Masterpiece

Came here for lunch today, while the food was good, it wasn’t anything to write home to your mother about. I find bobo garden to be a little tastier. The service was a little slow even though there were only 2 tables there. The prices were reasonable for the amount of food on each dish. I’ll probably come back to try more dishes. The menu is quite extensive

The Food: Boy oh-​boy oh-​boy, is it good!
* Eggplant with chili powder and pepper ash powder — ⁵⁄₅
I could eat an entire plate of this.
* Chicken with Dry red pepper — ⁴⁄₅
A bit too dry.
* Chairman Mao Pork — ⁵⁄₅
* Fish Filet with Chiles — ⁵⁄₅
The addition of star anise really makes things interesting.
* Mushroom & Beef Soup — ³⁄₅
All items served with rice.
The Service: ²⁄₅
Do NOT come here with a large party, unless you don’t mind waiting a long time. I’d recommend a maximum party of 4. They don’t take reservations and there isn’t really a waiting room. I think maximum occupancy here is about 40 – 50 people; this place is tiny. There’s one kid waiting some of the tables that has the most depressed look on his face, it’s almost comical; he’s rude and DGAF — you can’t help but laugh it off.
Got a friend that speaks Chinese = A+, they’ll tell you everything you need to order, if not go by other folk’s recommendations as well as mine.
In typical Chinese restaurants, there’s a certain level of service that’s expected — not white glove, but things like plating your soup and refilling your tea are expected. This place falls short of that. It is what it is, because they aren’t short of guests and the food alone will keep me coming back.
Overall: ³⁄₅
Your mouth will be numb by the end of it, but in a good way. You won’t be sweating balls; if you’ve never had sichuan peppers, this will be quite the treat for you. They aren’t super hot, but have a numbing effect.
I’ll be back, but only when I’ve got that itch for their eggplant. I’ll likely bring just my wife and another couple at most… or maybe just me haha! (selfishly thinking about the eggplant).

This is my second time dining at Masterpiece, and I enjoy the food every time, so why the low review? The service.
I had a larger party, and the service had to accommodate to our group by combining two tables. After putting together two of the small tables together, they let us be with the menu. After sitting down for over 6 minutes, no one bothered to come by our table to ask us if we would like anything to drink or any recommendations. I had to get the waiters attention for our drinks. Tip: they only have one type of tea available: 茉莉花
The food was pretty amazing, we ordered quite a few dishes to try (sorry, I am not sure what the English titles for each dish)
夫妻肺片 — this was one of the best versions I have tried in Atlanta. It is spicy, numbing, and exactly what you are expecting from this cold dish. They add plenty of cilantro to help balance off the spice.
沸腾水煮鱼 — this is definitely a must get, it has a 6 pepper rating, making it one of the spiciest dish on the menu. The fish filet was cooked perfectly where it was still tender and flaky. Their special pepper oil kept it traditionally spicy and numbing. On the bottom of the dish, there is a layer of bean sprouts that are spicy, crunch, and full of flavor.
干锅排骨 — this came out sizzling. This had a complex flavor of spice, with a hint of cumin. There is a mixture of sweet peas, bamboo shoots, and black fungus. I love how the complementary veggies in the dish soaked in the spices and held their own.
剁椒蒸茄子 — by far the prettiest dish that we ordered. The eggplant was steamed and topped with their homemade red pepper sauce. The sauce was spicy, tangy, sweet, with a hint of sour.
麻辣牛肉干 — to my group’s surprise, this was a crowd pleaser. The beef seemed to have been smoked before it was stir fried, and it had a great depth of flavor from the smokiness, to the spicy peppercorns, and the cooling Chinese celery. Definitely one of my favorite dishes here.
干炒牛河 — their take on this popular dish was delicious, but nothing special. This is more of a northern Chinese dish, and was one of few non-​spicy picks.
椒盐虾 — the shrimp was cooked to perfection, not only was it deep fried to a great exterior crunch, the stir fry addition of onion, jalapeño made it above all other restaurants versions.
豆苗 — one of our favorite veggies to order. There was plenty of garlic and seasoning to make this dish delicious. We were pleased by how fresh the veggies were!
Now back to the Service. The service steadily became worse as the dinner went on. I understand it was a full house, but this place is really small, and there were only 7 tables (including ours) and 2 service staff. I do not think they understand the idea of refilling water, white rice, or tea. In fact, throughout our entire dinner, they did not offer to refill our water, not even once. And each time we had to vocalize our request for a refill.
Our party came here for my grandmas birthday, and when we asked them to bring out the cake. They plopped the cake on the table, and walked off. I was pretty confused, were they expecting us to eat off the table? So I had to ask them for plates. When they came by with the plates, they quickly walked off. Now I had to wonder, did they expect us to eat with our hands? I had to then ask for forks. From the beginning, they knew how many people were at our table, and they did not provide enough plates or forks for our entire party. I have to say, the service was really disappointing, they were just not attentive to our party at all. In the middle of the dinner, my mom paid for our meal. Closer to the end of the meal, my uncle went to pick up the tab, and they were about to charge us twice, because they completely forgot that we had already paid 5 minutes earlier.
I will still go here solely for the food, since I cannot expect great service.

