We sample some delicious items from the lunch special menu at Spicy Girl, an upscale-feeling Midtown Sichuan restaurant.

917 Winbern St B, Houston, TX 77002
(833) 228-4195
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11am–9:30pm, 7 days a week

Most recently visited on September 14, 2018

If you were born and raised in the United States of America, chances are you didn’t have your first taste of a Sichuan peppercorn before the last decade or so, thanks to a USDA import ban that lasted from 1968 through 2005, based on their potential to spread citrus canker to U.S. crops. Thankfully, this fragrant, lemony spice with its trademark numbing effect is now widely available, both to home cooks and to restaurants specializing in Sichuan cuisine, in which ma la (literally “hot and numbing”) is an essential flavor combination in many dishes. This situation has led to an explosion in restaurant reviews that describe the unique sensation of eating mala dishes, and an equal if less happy proliferation of unwary diners wondering just what the hell is going on in their mouths.

Confirming the increasing mainstream popularity of Sichuan dishes in America, Spicy Girl is one of a few slightly upscale-feeling Sichuan eateries that have opened recently in central Houston, part of a list that also includes Pepper Twins and Mala Sichuan Bistro. As confirmed mala addicts, we made a beeline to all of these places immediately upon moving to the city’s Montrose neighborhood, and chose Spicy Girl as the site of a recent celebratory dinner. Noting that the restaurant offers $9.80 lunch specials that include smaller portions of select menu items with spring rolls or hot-and-sour soup, we returned on a recent weekday to bask in the faint glow of the Edison bulbs and enjoy a spicy midday meal. In truth, we were not exactly in “review mode” on the dinner visit, so this review will focus primarily on lunch.

Peppercorn chicken: Looking over the lunch menu, one of us decided on an order of Spicy Girl’s popular peppercorn chicken, a highlight of our previous dinner trip. As before, this arrived as a fine version of la zi ji (also known as Chongqing chicken), with the addition of fried green jalapeño slices. Bite-sized, boneless chunks of chicken are breaded and deep-fried with Sichuan peppercorns, dried red chiles, and the aforementioned jalapeños. The end result approximates grown-up, spicy and numbing fast-food chicken nuggets, but this version is not so adult that you won’t need to exercise some self-control. Spicy Girl fries chicken to a perfect crispness and achieves the right balance of seasonings. Unlike the dinner-menu version (known as “three-flavor chicken”), the lunch special does not arrive in an Instagram-friendly wicker cornucopia, but it is equally delicious.

Amazing spicy fish: Wanting to try something new, our second diner blithely ordered “amazing spicy fish,” only to discover upon arrival that it was simply the fish version of the peppercorn chicken. Thankfully, the flaky, white fish was as if your favorite fish-and-chips shop had undergone a mala makeover. And the fish did arrive in a snappy plaited cone.

Hot sauce saves the day again: It being a rainy day on the hopeful cusp of autumn, we each opted for the hot-and-sour soup instead of the egg rolls. While it tasted of quality chicken stock laced with vinegar, the soup had missed the “hot” memo. It seemed more like a typical Americanized takeout offering than what we would expect from a Sichuan restaurant with “spicy” in its name. To satisfy our need for heat, we both dolled it up with the chili oil provided on the table. Note: Spicy Girl’s bright red chili oil is mala, a bit acidic, and so delicious we wanted to sneak this condiment home with us. We also spooned it all over their perfectly-cooked white rice.

Couple’s tendon: One item from our previous dinner trip to Spicy Girl merits a mention here. Their version of fuqi feipian (literally, “husband and wife lung pieces,” but known on their menu as “couple’s tendon”) bewitched us with its scope of flavors—some familiar, others mysterious—courtesy of a mala chili oil that even beats their table sauce. Containing honeycomb tripe and tongue, rather than lung or tendon, Spicy Girl’s fuqi feipian rates as the best we have encountered so far, and we will soon be back at this standout Houston restaurant for more Sichuan specialties.