Chuan Fu’s flavors move beyond málà
Winter Park’s Sichuan enclave offers balance in each bite
“We could do the frog legs?” I said. “Or the kidneys?”
“Can’t we do both?” It was lunchtime in Winter Park, leaning late, and my pal and I were poring over the menu at Chuan Fu. We weren’t the only guests at this palace of piquancy, which opened back in October, but we may have been the hungriest. I was tempted, but sensibility won out.
Yes, I would happily walk alllll the menu roads less traveled in any restaurant. But, although I wasn’t voted into this job, I still feel obligated to serve the entire culinary constituency.
So, we passed on the frog legs and got the sliced beef and ox tongue with chili sauce ($12.99) instead.
General manager Joyce Cai calls this appetizer “the cold cut couple” and speaks of the importance of the steps that turn tongue and tendon, cuts that can be tough or unduly chewy, into the wholly tender, lovely and beautifully spice-blasted delicacy that showed up at the table. Alongside this, the cucumber salad ($9.99) is a light dish that’s ideal for stretching out throughout the meal, a wonderful stillspicy but light, refreshing, crisp complement to the fiery anesthetic of Sichuan cuisine you’ll find here. That tongue, though. Thin-sliced, with a tender texture that offsets the melty, lightly gelatinous character of the tendon (they must braise the stuff for ages; there’s not a trace of chewiness), this beautifully balanced offering is contrast come to life right down to the dusting of peanut and cilantro. The fire is right there, but it does nothing to hide any of the flavors within.
Balance was a beam that chefs here could walk blindfolded, and Cai says that’s the point. Also, she
says more than once that they don't want to scare people.
“This is the very first Sichuan cuisine in Winter Park, the first authentic Chinese in Winter Park,” she notes, proudly noting their recent recognition as part of the 2024 MICHELIN selection. The latter has seen a bump in guests curious to partake, but not necessarily as schooled in what she says is fast becoming the most popular Chinese cuisine in the States.
“People who are curious, ask questions,” she says. Newcomers might opt for one of a handful of familiar faces — beef and broccoli or General Tso's — “but then they will order one or two dishes they don't know. Then, there are other customers who know us, or know Sichuan, and they ask if we can make them something that's not on the menu, or for whatever we're eating on lunch break.”
She's been enjoying seeing new regulars expand their palates while fans of Chuan Fu's Sichuan-blended sister in Mills 50 — the long-beloved Chuan Lu Garden — pop into this sleek, new space to see what's what.
Cai's family took the reins at this Mills 50 mainstay, my No. 1 go-to for Christmas takeout. Here, the menu is vast and varied, with Sichuan dishes sharing space with dim sum and Cantonese classics. At Chuan Fu, it's a more concentrated offering with more emphasis on the málà, the spicy-numbing flavors, an amalgam of both peppers (fresh and/or dried) for which Sichuan dishes are famous.
” A lot of our newer customers in Winter Park are not familiar with the spices or the cooking style,” she says. “The stews, she notes, can seem more spicy than the stir-fry.”
This is due to the hot oil pour-overs many get just before they're served.
“It makes the spicy smells even stronger, too,” Cai tells me.
It's also why in the end, we went with the shrewish kidney ($18.99) over the stir-fry, and we were not disappointed (though a little more of the pork kidney would have been lovely). Steeped in a sauce laden with gorgeous dried chilis, the tender offal offered deep flavor with contrasting crispy veg.
This one's a two-pepper dish, but truly, not even the three-pepper offerings were beyond-hot. For lower-level spices, one can never go wrong with the cumin lamb (a stunner at Chuan Lu Garden, as well) or a house favorite: Chongqing-style la zi chicken ($16.99).
“That's one of our very popular dishes,” she tells me. “It's a good entry for people … they love fried chicken and this is popcorn-style. The texture is crispy but then you bite it and it's juicy chicken with so many flavors that bring the spicy and the numbing together.”
I can't say it any better. Spice-soaked stunners like the ShuiZhu fish filet with hot chili sauce ($21.99) or the sizzling, sexy mixed ma la hot pot ($24.99) are admittedly more my jam, though. The latter arrives at the table in a sexy Sichuan flourish, its gorgeous elements — lotus root, garlic and green beans, chicken wing flats, fish filets, beef — appearing as visions in the rising steam.
Flavors so delicious that after one polite taste of the head- and shell-on shrimp, we abandoned formalities and ate them whole, happily crunching, savoring the sea flavors like Sichuan-mad seals.
Next time, I, too, will ask for something off menu. But I'm not ready to abandon this dish just yet. And portions are generous, so it's likely that, like me, you'll leave with a sack of leftovers that will keep you well anesthetized.
For those less comfortably numb, the server-recommended Sichuan brown sugar glutinous rice cake dessert ($9.99) will douse the fire. It's another ample offering, one that works best when you let it sit a minute, allowing the sauce to set up sticky on these fresh-fried little loaves before enjoying their crispy chew.
Feel the heat. End it sweet.
It's a rhyme I can punctuate with “rinse, repeat.” Because it's safe to say, like me, you'll be back.