Great food for GA, coming from California, I am spoiled. I wanted to find the best in GA, they had great reviews and I was recommended by a friend. Needless to say… I like this place and would definitely come back. One thing that i didnt like was the service… it was a little unattenative, water cup weren’t refilled and plates weren’t taken. Don’t get me wrong, they were busy… but a little bit of care goes a long ways. Anyways… because of the food… I will be coming back very soon.

Quite simply, one of the best Chinese restaurants I’ve ever been to!
I started with the hot & sour soup. I’m sure we’ve all had it: every Chinese place sells it. But this was completely homemade, and chock full of vegetables and tofu. It was SO DELICIOUS, and downright eye-​opening: I’m convinced that there are several foods where people have eaten the crummy, mass-​produced stuff for so long — like canned corned beef hash, or commercial honey mustard sauce — that when they taste a homemade version they’re like «oh, this is AWESOME! No wonder they started canning this stuff!» This soup was exactly like that.
I then had the zhong style dumplings. They’re not unlike the steamed potstickers you’ve had before, only flatter and a bit smaller. Unlike typical potstickers (that come with a side of a soy sauce), these came in a soup bowl floating in a sweet sauce that had been cut with chili oil. Like the hot & sour soup, these dumplings did a great job of balancing sweet and sour, spicy and savory. They were also obviously homemade.
I had the chicken with dry red pepper for an entrée. This is the only «5 chili» item on the menu, and is their signature dish. What I got was small pieces of boneless chicken and tons of peppers. It’s kind of hard to explain what it tasted like. At first, it tasted like almost any other chicken tender or «chicken popper» you’ve ever had. But then there was a heat… kind of mild, actually. Then there was a taste… kind of… a very, very subtle anise-​like taste? Then my mouth went numb, a sure sign actual Szechuan peppers were used in the dish. I’d never had actual Szechuan peppers before: they were banned in the US from 1968 to 2005 due to fear of citrus canker (a bacteria which is harmless to humans, but devastating to citrus crops). After a few bites, I tried it with the peppers… some of which weren’t spicy, while others blew the top of my head off. It was SO GOOD, I also couldn’t stop eating it, even though I was really full from the soup and dumplings already.
I’d eat there at least once a week if I still lived in the area!
NOTE: my GF and I went in the early afternoon the day after Christmas. The food came quickly and the servers were fairly attentive. The place is so small I can imagine it being a madhouse when slammed.

I had high expectations hearing that the former chef of Feng Mae may worked here. it was at Feng Mae that my love of Szechwan cuisine started. 2 day I tried the zhong dumplings, garlic shrimp, and fried squid with pepper.
The dishes were mediocre at best. We had to go next door to the store to get drinks. the waiter said the wait would be at least 40 minutes as soon as we were seated. Place needs a lot of work on their service. the food did not taste like a master chef have made it but rather a student. the ingredients we’re all different sized and looked little messy.
I would still go back here and try some more things from the menu, but there are other Szechuan places I think are better than here. starting with Xin’s place two doors down. I think the Szechuan place at the Chinese mall can be better.
in summary mediocre food mediocre service bad value

Sunday hour on here is wrong, they open 12. We got there 1140am, turned out the chef is still out shopping…
Guess both Google and Unilocal should update it.

