Hu’s Cooking offers an exciting and creative Sichuan/Taiwanese menu in West University Place, seven days a week.

2502 W Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX 77030

(713) 660-0020

Website

11:30AM–3PM, 5–9 PM every day

Everybody is talking about Hu’s Cooking. From our perch on the bandwagon, we report Hu’s has floated like a cube of soft tofu to the top of our favorite Houston restaurants. The staff has seen our eager faces no fewer than three times in the last six weeks. On a hot October Sunday, we returned for our most recent round determined to pay enough attention this time for a write-up.

A veteran of the Houston Pepper Twins chain, Chef Wang Yu extends the reach of his menu beyond the Sichuan dishes that forged the reputation of his ex-employer. Hu’s Cooking offers Sichuan as well as Taiwanese specialties like Three Cup Chicken, a few Chinese-American staples like General Tso’s, and Yu’s own signature dishes. The price point hovers above the amount you would spend at an average Asiatown spot—sadly, no lunch specials offer a discount tour of the menu—but Hu’s occupies an elegantly designed space that services students at Rice, workers at the medical center, and fans of Chinese food in close proximity to West University Place.

Beef Tenderloin with Soft Tofu ($16.00). From the “Chef’s Special” section, this massive bowl of mala merits the row of scarlet peppers by its name on the menu. Diving into this cauldron is not the stuff of regrets, however. Quite the opposite. The first slurp sings a multi-vocal song on your tongue. No choice but to load your rice bowl with spoonfuls of this mystical brew because your taster is at full attention and wants more pronto. The ruby-colored broth has the bite of toasted chiles and fruity ginger, but gradually, stealthily, the numbing zest of Sichuan peppercorn comes to the fore. Tender slices of premium beef trap the sauce with its lean, grainy texture, and silken tofu adds an innocent unctuousness to the pooling chili oil. Tendrils of enoki mushrooms and shavings of Chinese lettuce stems blend in, supplying some vegetal variety. This dish and the succulent Sweet-Skinned Duck ($18) sampled on our first visit make a compelling case for trying a new Chef’s Special each time.

Note: If you are looking for a less expensive, not-as-beefy Sichuan tofu dish, you can’t go wrong with Hu’s Cooking’s stellar Mapo Tofu ($9.50). We rank it as the best version of this classic dish ever to pass our lips.

Dan Dan Noodles ($6.50). Hu’s Cooking does a take on this staple of Sichuan street food that reminds us of a version we make at home using Fuchsia Dunlop’s cookbook Land of Plenty. Compared to dan dan we have had at other restaurants, Hu’s is not soupy and goes heavier on the costliest ingredient, sesame paste, maximizing the nutty butteriness that makes this dish such a hit. It would be at the level of their mapo if the spaghetti-like wheat noodles were more al dente.

Okra Salad ($8.00, seasonal). Every time you read a recipe for okra, you are reassured that it won’t turn out slimy. Taking the opposite tack, this salad seems calculated to taunt okra-phobes, or just contribute to first-date awkwardness. Fresh, tender pods of this contentious summer vegetable are sliced longitudinally, with the stem end left intact, and topped with ribbons of onion and sliced red chiles. Mixing with a bewitching, sweetened, vinegar-based dressing, all that good slime oozes out, draining from the okra in mucilaginous sheets and endless stretchy strings as you try to seize one and take a bite before it slips out of your chopsticks and goes sailing across the table. We thought it was pretty fun, but slime-haters beware.

Now we dream of Hu’s Cooking daily. After just getting started with their menu, we recommend digging into the chef’s featured items. If you accidentally show up during the two hours they are closed between lunch and dinner, head two doors down the strip mall to Tamashi and cure your dashed hopes with a conciliatory bowl of delicious ramen. Herbivores should note that Hu’s Cooking also offers a vegetarian menu with meat-free versions of many menu items.