Thursday, April 20, 2023

Chilispot, Universal Area

I tried this Szechuan spot in the Publix strip mall at Kirkman and Conroy on Monday at lunch. I had shrimp with salted egg yolk for $19. It was great. Maybe my second favorite Chinese shrimp prep of all time. It is basically salt and pepper shrimp dusted with yolks and colorful peppers in place of black pepper. Creates a sticky sauce. Not as good as butterflied salt baked shrimp, but, excellent. They trim the eyes and beak off the shrimp. They leave the rest and shell on. Fried well enough that you can eat it all. And I did. Even the peppers. And I hate non-spicy peppers. 13 huge shrimp. If these were a little fresher this would be an A+ dish. I started loading the heads with the peppers. Tasty. They threw in properly steamed white rice. I could have stopped eating halfway. Would have if I wasn't traveling the next day. Family size portion. Pretty stacked plating. Most of the dishes I saw coming out looked great. Most cost less than mine. They even have some dishes from other regions in China that are more bland. "For the kids", they said. They have funky things too. Things like: mashed eggplant with century egg, croaker leap frog,  pork feet, duck blood and a dessert soup. All the customers appeared to be Chinese. Like fresh off a plane Chinese. Maybe tourists? 8 four seat booths on the edges. 2 six plus seater tables in the middle. Some had hot plates in the middle. Monochrome tones. Black, white and gray Some slogans in English on the wall. Maybe a remenant of when it was U and Me. Some Chinese symbology too. The front has a refrigerator on the wall that should be hidden. They opened in July. I think it is better than that YH one I Favorited last year. Because is it is much cheaper. If you want a solid taste of Chengdu+, get over here. And try not to door ding your neighbors car when you do.

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