Two things I repeatedly said, while eating at Masterpiece. «My mouth… it’s so numb» and «I feel like my blood is literally boiling.» Sooooo, it was a pretty fun eating experience. lol.
*****
I. FOOD & DRINK
They don’t have their liquor license, so either bring your own liquor or make a run to the QT (gas station) next door. I mean, how can anyone eat Szechuan food without beer? That’s like driving with the emergency brake on. Just wrong… and dangerous. Lol.
Regarding their food, most of their entrees had both chili pepper and Sichuan pepper corn-​things. Our meal:
*Pot Stickers: Tasted pretty fresh. No complaints here.
*Sweet & Sour Soup: Lots of sweet. No sour. Could be better.
**Chicken w/​Hot Pepper: Very tasty, nicely fried, and plenty juicy.
**Boiled Fish Fillet: Fish fillet — yas, and I love pouring this over some rice. I guarantee drinking the broth will make your blood boil and you’ll start to get the sweats.
**Fried Duck: Kind of dry, but lots of flavor. Not my favorite dish.
II. SERVICE
I thought the food came out in a reasonable time and our server was very nice. No issues here.
III. ATMOSPHERE & DÉCOR
It’s a no-​frills joint. They don’t have too many tables inside (it could maybe comfortably fit 20 – 25?), and the space is ideal for small two to four-​person groups. It’s best to make reservations, but I don’t think finding a table for a small group, even on the weekend, would be that much trouble.
IV. PRICES
I don’t remember the exact pricing, but we had five generously portioned dishes for around $ 100 that fed six people. Pretty good deal.
V. OVERALL
I’m not in a rush to return, but it was a pretty fun experience! Will check it out again in the future.

The food was slow enough to feel like there is one chef back there on a Sunday evening. We had to wait 30 minutes after we ordered. The three dishes we ordered were: stir fried tea duck, hot boiled fish, and the fried eggplant.
The duck tasted like thrice cooked duck — Cantonese BBQ duck + lightly fried on flour + stirred fried to add the spices and garnish. The stir fry was supposed to add spices and flavor with a perfect blend of onions and peppercorn, but sadly they missed the mark.
Everyone makes their hot boiled fish different. It’s ubiquitous at a Sichuan restaurant. This one was high on white pepper and I think the fish was tilapia. The bean sauce was decent, borderline good. It was probably the best dish of the night.
The eggplant missed the mark for me. I know what they were aiming — lightly fried, ma la (numbing) from the peppercorns, slightly salty cilantro and scallions had the pockets of flavor. What came out were potato wedge like cuts of eggplant. That’s just lazy knife work. The seasoning tasted like old bay. Nowhere to be found were the peppercorn, garnish. The pictures gave it too much justice.

I recently tried this place with a Chinese friend. Our table of people from all over the world deferred to the Chinese national originally from Nanjing for the picking of the dishes. She swears by the place and claims to be trying to come here as often as possible to make sure they stay in business.
We had the Hunan style spicy pork which was thinly sliced and very very GOOD. It was tasty with small crispy celery, and habanero peppers. We also tried some kind of spicy beef stir fry, and it was SO flavorful, so good. The Chili Fish, we tried the second one on the menu, not the first one called Ash Chili Fish, was superb, the Sichuan peppercorns were more spicy then the habaneros and peppers in the other dishes. We tried one other fish dish with veggies, and tofu and it was good.
The picture on the wall towards the top is a big Chinese competition that this chef has won! Think like 600 people, that is pretty cool. Most all of the entrees are $ 14.95−16.95 here. No lunch specials, this is a place to come for dinner. It is very high quality. They are BYOB as well, so next time I intend to bring some wine or beer with me.
This will likely be my go-​to Chinese for dinner going forward.

