[CLOSED] Spicy & Tasty

SICHUAN CHINA 🇨🇳

[UPDATE: CLOSED]

If you leave a Sichuan restaurant with your mouth not ablaze, you have done yourself a disservice! Luckily this is not a problem at Flushing landmark Spicy & Tasty.

The restaurant is conveniently located near the terminus of the 7-Train, but for a much more relaxing and scenic trip, take the minibus from Manhattan Chinatown for $2.50 and join two dozen Chinese people for the 25-minute ride, which ends in the same general area around Main Street.

Spicy & Tasty only tips its inner secrets by the line that is usually formed out the door. A chef prepares small dishes in the window, but the real delicacies of the place come from the kitchen, which is never seen.

For this meal, we were a group of four, headed by two Sichuan natives who did all of the ordering. My only request, the Sichuan dumplings (above, right), was already part of the order by the time I mentioned it.

By the time everything was brought out for us, our table was completely jammed with appetizers, noodles, rice, and mains. We could never dream about finishing it all on our own. The Hot and Sour Noodle, a typical Sichuan dish brings the heat, which makes the Sauteed Pea Sprouts w/ Garlic (above, left), a delicious and tame dish, completely necessary.

And then the more adventurous dishes started coming: The Pork Blood, Pork Intestines & Bean Sprout in Hot Sauce (below, left), was actually too beautifully spicy to really know you were eating something possibly revolting, while the Frog in Fresh Hot Pepper (below, right) was nice to look at, but less tasty than the other dishes. Each morsel was very bony, making eating it more effort than it was worth considering all the other delicious things within arm's reach.

On a recent visit, our group ordered the delicious sauteed crab with ginger and scallions ($13.95, below). The meat is probably not the best thing to go for if you are hungry, as pulling the small chunks out can test your patience, but the work is worth it.

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FLUSHING Queens
39-07 Prince Street