Thanks to Yelp I found this gem of a Chinese restaurant in a random strip mall in Rocklin. It really is honest to goodness Szechuan food, and it's really in a strip mall.
You would never think from the exterior that something special was waiting for you inside.
There's a normal McChinese menu here, and the boring Chinese food is really good. But you're here for the fun stuff. Ask for the Special Menu, which is the pink thing on the right. Ignore the hilarious and sometimes very bad translations on the menu. I'm sure "drooling chicken" is probably really good, but I'm kind of scared to try it.
Sushi Girlfriend was having a very bad day and requested "normal food".
Sushi was very excited to find sesame chicken on the lunch menu.
Soup courses first. This is the chicken and corn soup that I shared with Actual. Think a normal egg drop soup, but add sweet corn, tender chicken and enough MSG to cure an elephant. Usually they don't use too much MSG, but it was enough that Actual only had a couple bites. Being Asian and having a natural affinity to MSG, this was the best soup ever! This week, anyway.
Sushi's Hot and Sour. Danger, Sushi Girlfriend, danger! This being a Szechuan restaurant, the soup was turbo fiery. When the waitress put it down, Sushi remarked "Um, I can see the peppers in there!"
Next up are Szechuan spice dumplings which are Actual's favorite. They are handmade pork dumplings, given a quick boil then served in chili oil with crushed Szechuan pepper on top. The pictured portion was ordered mild which equals hot at most other places. We have ordered these hot before, and they came with so much Szechuan pepper on top that we couldn't see the dumplings.
Here's Sushi Girlfriend's sesame chicken combo. I really have nothing to say about this.
My obvious boredom for/at her dish elicited this reaction from Sushi.
Back to the fun food. This is the hot and sour noodle soup made with bean vermicelli.
Last but not least, the best dish there. This is on the special menu under the very innocuous sounding "diced chicken with pepper". Our best guess as to how they make this: they dip raw chicken cubes in a water and corn starch mixture, then toss it into a super hot wok with peppers. It's easily one of my favorite 10 dishes in the world. I love this stuff so much I wasn't willing to stop Actual from serving it up just so I could take a picture.
Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant
4800 Granite Dr # 4800
Rocklin, CA 95677
(916) 632-9542
