Delivered a batch of Sichuan Dan Dan Pork to our friends at Broadway Mutual Aid (Venmo: @broadway-aid) and also some figs, limes, canned goods and other stuff.

Sichuan Dan Dan Pork

Fine-cut noodles from Seattle’s Tsue Chong in spicy sesame sauce with red peppers and crispy pork.

sauce

tahini (sesame paste), soy sauce, sugar, white pepper

Chicken broth and corn starch slurry as needed.

2 lbs ground pork

(cook all to safe temperature and then cook 1/4 of it more until very crispy)

cook in wok:

Sichuan chili oil
shallots or onion
ginger chunks
garlic
red bell pepper
mustard greens or bok choy
sesame oil
Shaoxing wine

Combine with Tsue-Chong noodles, sauce and pork

Garnish with:

Chopped scallions, carrots, toasted cashews, toasted sesame seeds, toasted & coarsely ground Sichuan pepper.

Eighty-Sixed

Recently posted that “My food prep job has been working out great. Might write about the place but only after I stop working there and no, this will not be a disgruntled, bitter exposé.” (Pizza Drudge Diary)

Days after I wrote that the owners announced that they were closing the restaurant, re-branding, and re-opening within a few months at which point laid off employees could re-apply for their jobs.

I’m not disgruntled or bitter about this. I’m actually gruntled because I learned so much while there and am also relieved to move on. Some of my fellow workers are probably not happy, but as a 1990s pizza place employer of mine once told us at an employee meeting, and I’m paraphrasing here: “consider this a second job to supplement whatever it is you do for a living.”

That same employer once made the staff work an entire shift for free for an AIDS benefit, during which she mingled and drank with her friends. She also got in hot water with the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries for employing the son of her cleaning lady as an under the table sub-minimum wage dishwasher. Small world: now she’s my wife’s cousin and is a great person. We all made mistakes in the 90s.

Will revisit my most recent Seattle restaurant adventures many years from now, if ever. In the meantime, I’m calling myself a “Seattle Historian” on Twitter.

–Alex

Nirvana Wok Menu