Highly recommended.
This is not a large restaurant so there may be a bit of a wait. On the plus side, it is BYOB and there is a Quiktrip across the parking lot so you can partake of a beverage.
We visited the restaurant with 9 people so we would be able to try many dishes and we ended up getting 13 dishes. I didn’t write them all down so I’m going to focus on memorable dishes.
Overall, less Sichuan heat than other places like Tasty China. Having said that, it isn’t lacking for flavor as the place is great.
Highlights:
— Twice cooked Pork: Pork Belly with leeks. This went fast and barely made it around the table once.
–Dry-​fried Eggplant: This was really good with thick wedges of eggplant cooked perfectly. I actually prefer it to be cut a bit smaller but it was excellent. And I really don’t like eggplant.
Cumin Lamb: This was delicious with a perfect balance and flavor to the sauce.
— Fuqi feipian or «Husband and Wife lung slices»: Yes the name doesn’t translate well but this is an iconic dish. It is beef slices and offal/​lung with hot chili sauce. Excellent. I haven’t had it in years and this is the first time in Atlanta.
Spicy Beef Tendon: This reminded me of the classic Chinese dish. If anything it had less spice than expected.
Boiled Fish in Chili Oil: Very flavorful sauce without being overwhelmed with chili powder. If anything it could have used more Sichuan peppercorns. It had mung beans and I prefer it when it without mung beans. It often comes with a cabbage or bok choy as a vegetable which I like.
Ok:
Dan Dan noodles: Very good but a little less flavor than at Tasty China.
Dumplings with Chili sauce: Very good but not special.

Here’s what we got:
Dan Dan noodles– From what I remember (this was quite a while ago), it was pretty good– not too spicy, not too salty. Just right.
Fish filets with Pickled chili peppers and mustard greens– Warning: super spicy. Seriously. Tasty, but I wouldn’t get this again because it’s kind of one dimensional, and a bit too soupy for my taste– not a lot of texture.
Dry-​Fried Eggplant– Par with the best of them– just as good as Gu’s Bistro used to be when they still existed.
«Dry Wok» Beef (lots of cumin, interesting assortment of vegetables) — This was actually quite tasty despite a weird mix of veggies– canned mushrooms, celery… I forgot what else.
Worth a visit if you’re in the area, but not necessarily destination worthy…

Located just South of Pleasant Hill Rd. in a strip mall, Masterpiece is the only place I have discovered that serves stir-​fried smoked tea duck.
When I arrived, the restaurant was full. I placed my takeaway order and waited about 20 minutes; the kitchen was busy, as patrons were being served while I waited. There is a sitting area on the way to the lavatories.
The duck is served bone-​in and it is spicy. Spicy enough to open the sinuses, but not to where your mouth is burning from capsaicin. The duck is complimented with peppers and mushrooms. I did not eat any of the peppers. It is accompanied by steamed white rice.
If you like duck, the stir-​fried smoked tea duck is worth trying. It was good but I may not order it in the future. However, I look forward to trying other items from the menu.

I have been grieving the loss of Gu’s. Yes, Man Chun Hong is a good option, but I finally tried Masterpiece today, and I grieve no more!
The Sichuan food at Masterpiece is terrific. After sampling the Dry Fried Eggplant and Mapo Tofu, I knew I was in good hands.
Make no mistake, this place is bare bones — no beer/​wine, some menu items hard to understand, no music, etc. But they offer a full line-​up of Sichuan hits, and the care taken with the food is obvious.
I had a fun time chatting with the chef. When I told him I could taste the love in his food, he just beamed. Then he ran to get a camera and take my picture, because i was the first customer to tell him so.

While the restaurant is very casual, I found the food to be excellent.
I could have made a meal on the dumplings in chili sauce and had to fight the urge to eat the chili sauce like a soup (although I do confess to several bites of it over rice). The flavor was incredible — the heat well balanced with the other spices and seasonings.
The green beans were also good — very flavorful. They also provided a needed green vegetable at our table.
The double cooked pork was good, but I don’t know that it would make my order list again. I might instead opt for the chicken with hot pepper or mapodofu, both of which I am eager to return and try.
The fried eggplant was also excellent. Perfectly fried without being heavy. I am glad I ate it last because I fear the heat’s tingle and numbing effect may have diluted the flavors of the other foods.
This spot is a win for me. I am eager to return to try some other dishes!

Since Masterpiece is so close to my home, I decided to pay a visit for a lazy Saturday. Turns out, I’m Not happy with my to-​go order’s portion.
I ordered a tofu fish dish. It’s understandable that to-​go orders are downgraded. Never would I realized that it could be this less. In the dish, I only got around five pieces of fish, and tofu is actually fried tofu, and it is too hard to chew it down. The only good side, you get different kinds of vegetables for nutrition purpose.
The restaurant looks clean, and chef got some skills. But they cannot be justified by the food they provide.

