Xiang La Hui

"It can be a tough gig opening up a Sichuan restaurant in the same neighborhood as Chengdu Taste and Sichuan Impression, but Xiang La Hui has proven it’s possible. While the menu has plenty of overlap with its famous brethren, XLH stands out for its high-quality ingredients and balanced use of spice. Take the Chongqing-style fried chicken, which arrives as a mountain of thick boneless chicken chunks cooked in fragrant spices and doused in red chiles, or the boiled fish soup, which comes with juicy, hand-sized filets of tilapia floating in a briney, pickled vegetable broth. The dining room is also fairly upscale, making it a good option to take your parents when they visit." - brant cox, sylvio martins

"It can be a tough gig opening up a Sichuan restaurant in the same neighborhood as Chengdu Taste and Sichuan Impression, but Xiang La Hui has proven it’s possible. While the menu has plenty of overlap with its famous brethren, XLH stands out for its high quality ingredients and balanced use of spice. Take the Chongqing-style fried chicken, which arrives as a mountain of thick boneless chicken chunks cooked in fragrant  spices and doused in red chiles, or the boiled fish soup, which comes with juicy, hand-sized filets of tilapia floating in a briney, pickled vegetable broth. The dining room is also fairly upscale, making it a good option to take your parents when they come visit." - Brant Cox

"Where to get it: Xiang La Hui in Alhambra, California, has a good version, along with SzechuanHouse in Flushing, Queens." - Matthew Kang

"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." - Kristie Hang

"For boneless chicken nuggets fried to a wonderful crisp and fragrant with Sichuan peppercorns, it doesn’t get any better than the Chongqing fried chicken at Xiang La Hui. It’s amazing how the mountain of fried chicken shrinks to a lowly pile of dried chiles and peppercorns in almost no time." - Cathy Chaplin, Eater Staff