Pepper Twins now open at River Oaks location

The new restaurant “Pepper Twins,” launching from the owner of Cooking Girl, is officially open at its River Oaks location. The restaurant, which is named for owner Yunan Yang’s two children who share a love of spicy Szechuan food, opened its new location at 1915 West Gray in River Oaks in September 2016.

Offering traditional Szechuan-style Chinese food, the restaurant provides a friendly atmosphere with red and black walls, decorated with paintings showcasing life and landscapes in China. Yang describes the Pepper Twins menu as “country-style, organic Chinese” fare. While featuring its own signature dishes, many Cooking Girl favorites also will be available.

Yang, a former cancer researcher, prioritizes using high quality protein, choosing organic meats, including Berkshire pork, Angus-certified beef, and farm-raised chicken and duck. Unlike Cooking Girl, which only had one cooking wok, Pepper Twins has five to accommodate the wide variety of spicy Szechuan dishes it offers.

Once guests are seated, they are provided with a complimentary appetizer of seasoned wonton strips. As you browse the Pepper Twins menu, you’ll quickly notice a spicy theme, with pepper symbols to note the level of hotness. Those interested in a fiery kick will be drawn to the fish swimming in pickle, made with fresh Gulf flounder served in a bubbling gold-colored broth. Other favorites include mountain city noodle, mapo tofu, pork belly with bok choy, dry fried green beans, and sauteed golden egg and sweet corn, which is actually more on the savory side. Some of the restaurant’s popular dishes include its volcano cod, twin peppers chicken, mabo tofu and Dan Dan noodles.

The restaurant is currently BYOB as far as alcoholic beverages go, and has a $5 corkage fee for each wine bottle.