Hunan Chilli King

General Information

Description

Look around Hunan Chilli King and the modest, usually crowded room seems to glow neon red.

Each restaurant has its personal style; here, it involves blanketing many dishes -- including fresh frog and sautéed pork kidney with pickled bamboo shoots -- with a brilliant layer of fresh, rather mild red chiles interspersed with hot ones.

Request "very spicy" and they toss in more hot ones.

Hunan shredded chicken -- actually bone-in chicken chunks -- incorporates a breathtaking volume of halved garlic cloves smothered with those dry and sweet chiles.

A similar treatment is given to sautéed bone-in duck with dried string beans.

Balance these with chile-less sautéed lamb in brown sauce blanketed with cilantro, or the dish called shredded turnip. This simple julienne of the root in a light, brothy sauce holds a few wispy shreds of fresh red pepper that yield an occasional burst of heat.

The contrast is as unexpected as Hunan's bold and ancient flavors, which have traveled a circuitous route to brighten L.A.'s Chinese dining scene.

--Linda Burum, Special to The Times, 4/15/09