G.A. Benton
If YF Chinese Cuisine weren't so busy, I might ask its impressive crew to pretty please produce a manual on restaurant efficiency. In a pandemic-altered era for eateries marked by service inconsistencies (sometimes understandable), that hypothetical handbook might become an industry standard.
I'm tempted to write that YF Chinese Cuisine — which only opened in mid-March — operates like a well-oiled machine that routinely generates delicious food in mere minutes, but no machine could prepare such nuanced and vibrant dishes.
YF hasn’t squandered excessive energy redecorating the space it assumed from Ichi Japanese BBQ. That nice and comfy room in a Godown Road strip mall still has crisp white walls, thick black tables with inset heating elements, padded black banquettes and a whimsical mural.
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The new crew has brought in a streamlined, neo-fast-casual system of service, though. This begins by seating yourself at any table with chopsticks on it and then activating a tableside QR code that brings up an inviting menu brightened by accurate color photographs. After selecting dishes, an “order received” message pops up. Just minutes later, a server wheeling a cart will start delivering the goods.
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Classic dishes from Sichuan, and some from northern China, are well represented on the big menu and well prepared in meant-to-be-shared large portions. YF’s chef generally leans heavier on tongue-tingling Sichuan peppercorns than on fiery chiles and adds some surprises, too.
Like sprinkling Fruity Pebbles on the massive serving of “chicken wings with homemade sauce” ($19.45). Seasoned with cumin and actually unsauced — maybe “sauce” refers to a marinade — these were thickly breaded, craggy and rewardingly crunchy bits of roughly hacked, skillfully fried chicken. Their pop art-like cereal garnish supplied a provocative sweetness plus extra textural punch to the fun-to-munch chicken.
Textural entertainment likewise enhanced an item whose title doesn’t do it justice: spicy bean curd skin ($13.49). Zesty pasta lovers averse to carb-loading will be catered to with amusingly nubby and wide, high-protein noodles (similar to dan dan noodles) animated by a chile oil-based sauce armed with Sichuan peppercorns, scallions, cilantro and a rich, underlying nuttiness.
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If you order the cauliflower pot ($16.45) — and you absolutely should — you’ll get a distinct take on a popular and intense Sichuan dish. YF’s excellent version showcased expertly stir-fried florets with dried chiles, chile oil, soy sauce, loads of electrifying Sichuan peppercorns and sauce-absorbing strips of de facto unsmoked bacon. The resulting edible carnival was a spicy, not fiery, delight with an effective background sweetness.
Strong execution distinguished milder items, too. Thanks to its menu photo, I knew the “sauteed vegetable with garlic” ($17.95) starred baby bok choy. Thanks to YF’s chef, deftly stir-fried bright-green bulbs arrived with a “wok hei” smokiness and a light, garlic-kissed sauce in this simple but classic, healthy and easy-eating dish.
Even green beans — a potentially forgettable vegetable — became something to crave after tasting YF’s not-spicy “sauteed spring beans w. minced pork” ($16.45): pleasantly salty and smoky, somewhat oily, high-heat blistered haricots verts flattered by soy sauce, ground pork plus a hint of Sichuan peppercorns.
Ordering YF’s beef with zanthoxylum armatum ($20.99) — zanthoxylum armatum is the kind of shrub that produces Sichuan peppercorns — was illustrative of my experiences here in general. After we selected that locally rare dish, the personable diner-to-kitchen liaison/host approached the only people in the crowded restaurant speaking English to warn us we’d requested an unusual entree that others had sent back. I assured him we wanted it.
A tureen of fragrant, golden liquid filled with extremely tender beef strips, crisp lotus root wheels, mung beans, wood ear mushrooms and chile snippets appeared moments later. Because the garlic-scented, citrusy, spicy and tongue-tingling broth was so oil-slicked — and we weren't given bowls — we assumed it was a hot pot-style flavoring, not slurping, liquid. So, we ate the tureen’s solids atop our provided rice and, essentially, dug into another smile-inducing thrill ride.
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YF Chinese Cuisine
Where: 5225 Godown Road, Northwest Side
Contact: 614-706-4870
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays; closed Tuesday.
Price range: $10.99 to $35.99
Ambience: frequently busy, upbeat, roomy and pleasant space with uncommonly efficient, speedy and QR code-based, fast-casual service
Children's menu: no
Reservations: no
Accessible: yes
Liquor license: no
Quick click: An impressive and popular newcomer skillfully and quickly prepares meant-to-be-shared large portions of nuanced and delicious, Sichuan-centric Chinese fare.
