Szechuan House UYE Dinner!!!!

Last to arrive and first to be finished was the fish dish.
I knew that would happen and there is a reason why it is my favorite.
Lily wowed everyone with her perfect Mandarin;
You never know what else she might surprise you with.
Wine flowed generously in «big girl» glasses,
Inviting everyone to partake in all the delights brought forth.
Spicy, but not unbearably so, the food leaves you asking for more.
Great company, sharing food family style.
Really, that’s all you need for a wonderful evening.
Everyone enjoyed everything and the compliments never ended.
Amy showed me Nala’s new bell ringing trick — a delightful bonus.
Thank you, Szechuan House, for being gracious hosts, and thank you, Lily, for putting this together.

1) I like to try new things
2) I’m often intimidated by large menus filled with things I don’t recognize
So, if Lily W. is going to set things up at a place that specializes in food I don’t know much about, right around the corner from my place, and order some of their best in flowing Mandarin (I didn’t realize «Actually» was a Mandarin word), where I and Melissa Z.‘s spousal +1 are the only token males, who am I to complain?
The food was authentically family style, with the kitchen offering a steady stream of spicy Sichuan specialties, leaving us always with a new fresh dish to try. Nothing is more intimidating to someone like me than the amount of peppers, seeds, and flakes bringing the heat to the table, and this provided a safe way to try many things without committing to just one.
Like Amy D., I also noticed the pleased grin of the restaurant staff/​ownership when only one fork was asked for, and when no calls for «chicken fried rice» or «sesame chicken» were made. I’m sure I’ll go back, and will possibly take advantage of the BYOB-​ness of this place (don’t judge me if I order sesame chicken some time though).
Was great to see everyone, and that video of the bell-​ringing cute, and apparently highly intelligent, pup Nala D.

I don’t know anything about authentic Chinese food so when the opportunity to try Szechuan House with Unilocal friends presented itself I could not pass it up!
The employees were kind and gracious. The expression of who I believe is the owner was priceless (she smiled and seemed very happy) when we turned down forks and opted for chopsticks. Lily kindly picked out about 6 or 7 dishes for our group of 9 and she made excellent choices. I enjoyed each dish but my favorites were the fish stew, eggplant and the fried chicken dishes.
Note: the dishes are very spicy so apply ample white wine as needed.
Congrats on a successful first UYE Lily!

Delicious noms, great company, and funny conversation, what more could a girl ask for?!
I want to thank Courtney, Joe, Marilee, Veek, Melissa, Phil, Amy, and Melissa for coming out to my UYE dinner! They were great sports and I really appreciate them surrendering their will and having faith in my ordering skills. I also have to shoutout Courtney for plugging my ordering skills a few days prior in her review :)
This was my first UYE and I’m glad everyone was willing to try new things! I had a great time catching up with everyone and I know Amy snapped some great shots of the dishes. Hopefully everyone enjoyed the food!
Regardless, I had an amazing time with some amazing people and I was only sad that a few people weren’t able to make it. We’ll just have to do it again sometime soon!