Robert Lauriston Gets Yunnan Chinese Fix at Z & Y Garden

"Yunnan assorted appetizers" turned out to be a salad-ish cold noodle dish with many of the same ingredients as the cold plate, plus some thin-sliced omelet and vegetables — nice, though startling when you're expecting a sampler platter. Z & Y does a great job with Tan Tan (or Dan Dan) noodles, a Sichuan classic. Fat, chewy noodles are tossed with a complex, savory dressing of soy sauce, sesame paste, chile oil, sesame seeds, chopped peanuts, and bits of jerky-like pork.

"Yunnan ZhangYi Chicken w/Explosive Chili Pepper," despite the hyperbolic name, and despite it being made from what appeared to be equal quantities of chicken and chile peppers, was only mildly spicy, since the jalapeños were that odd modern variety with most of the heat bred out of them. But that was just as well — the dish was balanced and delicious rather than overpoweringly hot, which it would be if made with old-school jalapeños. The same went for "braised green pepper (jalapeño)," which was a tasty vegetable rather than a dare-you-to-eat-it novelty.

Whether it is listed on the menu or not, most Chinese restaurants offer pea leaf when it's in season. Simply stir-fried with garlic, Z & Y's is a nice foil for the spicy meat dishes.

You wouldn't come to Z & Y for the atmosphere, but the dining room is pleasant, quiet, and well lit, and the chairs are comfortable. The servers are very friendly and try to be helpful. As noted above, they speak little English, so the place may be problematic for anyone with dietary restrictions, and if you want to take advantage of the delivery service (dinner only), you'd better pick up a menu first so you can order by number. The dining room is wheelchair accessible, but the downstairs bathrooms are not.

The Z & Y menu includes many more intriguing dishes than could be covered here. If any of you readers check out such exotic items as DarLee bean jelly, black paste noodle, or "old lady's flavor potatos," please post reports as comments on the Web version of this article. And if anyone can identify that "dragon palm" stuff (see our blog for a photo) — please, drop me a line.