My relocated Bay Area husband is always on the lookout for good Chinese food, so it was sooner rather than later that we headed out to the Sichuan restaurant, Lucky Strike, way way out 122 blocks on the east side, that was just featured as a top restaurant in Portland Monthly. A favorite food accomplice, Kathleen, and her family joined us for our adventure which allowed us to order liberally from the menu. The setting was not what I expected- the restaurant is extremely small but big shall we say in "character." Oregon Lottery signs feature prominently, and one TV screen was featuring a reality police show in the background. But we came for the food and we were not disappointed on that count- we ordered seven dishes for the five of us and all were very different from your Chinese local. The cuisine being fiery Sichuan notwithstanding, many of the dishes were surprisingly complex: the cumin beef was cooked with both slender celery stalks and their leaves, the Guinness ribs were sweet, but not overly so, and many of us remarked that we could make a meal of them on their own. Even the green beans with black beans (the Beans with Beans) had the intriguing tongue numbing effect of the prickly ash used in this cuisine. The Kimchee Rice built up a fiery heat that seemed to have no limit, but we noticed other tables had ordered the Hot Pepper Chicken Bath that appeared to be nothing but a plate of red peppers. No deaths were reported. We were just as pleased with our bill- a total of $80 even with our adult beverages- note look at the pictures and order the Sapporo beer.