Summary: Wanna try something new? Go for the don do pork and the twice cooked beef. Wanna try something safe? Go for the shrimp with garlic and dumplings.
I came here for a BuHi UYE especially because it was on my side of town on the Duluth side of Buford Highway: D. It’s a small restaurant that specializes in Szechuan cuisine, which I learned is a Chinese cuisine from the city of Sichuan in Southwest China: D. They use a lot of garlic and red peppers. I guess I was expecting the dishes to look more artsy since their name was Masterpiece, but they looked like typical Chinese food dishes. They did have a couple of art works on the wall though from kids from the Art Academy nearby. They have no website, so you just have to rely on Unilocal to figure out more information about this place: D.
We had a table of 10 people and we all shared family style so I tried a lot of different dishes: dumplings, dumplings with chili oil, shrimp with garlic, don do pork, steamed fish, twice cooked pork, braised beef hot pot, spicy chicken, and mao pao tofu.
Among them, my favorite seemed to be the «shrimp with garlic» and the «braised beef hot pot». I couldn’t keep up with the spicy lovers, but we did get a couple of spicy dishes. There were a couple of spicy dishes which I liked, but couldn’t eat that much of: P including the spicy chicken and mao pao tofu. The spicy chicken had this spice that you can’t notice right away, but leaves a tingling sensation for a while after. I liked the taste of it at first, but needed lots of water after. The dumplings were pretty good too. I didn’t need any sauce with my dumplings. I tried the don do pork for the first time and it was awesome! I would recommend it. It had two layers that both tasted awesome. It was soft, but chewy, and flavorful. The steamed fish was pretty spicy too and I didn’t expect it to be. There was nothing there that I didn’t like.
The only thing was, I couldn’t tell if the restaurant welcomed our big parties or were annoyed with us. The service was good, but at the end they seemed frustrated when we wanted to split the bills by table, because they put everything on one check at first. I noticed they didn’t’ have a computer to do the splitting and they had to do everything by calculator. They resolved the issue though and It was a pretty good deal in the end though.

