Healthydining
The owners of Szechuan Star are very proud of their hard-working staff, without whom the restaurant could not be so popular among the locals.
The kitchen tries to keep the food light and healthy. Vegetarian dishes are very popular, as lamb with sesame seeds, which is prepared with little oil, which makes it delicious as well as healthy.
The walls of the restaurant are full of family photos that are continuously given to the owners by long-time customers. This has become a great feature of the restaurant which brings the customers extra joy when they come to enjoy the delicious food.
Interview
Szechuan Star is based in Annandale, Virginia. This town is noted for having the second largest church in the entire state and is equidistance between Fairfax and the university town of Chapel Hill.
In Szechuan Star, the large repertoire of Szechuan (thus the name) and Hunan styled dishes are modified for an American palette meaning less spicy and leaning more towards the sweet and sour end of the spectrum. Ingredients that would be part and parcel to a true Szechuan meal such as peppercorns, Chinese red pepper and other indigenous spicy herbs are replaced with the acceptable garlic and ginger combination.
The steamed dumplings are made to order and filled with succulent fillings. Because they are hand rolled it takes on average 20 minutes to fill an order. This doesn't seem to bother the customers. They're eager to wait for this “treat”. Pan, deep and stir-frying plus steaming are all tried and true culinary methods used in the kitchen here. The Kung Pao Chicken, Dry-fried Green Beans are for sure crowd pleasers.
The owner’s dedication to the concept of freshness is embodied in how Szechuan Star handled take-out orders. A single dish will be divided into three parts and placed in three different boxes.
