Royal Highness Zhu•Chicago, IL

Sichuan•$30 and under

Although it's most famous for its electrifying use of chilies and lip-tingling ChengDu peppercorns, the heart of the local cooking style lies in the artful mixing of flavors.Chengdu cooks excel at combining hot, numbing, sweet, sour, savory, and nutty seasonings to create an astonishing variety of flavors.Locals like to say, "each dish has its own style; a hundred dishes have a hundred different flavors." “un-Americanized, small-place street food originated from Szechuan China, awarded as "best heritage restaurant" by Jean Bancheet”Our Story Begins in Chengdu "Nearly everything at Da Mao Jia is designed to set your tongue alight with chile heat. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise since the new Bridgeport restaurant specializes in street food from Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province of China and home to one of the most ferociously spicy cuisines on the planet."​ - Nick Kindelsperger, Chicago Tribune