Masterpiece is a Chinese restaurant specializing in Sichuan cuisine that opened July 2014 on Buford Highway in Duluth. It’s in a strip mall next to the QuikTrip at the corner of Buford Highway and N Berkeley Lake Road, not far from Pleasant Hill. The chef and owner of Masterpiece previously worked at Tasty China in Marietta. It’s hard not to compare the two as the menu, food, service, and atmosphere are similar. Masterpiece could almost be considered the Tasty China of Gwinnett County (but not quite).
The restaurant replaces the old Tsing Dao Chinese BBQ joint. The space is small, clean, and nondescript. Interior seating capacity is about 30 – 35 customers with no ambiance, not even background music, to speak of. You come here for the food, which is authentic and pretty good.
This appears to be a «mom and pop» operation with the chef’s wife assisting in the kitchen and she and her son waiting tables. If there’s a communication barrier, there’s another employee, Ginnefver, who is polite and helpful. I’ve worked with Ginnefver over the phone regarding reservations/​menu and she’s great.
Like Tasty China during the infancy of the Peter Chang changeover, Masterpiece’s menu is seriously lacking in the English descriptions department. Menu item examples read «Delicacies Mutton Pot» and «Three Fresh Delicious Soup.» What? Unless you can read Chinese, you’ll have to rely on servers’ descriptions, do research beforehand, or pull up photos of dishes on your phone.
Lovers of Sichuan cuisine will recognize Dan Dan Noodles and Chongqing Noodles. Other notable and adventurous dishes on the menu include Kong Po Kidney, Hunan Ox Tripe, Pig Intestine & Pork Blood Cake, and Coriander Fish Paste Soup. Prices are reasonable with most soups and appetizers each priced in the $ 6 – 8 range and most entrees each priced in the $ 8 – 15 range. Sharing and family-​style are the best way to eat this food.
Here’s a list of what I’ve tried, using the menu’s limited descriptions:
Dumplings with Chili Sauce
Sizzling Beef with Black Pepper
Dry Fried String Beans
Mixed Vegetable with Stir-​Fried Tofu
Kung Po Chicken
Chicken with Dried Red Pepper
Eggplant with Chili Powder and Pepper Ash Powder
Smoked Fried Tea Duck
Boiled Fish Fillet with Chili Stew
Fried Lamb Cumin
The Dumplings with Chili Sauce are steamed and filled with pork. The dumplings have a nice doughy exterior with adequate and savory fillings. The accompanying chili sauce appears to be red chili oil mixed with another brown sauce to make it a bit sweeter and saltier. Not bad.
The Sizzling Beef with Black Pepper is a dish that’s popular at Cantonese restaurants in part because of its presentation. The slices of steak are served still cooking (and sizzling) on a hot iron plate. Masterpiece’s version is quite good, prepared with large mushrooms and topped with freshly chopped scallion. This is a good basic dish to order because most people will like it.
The Dry Fried String Beans are decent. Soft and slightly crisp, the green beans are cooked with scallion and plenty of delicious roasted garlic.
The Mixed Vegetable with Stir-​Fried Tofu is a clean, healthy dish. The ingredients are served in a hot metal pot. Vegetables include wood-​ear fungus, snow peas, Chinese cabbage (bok choy), mushrooms, carrots, red bell pepper, and bamboo shoots. Everything is fresh.
I like the Kung Po Chicken here (a.k.a. Kung Pao Chicken) because the chef uses Sichuan peppers in his version. This means you get both the numbing and spicy effects («ma» and «la» in Chinese). The chopped chicken and peppers come with jalapenos, onions, mushrooms, and red bell pepper, all tossed in a relatively light brown sauce.
Both the Chicken with Dried Red Pepper and Eggplant with Chili Powder and Pepper Ash Powder are fried, spicy dishes prepared with copious amounts of red chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns. These are two of my favorite Sichuan dishes. They’re intensely flavorful. If you order the chicken boneless, there’s a $ 2 upcharge. The dry fried eggplant doesn’t come with as much cilantro nor peppers as other places like Man Chun Hong, but the eggplant is still mighty tasty. The chili powder packs a solid punch.
The Smoked Fried Tea Duck is unique and recommended. A generous, meaty portion of chopped duck is served bone-​in with lots of crispy bits of fried skin. It’s very good. This is different from the famous tea-​smoked duck at Gu’s BIstro which is prepared more like a traditional Cantonese-​style roasted duck.
The Boiled Fish Fillet with Chili Stew is made with what I believe are tilapia fillets. Oily and rich, this spicy soup comes with red peppers aplenty along with mung beans and cabbage. This is a fiery dish that spicy food fanatics will salivate over.
Yet another recommendation is the Fried Lamb Cumin. The lamb meat is thinly sliced, tender, and flavorful. Strong cumin flavor. Plenty of cilantro, jalapeño, garlic, red peppers, and snow peas come with this dish.
Service is OK. Pay in cash and save 10%.

3.5 stars.
==don po pork: tender but not memorable. In fact, all the fat and shininess turned me off a bit.
==garlic shrimp: comes with different vegetables. Good flavor with some spiciness. Not too much of an overwhelming garlic flavor.
== dumpling with chili: boiled. There is an option to get it without chili but only get that if you like your food looking plain and bland. Good meat to dumpling skin ratio.
==fish: tender. I like the bell peppers that decorated the dish and gave it a different flavor.
==chicken with hot pepper: I can eat spicy but this type of spicy hurt my stomach. We got chicken with bones and I barely got any meat off the bones. Honestly, I didn’t want to try after seeing my table-​mates sweat eating this ultra spicy dish.
==tofu: soft and tender with some sauce.
==double cooked pork: MUST GET. Thin pieces of pork with much flavor with every bite.
==sichuan style braise beef pot: tender and the meat falls apart easily. Not memorable.
Smooth service. Good value. They don’t accept AmEx. If you bring a large group, let them know how to charge y’all early. They have old fashioned machines that take a while to print out bills.

