, and peppercorns that have been steeped in a fatty beef-tallow base.

Diners can choose between mild, medium, or extreme spice levels, but even the restaurant’s mild broth is considered too spicy by those unaccustomed to searing heat. Xiao Long Kan is known for its “butter,” which is made of slabs of solidified beef tallow marinated with spicy and numbing spices. The slab of butter dissolves, giving the stock its full flavor. 

Xiao Long Kan excels at creating an iconic high-end classical Chinese ambience, combining unique menu items like crystal beef (brisket and egg) and varying spice levels with live guzheng musical performances. However, due to COVID-19, the expensive and over-the-top atmosphere and live performances are no longer offered. 

Szechuan Impression has a menu full of authentic Sichuan dishes, like mapo tofu, dan dan noodles, bo bo chicken, water-boiled fish, and even Hongxing diced rabbit, but the star dish is its tea-smoked pork ribs. In Sichuan, pork ribs are traditionally smoked with cypress boughs, but at Sichuan Impression, the pork ribs are marinated with green tea. The ribs are also marinated with dry chiles, scallion, and minced peanuts before being smoked. The end result is a rack of barbecue ribs whose meat falls off the bone. 

Hip Hot in Monterey Park specializes in melding seafood from Cantonese cuisine with Sichuan flavors. Although there are some traditional dishes on the menu, like mapo tofu and dry pots, the most popular dishes all involve seafood, including the spicy crab pot, Dungeness crab, and squid with pickled chiles. The fresh Dungeness crab is stir-fried with loads of red chiles and Sichuan peppercorns and tossed with rice cakes, potatoes, and vegetables. Chef Tiantian Qiu is willing to make her dishes even spicier upon request.

With locations in Irvine, Arcadia, Century City, and Universal City Walk, Meizhou Dongpo is a restaurant empire in China. In California, however, the restaurant is mostly known as a higher-end Chinese restaurant that is almost exclusively located in big shopping malls or tourist locations. Because its signature Beijing-style roast duck is so good (Meizhou Dongpo was chosen as the official food sponsor for the 2008 China Olympic Games), people tend to forget that the former mom-and-pop shop is actually a Sichuan restaurant. Meizhou Dongpo’s braised pork belly dong po rou, dan dan noodles, and bang bang poached chicken are solid takes on the traditional dishes. 

Miàn, the Chengdu Taste offshoot, specializes in Chongqing-style noodles like zhajiangmian — hand-pulled wheat noodles tossed in fermented bean sauce, ground pork, and vegetables. Other specialities include its Huaxing noodles with fried egg in tomato broth, Chengdu hot-and-sour noodles, and beef pickle noodles in green Sichuan pepper soup. All guests are treated to iced mung bean tea.

Miàn’s newest location, in Artesia, is an upscale, more refined version of the other Miàn restaurants. It serves regular menu items in addition to modern spins on traditional Sichuan dishes like Chengdu beef jerky, thousand-year-old egg with torched chile sauce, crispy-skin chicken, and osmanthus rice-wine sesame balls. Unlike its sister locations, this upscale Miàn serves alcohol, including a mung-bean horchata cocktail — a soju-based cocktail that pays homage to the restaurant’s mung bean tea. Look for a fourth location of Miàn in West LA.