MasterPiece has been open for few months now but I think it’s location makes it hard to get noticed — small strip mall on Buford highway, away from pleasant hill rd. And I have only noticed when I stopped for gas at QT next door. Since then my partner and I have been here few times now and we like it so far.
The restaurant is run by a husband & wife team — husband being the chef and wife being the only one in the front — hosting and waiting table. The chef is a former head chef at Tasty china restaurant and later at Chef Liu restaurant — two fine restaurants in Atlanta.
The restaurant itself is quite small inside. When you enter you will immediately see counter and door towards kitchen. On the right they have pretty much all the seats. I was told that they can accommodate update 30+ people inside the restaurant but I suspect it would be pretty tight. Most of the weekday nights we have been, we were seated immediately.
I have tried following items so far,
1) Dong Po Pork
2) Chicken with hot pepper
3) Sichuan style braised beef pot
4) Spicy boiled fish pot
5) Twice cooked pork
6) Ma po tofu
7) eggplant with ground sichuan peppercorns
*Dong po pork — it’s a dish from eastern part of china, loosely named after the poet, Su Dong po. The dish is usually made by red-​cooking (slow braising to impart red color) pork belly along with rice wine, soy sauce and bit of caramelized sugar. These ingredients (along with food color) provides a brownish red hue and deep flavor. There is a slow cooking technique without any food color, usually employed for banquets and celebrations but for restaurant cooking generally food color is used to achieve same result. Nevertheless, it’s by no means easy dish to cook.
At Masterpiece, the chef nailed it! It was the first dish we tried here and were immediately impressed. It wasn’t spicy, nor sickeningly sweet — the chef managed to maintain savory taste with the hint of sweetness. The proportion of meat to fat was perfect, the meat was very tender and fat part was not greasy! It was perfectly square, with sauce gleaming over the pork belly. Words and pictures don’t do justice to how nice the dish was presented. The rich sauce adds to taste and flavor of the meat. A MUST TRY!
*Chicken with hot pepper — Are you ready to handle the heat? You better be, if you plan to order this. Generous portion of bone in pieces of fried chicken, quickly sauteed with sichuan pepper and sichuan peppercorns.
First you will taste the chicken, then you will feel the heat but only then you will realize the slow creeping numbness from sichuan peppercorn. It was amazing sensation! yes, I had to drink glasses of water but we loved it! If you are fan of spicy food, definitely get it but otherwise just stay clear. (Some might find bone too annoying, but I happen to like my chicken bone in).
*Sichuan style braised beef hot — being quite a saucy dish, this goes well with rice. Onions, braised beef, bok choy and other vegetables works very well here. This isn’t a spicy dish but nor sweet sauce based either.
*Spicy boiled fish pot is a standard affair at any sichuan styled restaurant. Here at MasterPiece it’s tiny bit different — instead of cabbage, it had bean sprouts. Also, along with chilly pepper, the dish is also cooked with Sichuan pepper corns. So it’s not only hot and spicy but also numbing. But don’t worry, it’s not as tongue numbing as ‘Gu’s bistro’. We enjoyed it, but same dish from Liu Fu still remains my favorite.
*Twice cooked pork — another standard sichuan dish. Pork belly simmered with spices, then sliced and shallow fried with napa and scallions. Ours felt a bit dry but it was finger licking good. (Not a spicy dish)
*Ma po tofu — tofu and ground meat with spicy bean sauce and lots of oil and that’s your usual Ma po tofu! It was spicy but not numbing, tender and very flavorful (not much meat here though). And I don’t think they added sichuan peppercorns to it but if you are brave you can ask for it! It’s spicy as it is, but Why hold back, right? Again, another favorite dish here.
*eggplant with ash powder and sichuan pepper flakes — The egg plant was slightly crunchy, slight caramelized and moderately spicy, with a hint of garlic and cilantro! If you are going to the restaurant, I highly recommend getting this. A Definite MUST TRY!
I am going to reiterate this here, there is only one waitress and one chef. So if you are in hurry, this may not be the place for you. But the wait is every bit worth it! But nevertheless their service is very good.
On weekdays, they are open from 11 am to 10 pm but they are closed on Tuesdays. On weekends they are open from 11.30 am to 10.30 pm.
Over all, I think this is a fine addition to the list of sichuan restaurants in Duluth and I am utterly convinced that it’s one of my new favorites along with Liu Fu!